Gone are the likes of Pelikan and Marty, the Maiers, and a list of other national names that seemed to signal that the LCMS had come of age in the world. Gone are the days when we dominated media (The Lutheran Hour). Even after the seminaries have built and rebuilt following the Battle for the Bible, I am not sure either has earned the same deference and respect throughout the Synod and on both sides of the altar rail as there once was. Headlines have dampened our appreciation for the colleges and universities we built as their fortunes have declined along with the numbers of church workers that were the reason for their being -- at least at one time. So I understand some of the angst but I also fear that too much is placed on the national jurisdiction and it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy to be disappointed.
Are all the things we hope for the domain of the national LCMS identity? Have we created unrealistic expectations? I fear that we are too focused on solutions from a national level and have placed too much of our hope on national leaders and national programs. It is not healthy for us on any level. We need to step back and think about this. Or we will simply set ourselves up for more disappointment and fuel the engine of our despair even more. We need to take stock of a few things.
The mission of the LCMS in the US has always been driven by districts and circuits. If there are problems in renewing declining congregations or failing to plant new ones, they are not the fault nor is the solution to be found on a national level. Yes, we can put together great national programs but they do nothing unless we utilize them on the local level. Renewal of congregations and the planting of new ones happens not in St. Louis but where there are local parishes and pastors working together with support, encouragement, and some funds helping from circuits and districts. We are only as strong as the circuit (since districts are accumulations of circuits). Local pastors coming together monthly for conversation, study, encouragement, support, and professional growth has always been the key to our vitality. Build up the circuits and the mission will improve, the districts will be stronger, and the Synod will be stronger.
The recruitment of church workers is not the job of the seminary or the university -- it is certainly not the job of the Synod leadership. If we will improve the numbers of young men and women for church work vocations, it will happen locally as pastor and people identify, seek out, encourage, and support youth to consider those callings. Nobody in St. Louis should be burdened with the task that rightfully belongs to the parish pastor, parish leaders, and parishioners. It is great that we have good folks helping nationally but they will only succeed if we succeed in the task of raising up men and women for those church work careers. It will happen more fully when we as people pray for our pastors and church workers, pray for those considering church work vocations, speak highly of our church workers and of the calling, and put our money where our mouths are. Complaint departments do little to encourage anyone to become a pastor or teacher or other church worker.
There is a cottage industry of people (pastors and lay) seeking information, answers, and help in learning about and living out the Christian life. From conferences to podcasts, look at the abundance of resources available to us. It is regional more than national and that is a good thing. Where we once depended upon very few such endeavors, now every pastor and church worker has a full menu of choices and options. This is a good thing. I worked with those planning the 2023 LCMS Institute of Liturgy, Preaching, and Church Music and we cautiously hoped for 400. We had more. It would have been great if there had been 2000 but we were competing in a crowded field of intensive church work conferences. That is not a bad thing. It is great. Maybe the days of a mega conference have waned but look at the things available in our own backyards. It is amazing and all done without national leadership, national resources, and national money. This is how it should be.
What the national Synod can do, it is doing. Missions is flourishing in terms of money and people and this is why the Synod was created -- to foster the international missions. Publishing is flourishing in terms of resources new and historic and this is why Synod was created -- to publish doctrinally solid resources for the churches. We have smaller numbers in our headquarters but they are working very hard on our behalf and we should be grateful but we dare not place a burden on them that is not theirs to carry nor blame them for our own local failures. Even Rome has learned that bishops can screw things up but it is the local parish that is the backbone of that church body. A good pope helps but the rubber hits the road where the people gather around altar, pulpit, and font. We always knew this but it became convenient to complain rather than to acknowledge what is ours to do locally.
It is time we stop placing unrealistic expectations on a few national leaders and their support staff and took up the cause that belongs to us at a local level. I say this as a person who has spent his whole life and career in two congregations and without apology have seen this as the highest calling and purpose. I am neither exemplary nor a role model but simply a pastor who did his job as best he was able and, though not always nor easy, it bore fruit. If we work this hard and are faithful locally and we do not grow, we have nothing to apologize for. It is the Lord who gives growth. But if we do not work hard and are not faithful on the local level, it is not the fault of national leaders or programs.
3 comments:
It is true that the local congregation is where the church flourishes in various places, and where it is more effective or deficient in carrying out the Great Commission. And it is also true that more programs and conferences may not achieve necessary goals. However, national leadership sets the tone, and in God’s Providence, the church is hierarchal, and patriarchal. There must be elections of national church leaders who will serve as the shepherds in every age. Holy Writ identifies what values and Godly virtues these leaders must possess. Where the LCMS will suffer as a Synod is where each congregation reinvents church, rebels, rejects unity of purpose, and develops as an amalgamation of independent bodies without a clear vision and purpose. The message of the Gospel of Christ remains unchanged. It is where the purpose of the church begins and ends. Soli Deo Gloria
Excerpted from "What Is Our Life Together? Report on the Results of the Lutheran Religious Life Survey" (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KJRpg1ssyLHa8Ci1-P2kiwnVmtDkvw3i/view?pli=1) by Lyman Stone, an LCMS member and research director at a demographic consulting firm. From the Executive Summary (p. 5):
"If current trends continue, the LCMS will never again see growth, and membership could easily fall by 75% from its current levels within the lifetimes of current LCMS members. Dire loss in membership leading to widespread church closures and critical threats to LCMS institutions is the most likely future for the LCMS, if there are no major changes in church culture. Those changes cannot only involve adult evangelism or childbearing: there is no conceivable pathway to stability of membership through only higher rates of evangelism or higher birth rates to LCMS families. For the numeric decline of the church to be halted, the synod must find a way to simultaneously double the rate of conversions in (to levels similar to the Presbyterian Church in America), have one additional child be born per women (levels similar to Mormons, conservative Mennonites, or Hispanic Catholics), and return youth retention rates to pre-1960s levels (80% or higher, similar to Jews or Muslims today, vs. just 40% for the LCMS currently). If these tasks can all be accomplished within 15 years, the church will grow again by 2070."
The numerical values are given on p. 57:
"If LCMS conversion rates double to approximately 30 new members per 1,000 existing members per year, and LCMS families increase their childbearing by one additional child on average from about 1.5 to 2 children per woman to 2.5 to 3, and if youth retention rates return to their pre-1960s level over 80%, then by 2070, numeric decline will cease and growth will resume, as shown in Figure 48. [see p. 59]
"This scenario would involve enormous changes within the LCMS. It would require a dramatic intensification of efforts at catechesis and youth retention, large increases in conversions, and a major shift in family norms."
Figure 48 shows the predicted decline in the LCMS membership to less that 500,000 by the 2060s. If Stone's "Path-to-Growth Assumptions" occur, LCMS membership instead would level off at about 1.2 million.
Good points, Carl Vehse, that changing demographics, cultural shifts, and reduced reproduction by child bearing women are three important factors affecting not only the LCMS growth, but other institutions as well. These shifts have affected the churches of the western nations, as well as in the eastern countries. Despite these obstacles, the church must carry on. And God knows what is happening, and His will prevails. Soli Deo Gloria
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