On 17 November 1929, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands ordained a woman as a pastor. Jantine Auguste Haumersen (Jantine Auguste Haumersen – photo on the right) is the first officially ordained woman pastor in Europe. In 1922, the Leiden theology student Laurentia Caroline Dufour (1902-1988) wrote a letter to the Lutheran Synod asking whether women could be formally ordained as pastors and serve in Lutheran congregations. This question was discussed at the synod in June 1922, and some members of the synod expressed doubts as to whether there would be any congregations at all that would call women pastors. Others, including Prof. H.A. van Bakel, professor of theology at the Lutheran seminary, said that „there is not a single argument of principle against the ordination of women”, and that according to what Paul said (Gal. 3:28), in Christ there is neither male nor female. This question was again discussed at the synod of 1926, when a certain influential Amsterdam congregation wished to ban the ordination of women, on the basis of 1 Cor 14:(34-36). Again it was Prof. van Bakel who pointed out that biblical quotations must be viewed in their historical setting, and that they cannot simply be used as argumentation on a present-day agenda item. […] The synod decided to reject the ban on the ordination of women. *
In 1948, the Danish national Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 1953, the Slovak Lutheran Church permitted the ordination of women.
In 1958, the synod of the Swedish national Lutheran Church adopted a decision to ordain women.
In 1960, the Swedish national Lutheran Church ordained the first three women – Margit Sahlin, Elisabeth Djurle Olander and Ingrid Persson – photo below.
In 1961, the Norwegian national Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 1964, the Belgian Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 1967, the Estonian Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 1968, the German Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 1970, the Lutheran Church in America ordained its first woman – Elizabeth Platz.
In 1970, the American Lutheran Church ordained its first woman. Both churches later became the ELCA.
In 1974, the Icelandic Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 1974, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France recognized the ordination of women. Women had been performing pastoral functions ever since 1962.
In 1974, the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad (LELBĀL) ordained its first woman pastor. Agnese Pone became a Lutheran pastor (photo from the sieviesuprdinacija.lv archive).
On 23 August 1975, the archbishop of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church ordained the first women assistant pastors – Vaira Bitēna, Berta Strože and Helēne Valpētere. Later, on 17 July 1979 in Riga, these 3 women were ordained to the rank of pastor. In 2016, the LELB Synod voted for a ban on the ordination of women.
In 1976, the Canadian Lutheran Church ordained its first woman – Pamela McGee
In 1978, the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ordained its first full-time minister – Lauma Zuševica (who is currently the archbishop of the LELBĀL – photo)
In 1980, the Lutheran Church in South Africa ordained women.
In 1981, the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina [and Uruguay] approved the ordination of women by a vote.
In 1982, the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil ordained its first woman.
In 1988, the Finnish Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 1990, the Tanzanian Lutheran Church ordained its first woman. In the photograph below – Tanzanian Lutheran women pastors.
In 1991, one of the 11 Indian Lutheran churches began ordaining women.
In 1994, the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore ordained its first women – Low Wui Li, Mah Choy Yin and Lui Bee Leng.
In 1996, the Nigerian Lutheran Church ordained its first woman – Naomi Martin.
In 2000, the Ethiopian Lutheran Church ordained its first women.
In 2000, the Church of Pakistan (which since 1970 has historically united Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians) ordained a woman.
In 2002, the Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic ordained its first woman – Rachel Wanguerem Doumbaye. In 2004, a second woman was ordained in the Central African Republic – Antoinette Yindjara Beanzoui (photo on the right).
In 2004, the Taiwanese Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 2005, the Zambian Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 2008, the Bolivian Evangelical Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 2009, the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway ordained its first woman.
In 2009, the Mexican Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 2012, the Guatemalan Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 2012, the Cameroonian Evangelical Lutheran Church ordained its first woman.
In 2014, the Chilean Lutheran Church ordained its first woman – Hanna Schramm.
In 2015, the Kenyan Lutheran Church ordained 4 women as pastors.
2015, India – 10 of the 11 Indian Lutheran churches already ordain women to pastoral office.
September 2016 – in India the ordination of women celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Women’s issues need to be given attention so that women become more emancipated, and this is not easy to achieve in the patriarchal context of India /Rev. Dr Augustine Jeyakumar, General Secretary of the United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India/.
In 2016, the Costa Rican Lutheran Church ordained its first woman. Before her ordination as a pastor, Teresa Guadamuz had served as an evangelist for more than 20 years.
For me personally, ordination strengthens my commitment to bring the good news full of hope, which promises to transform lives. /Teresa Guadamuz, Costa Rica /
In 2018, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thailand ordained its first two women to pastoral office. Both women had been involved in the ministry of the church for many years already, as evangelists and preachers, and practically performed all the duties of a pastor, except for the consecration of the Holy Communion.
References: * Lutheran World
Photo: on the cover – House of Ilona – Clergy Wear for Women https://houseofilona.com/
1. Photo: Jantine Auguste Haumersen https://www.lutheranworld.org/blog/tribute-pioneering-woman-ordained-ministry
2. Photo: the first 3 women in the Swedish Lutheran church who were ordained as pastors on 3 April 1960. Kyrkoblad 3/2008 – dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women in Sweden.
3. Photo: the first woman pastor Agnese Pone
4. Photo: LELBĀL archbishop Lauma Zuševica
5. Photo: the ordination of a woman in the Lutheran church in Kenya
6. Photo: Tanzanian women pastors today.
7. Photo: Central African Lutheran pastor Antoinette Yindjara Beanzoui
8. Photo: women pastors in India. Ishida Photos
9. Photo: women pastors in India. Ishida Photos
10. Photo: the first woman pastor being ordained in Costa Rica.