On Wednesday, 27 April, representatives of the Association of Latvian Lutheran Women Theologians, together with representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia Abroad, met with a delegation of the Lutheran World Federation. The reason for the meeting was the question of women’s ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia.
The question of women’s ordination has become topical in connection with the planned LELB Synod, at which a vote will take place on a proposal to amend the first part of point 133 of the LELB Constitution (text of the wording: “Anyone who, in accordance with the order of LELB, is called by God and prepared for the office of pastor may request ordination”) and to replace the inclusive term “anyone” with the exclusive “male”, thereby denying women the possibility of being ordained as pastors in LELB.
The delegation of the Lutheran World Federation in Riga was represented by:
Tamás Fabiny (bishop, Hungary, Vice-President of the LWF European region, head of the delegation),
Ralston Deffenbaugh (Assistant to the LWF General Secretary for International Affairs and Human Rights),
Ireneusz Lukas (pastor, the new Secretary for the European region),
Anne Burghardt (pastor, LWF Secretary for Ecumenical Relations),
Agnieszka Godfrejów-Tarnogórska (Central and Eastern Europe coordinator of the LWF “Women in Church and Society” desk).