General Synod eNews No.19
29 November 2022

Dear delegates and alternates

The 'town hall' sessions are the major focus this week and next, but please also ensure that you make your travel and accommodation arrangements soon, if you haven't already done that.

More documents for your Delegate Kit 

As you prepare for your 'town hall' session, please ensure that you are familiar with the documents in the Delegate Kit we posted to you in October. A further six documents have been prepared. Download them by clicking on the links below. It is important that you read these documents before the 'town hall' session you have elected to attend. The documents are also available on the Business > Ordination page of the General Synod website.

1. General Pastors Conference Advice to General Synod
2. Amendments to Ordination Proposals
3. St Paul’s Box Hill Amended Proposal
4. Queensland District Amended Proposal
5. Extracts from Constitution
6. Transaction of Business

'Town halls' on ordination

The first of the three 'town hall' information sessions about the ordination proposals will be held tomorrow evening. The content of the three sessions will be repeated, so you only need to attend one session.

• Wednesday 30 November at 5.30pm (Adelaide, ACDT) – login from 5.15pm
• Saturday 3 December at 10.00am (Adelaide, ACDT) – login from 9.45am
• Wednesday 7 December at 5.30pm (Adelaide, ACDT) – login from 5.15pm

These 'town hall' sessions have been arranged to inform delegates and alternates about the procedural aspects of the ordination proposals, since they are quite complex. The sessions will not be a platform for debating the issue of ordination itself; we apologise if you have registered for a 'town hall' session on that understanding. Delegates and alternatives will be able to debate the ordination issue itself during the in-person sessions of Convention of General Synod in February. 

The 'town hall' sessions will be available to the wider church to view on the General Synod website Business > Town Hall Sessions, but only delegates and alternates will have access to the online session and thus be able to ask questions. 

Delegates and alternates register for a 'town hall' session via the Synod 'confirmation of attendance' process (details below). 

Confirmation of attendance

Thank you to the large number of delegates and alternates who have confirmed their attendance via our online CVENT system, which opened in mid November. If you haven't confirmed your attendance yet, please check your LCA inbox for details. If you haven't seen notifications in your inbox, check your junk mail or contact us at synod@lca.org.au   For catering and other purposes, please confirm your attendance no later than 23 January 2023. 

If you haven't already confirmed your attendance and paid for your meals, you can do that now. Click YES to confirm your attendance; click NO to record an apology.

Keeping in touch

We are looking forward to welcoming you to the in-person sessions of the 20th Convention of General Synod. Please continue to check your LCA inbox and watch the Convention website for updates.

And, of course, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns or questions.

Sincerely in Christ
Dr Nigel Long
Secretary of the Church