December 16, 2005

OSLO, Norway/GENEVA – In January 2006 Bjoerg Roedland and Caroline Vesterberg will be ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway, marking the first women's ordination in the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member church.

The ordinations follow a July 2005 synod decision to change the Free Church's constitution to include women in the church's ordained ministry. On January 8, Roedland, 45, will be ordained as an elder of the Vaagsbygd congregation, near Kristiansand in the south. Vesterberg, 28, originally from Sweden, will be ordained as a children and youth pastor on January 29 in Oslo.

The Free Church congregations are led by pastors and a board of elders. Until this year's constitutional amendment, the elder's board has comprised only of men called by the congregations and ordained for this ministry.

In an interview with Lutheran World Information (LWI), the Free Church synod secretary, Mr Terje Solberg, said the amended constitution allows for women's ordination as pastors and elders, but states that until 2011, a woman pastor cannot head the board of elders in a congregation or become church president. Several congregations have ongoing processes of calling elders, and four to five female elders will be ordained in the first half of 2006.

Solberg noted women have held key posts in the church including heading the mission department and theological center over the past ten years. The position of synod secretary, he added, is open also to women.

The Free Church was established in 1877 after it left the majority (Lutheran) Church of Norway over disagreement about the country's church-state system. The 21,000-member church has one synod and five presbyteries with 82 congregations all over the country. It has 70 ordained male pastors, and several deacons and deaconesses. Rev. Arnfinn Loeyning is the church's president.

The Free Church became a full member of the LWF in September 2005, changing from associate membership held since 1997. Church of Norway, with over 3.9 million members joined the LWF in 1947.

Lutheran World Information