Honoring Women's Ordination Anniversaries

In 1970, both the Lutheran Church in America and the American Lutheran Church removed barriers to women's ordination, and soon the first two women were ordained. Elizabeth Platz was ordained in November 1970 into the LCA, and Barbara Andrews was ordained in December of 1970 into the American Lutheran Church. Later, in 1976, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches ordained their first woman, Janith Otte-Murphy.
In 2020, the ELCA honors the anniversaries of women's ordination--50 years since the first women of European background were ordained, 40 years since the first women of color were ordained, and 10 years since the ELCA removed barriers for women in same-sex marriages.

No women pastors served in what is now the Montana Synod until 1980. But gradually the numbers grew, as congregations increasingly called women as their pastors. In honor of this 50th anniversary, we have reached out to women who have served in the Montana Synod (and its predecessor churches) as pastors. We have invited reflections on an aspect of ministry. The stories are varied. The pastors who share them are rural and urban, married and single, first-career and second, third or fourth-career. Some of them have served their whole ministry in the Montana Synod, others moved in and out. Each has a story to tell. We hope you will read them and thank these women who stepped up and answered a call to ministry.
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