Lutheran Church of Australia
18th General Convention of Synod
Rochedale, Brisbane 29 September – 4 October 2015
and LWA Convention

GPC Update 3

08 Apr 2015

GPC Update 3

8 April 2015

Dear pastors,

Registration for General Pastors Conference is now open! It will close 15 May.

The LCA Business Manager is using a new process this time – an on-line event registration service call RegOnline which will also be used for General Convention, so please bear with it a little.

REGISTRATION PROCESS

Register here.

There are four main screens.

START screen – to enter your email address and your delegate type from the drop-down list, ie

  • General Ministry Pastor – also a General Convention Pastor Delegate (ie elected within your District or because you have a national role; see LCA By-laws VII)
  • General Ministry Pastor – not a General Convention Pastor Delegate
  • Specific Ministry Pastor
  • Guest Pastor – ie a pastor of another Lutheran church serving under an LCA call
  • Emeritus Pastor
  • (There are other types of registrants but they don’t apply to you but to visitors, exhibitors and volunteers)
  • This screen also invites you to create an account, ie to save your personal information (next screen) for the future (eg for General Convention registration). You do not have to create an account – just press continue to proceed.

PERSONAL INFORMATION screen – includes space at the bottom to enter:

  • dietary needs
  • disability service needs
  • transfer from airport needs (to help planning of what might be done)
  • transfer from Hahndorf or other accommodation (to help planning of what might be done).

CHECKOUT screen – this screen:

  • displays the appropriate registration fee
  • gives you information to pay electronically later, noting that you can print or email an invoice on the next screen (eg to your treasurer)
  • gives a link to the LCA Online Donations system if you want to pay that way now (you can also do this later)
  • describes the refund policy, ie full refund if cancellation before 15 May; 50% refund after that but before 3 July; none after 3 July.

CONFIRMATION screen – gives options to:

  • print your registration (do this and bring it to the Conference)
  • print or email an invoice – do one or both of these for your treasurer who can then pay electronically
  •  print a map.

You will be able to update your registration before the closing date of 15 May, if you have details which change or which are not yet known (eg accommodation or flights). Please register now even though you may not have travel and accommodation finalised yet; enter those details later if you want bus transfers.

If you have any difficulties or questions about the registration process, please email Jayne Welke or Debbie Venz on synod@lca.org.au or phone them at the LCA national office on 08 8267 7327.

REGISTRATION CUT-OFF

I remind you that registering after 15 May will not be possible. (We have to establish actual numbers for caterers and other cost-and-courtesy reasons.) In exceptional circumstances, an appeal for a late registration can be emailed to me greg.pietsch@lca.org.au accompanied by a letter from your District bishop supporting the application.

A reminder too that you must register in order to receive a voting card and other materials. Simply turning up at the Conference will not do!

TRAVEL AND ACCOMMODATION

Also, good news now on support for travel and accommodation costs:

  • General Ministry Pastors: At the request of the GPC Planning Committee, the General Church Council has decided that, for this conference only, travel will be reimbursed whether you are a General Synod pastor delegate or not. In addition, an accommodation subsidy of $50 a night (maximum of four nights) will be paid for those coming more than 75 kilometres from Hahndorf.
  • Specific Ministry Pastors: As this is a required SMP training event, your travel will be paid by your District, and your accommodation will be paid by the LCA National Office.
  • Emeriti: I’m sorry but this is not available to you, but a reduced registration fee has been arranged.

Flying

If flying, please use FCm Travel Solutions to book flights as the LCA’s preferred travel agent. For those who are eligible, this avoids having to pay yourself and claim back the cost.

  • If you are not currently a registered traveller or booker, please call FCm on 1800 458 949 and quote ‘Lutheran Church’ as the customer and ‘SYNOD’ as the cost centre.
  • If you are already registered with FCm, please book flights as normal and change the cost centre on the last screen to SYNOD.
  • There’s more information on the Travel page of the LCA website.
  • If you’ve already booked and paid for your flights a different way you and are eligible, you will need to email Jayne Welke or Debbie Venz synod@lca.org.au for reimbursement.

Driving

If driving, please arrange to travel with others. Reimbursement for those who are eligible will be as follows:

  • 18 cents per km if there is one pastor in the car
  • 23 cents per km if there are two pastors in the car
  • 28 cents per km if there is three or more pastors in the car.

EXPENSE CLAIMS

Make claims for accommodation and/or car travel using the LCA’s Expense Claim Form and ensure you identify what other pastors travelled with you in your vehicle. We will have these forms at Conference.

If you have any questions, please email Jayne Welke or Debbie Venz synod@lca.org.au

REGISTER NOW

Okay, so this is what you do to register now. Click this link and work through it using the notes about the four screens above. Go for it!

Greg Pietsch
Chair – GPC Planning Committee

General Pastors Conference webpage