The 40th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women in the ELCA

by Pastor Nancy Christensen

It didn’t all begin with ordination…

The voices of women have echoed through the centuries, mostly unheard, often deliberately ignored. But, women have worked, and sacrificed, and witnessed for Christ – women have lived, and loved, and served for the sake of the gospel – and women have played a strong, even if mostly unheralded, role in the growth of the church, and in the development of the world.

On June 29, 1970, in an evening session of the fifth biennial convention of the Lutheran Church in America, Section II, Item1 of the Bylaws was amended to read, “A minister of this church shall be a person whose soundness in the faith, aptness to teach and educational qualifications have been examined and approved in the manner prescribed in the constitution...” With this amendment, the way was opened for women in the LCA to serve as parish pastors, and to fill other ordained positions in the church. Four months later, on October 24, 1970, The American Lutheran Church also welcomed women to its rolls.

Pastor Elizabeth Platz was the first, followed by Pastor Barbara Andrews. Later came Pastor Earlene Miller, in 1979, the first African American woman to be ordained; and that same year Pastor Lydia Rivera Kalb, the first Hispanic woman to serve in the Lutheran church. Forty years later, there are approximately 3500 women (19.9%) on the ELCA clergy roster, and approximately 6000 women (31.2%) on the overall ELCA roster, serving as pastors, associates in ministry, deaconesses, and diaconal ministers.

Those of us who serve today owe a debt of gratitude to all the women who came before us. We honor their continuing legacy, and we celebrate their commitment to stand tall through the years of struggle and discrimination. We also remember these awesome women so that we might seek ourselves to live faithfully, to speak out for others whose voices are not heard, and to serve with integrity in all the years to come.

We rejoice in these 40 years, and we encourage the young girls who are watching us even now to be bold leaders in the church, and in the world!