Dear pastors of the LCANZ,

Please see below for important information in relation to the October 2022 General Pastors Conference (GPC).

Registrations

Thank you to those who have already registered your attendance or apology for GPC. This is a reminder that registrations will strictly close on 26^th September 2022. Registrations will not be processed or amended after this date, and we will not be allowing walk-ins on the day. To register, please click here.

It has been reported that some pastors are having issues with the registration site at the payment page. If you are having this issue please try registering using a different internet browser (Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.). This seems to solve the issue. If you are having problems please email gpc@lca.org.au or call 08 8267 7300 and ask to speak to Chelsea.

Conference Speaker

We are very excited to have Dr Justine Toh from the Centre for Public Christianity as our Conference Speaker on Tuesday 11th October, generously supported by the LLL. For more information on Dr Toh and the Centre for Public Christianity, please visit https://www.publicchristianity.org

Invitation to participate in Religion and Domestic Violence: Exploring men’s perpetration research workshop

Sarah Wendt, Professor of Social Work and Director of the Social Work Innovation Research Living Space (SWIRLS) at Flinders University is working on an ARC Linkage research project 'Religion and domestic violence: exploring men's perpetration' supported by the Lutheran Church of Australia through the Working Group for Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence under the Commission on Social and Bioethical Questions. Sarah is conducting this research together with Professor Wendy Mayer, Dean of Research Strategy at the University of Divinity and Dr Josephine Clarke, Research Associate at SWIRLS.

There is an invitation to pastors to participate in a research workshop on Friday 14 October which will take about 1 hour. This will be facilitated by Josephine and Sarah. They will share their preliminary research findings regarding Pastors experiences of helping men who use domestic violence. They are interested in understanding the specific theological beliefs that men draw on in their use of violence but also their wanting to heal from and stop using violence. The researchers are also interested to learn more about Pastors’ experiences of providing support and ideas about how the LCANZ can improve helping families experiencing domestic violence. Even if you have not had direct experience providing support to individuals and families experiencing domestic violence the project team would like your insights and reflections on the preliminary findings of research to assist them to understand more about this sensitive topic.

For more information about the Research Workshop and participating in discussing research findings, consent, and confidentiality matters, please click on the links below.

Information sheet
Consent form

The research workshop will take place in Tanunda the morning after the General Pastors Conference, on Friday 14th of October. Breakfast is included for participants. Final details will be provided directly to participants.

To express your interest in participating please contact sarah.wendt@flinders.edu.au or on 08 82013978 by no later than Friday 30 September 2022.

Travel from Adelaide airport to Tanunda

Please note that no shuttle bus service will be available from Adelaide airport to Tanunda. We strongly encourage pastors to share travel and carpool where possible.

Car hire and insurance

When hiring a car there is no need to pay extra to reduce the amount of the hire company’s excess if it is under $6,000 as the LCA travel policy offers cover for Rental Vehicle Excess up to $6,000. For full details of coverage, policy conditions and exclusions please contact LCA Insurance at insurance@lca.org.au

It is important to know that in the event of a claim, the hirer will need to pay the hire company’s higher excess and seek reimbursement of this via LCA’s Travel policy. Full details of hire agreement, repair costs and accident will need to accompany the appropriate travel claim form.

Program

Please continue to pray for the GPC Planning Team over the next 6 weeks in the lead up to GPC: Pastors David Altus, Matt Bishop, Chris Johnson, Adrian Kitson, Sam Modra, Neville Otto and Paul Smith, Dr Nigel Long, and Chelsea Bellamy. Please consider including us and the work of this conference in the Prayer of the Church of your worshipping community.

In His service

Chelsea Bellamy
Personal Assistant to the Bishop and Secretary of the Church
On behalf of the GPC Planning Committee