Partner church leaders seeks greater communication with LCC

Rev. Dr. Mike Semmler, president of the Lutheran Church of Australia speaks to LCC’s youth gathering in Edmonton

WINNIPEG – During a two-day visit to Winnipeg July 8 and 9, Rev. Dr. Michael Semmler, president of Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) stressed the importance and special nature of the relationship the Australian church shares with Lutheran Church–Canada. LCC is the only other Lutheran Church body with which LCA has a Memorandum of Understanding, signed in 1993, which provides for pulpit and altar fellowship.

President Semmler was the first LCA pastor to serve in Canada under the agreement. He served Mount Olive in Regina for six months in the mid-’90s while Pastor Irwin Pudrycki served Pastor Semmler’s parish in Australia.

The Australian president met with LCC President Robert Bugbee and executive staff noting the need for ongoing communication. “We have a lot to learn from each other,” he said.

Discussions in Winnipeg included communications and mission work in Southeast Asia. “There are many areas in which we share common interests and concerns,” observed President Bugbee. “I am looking forward to developing our relationship even further to the benefit of both our churches.”
President Semmler and his wife, Christine, were visiting major Lutheran events in North America and Europe.

The president spoke to LCC’s National Youth Gathering; travelled to Houston, Texas to attend The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod’s convention and finally to Stuttgart, Germany for the World Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation.

LCA holds associate membership in both the International Lutheran Council and Lutheran World Federation.

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