The documents on this page were mailed to General Synod delegates and alternates in late October 2022 and are also presented here for access by all church members. Along with your delegate or alternate, you are encouraged to read and discuss these documents in your local contexts.

1. Ordination of Women and Men
   This document includes an overview of the proposals about ordination that are before the 20^th Convention of General Synod, as well as an explanation of the Theses of Agreement.
2. Thesis I and Thesis VI of the Theses of Agreement
   These two are included in some proposals to the Convention of General Synod. Thesis VI includes our church’s teaching on ordination at clause 11.
3. The paper produced by our Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations (CTICR) on the question of ordaining both women and men or ordaining men only, tabled to the Convention of General Synod in 2000
   Many more documents were published subsequent to this CTICR 2000 paper, but this one summarises the key matters under consideration in our church. Other useful documents are listed below.
4. A history of the ordination conflict in the LCANZ
   This is and updates the version of the history published as ‘QNA 1’ for the 2018 Convention of General Synod.
5. Respectful Dialogue
   This document includes the Five Principles of Dialogue, which were produced for the church by an appointed dialogue team in 2013. These five principles have guided our conversations throughout this past decade. The document also contains some guidelines for personal reflection on the Five Principles.
6. LCANZ Standards of Ethical Behaviour
   Approved by General Church Board in 2015, this document is used widely in our church, as a guide to Christlike behaviours in our words and deeds.
7. Bishops’ Reflections
   This is a devotional guide for the church as it prepares to engage in the ordination conversation again. The guide is based on personal reflections of the LCANZ bishops as they studied 1 Corinthians 13 during a retreat.
8. General Pastors Conference Advice to General Synod
9. Amendments to Ordination Proposals
10. St Paul’s Box Hill Amended Proposal
11. Queensland District Amended Proposal
12. Extracts from Constitution
13. Transaction of Business

More helpful documents

• Q&A 1 – History of the debate
• Q&A 2 – Hermeneutics and the ordination dialogue
• Q&A 3 – Affirming the ordination of men only
• Q&A 4 – Affirming the ordination of both men and women
• Q&A 5 – How is the gospel at stake in the ordination question?
• Q&A 6 – How is the biblical teaching of ‘subordination’ to be understood?
• Q&A 7 – Why is the ordination of women a doctrinal issue for the LCA?
• Q&A 8 – Does the ordination issue have to be church divisive?
• Q&A 9 – What does the church lose or gain from the ordination of women?
• Q&A 10 – Disagreement over doctrine
• Q&A 11 – Hermeneutics and the ordination question