Survey says. . .

By now you probably have read of the controversy about Pew research that finds LCMS people are more liberal, accepting, and supporting than their church body of such things as open communion and abortion and homosexuality and the transgender thing and have more doubts about the historicity, inerrancy, and exclusivity of Scripture and its claims to Christ alone.  That is what headlines reported.  As I have written before, Lyman Stone has drawn other conclusions.  You can read them here.   My point is to compare my time as Senior Pastor of Grace, Clarksville, TN, with some of his summary conclusions below.

•  About 3% of LCMS members are converts from outside of Christianity, 8% from other non Lutheran Christian backgrounds, and 20% from other Lutheran or similar denominations.  In my experience, Grace has had a much higher number of converts -- often as much as 1/2 of those joining in a given year -- who are from non-Lutheran or no church backgrounds.  This is significant because we tended to bring in 50-75 new members each year.

•  “Confessional” churches receive more converts than “Missional” churches, and “Traditional”  churches receive more converts than “Contemporary” services. Smaller LCMS churches in rural  areas or small towns receive higher rates of converts than large urban or suburban congregations. Younger converts to the LCMS are also much likelier to be women than lifelong LCMS members of  the same age.  This is exactly true of my time at Grace.  People were drawn to liturgical worship in which we believed what forms, ceremonies, and rites said, to reverence as a central judge of what happens in worship, to Biblical preaching which focuses upon what God has said and how it applies to Christians in their life, and music which also speaks the Word of God in song (especially the traditional core of Christian and Lutheran hymnody).

•  Conversion into the LCMS is most commonly associated with individuals finding a welcoming community which provides a sense of connection to history, and/or converts arrive via a romantic  connection to an LCMS member. About 1/3 of converts into the LCMS experienced romantic  attachments as a key element of their conversion, and an additional 1/3 were largely motivated by a  search for community. A conviction that prior beliefs were wrong was only the primary influence on  about 1 in 5 converts.  This also applies, though to varying degree.  A welcoming community is certainly key to the return of those who visit (and we had a lot of first time visitors).  It is also true that this welcome needs to be both formal (greeters, etc.) and informal (genuine hospitality from the folks in the pew).  A spouse can be a catalyst though not always as first thought.  Yes, we had plenty of Lutheran spouses bringing their non-Lutheran spouses to church but we also had people with different religious backgrounds looking for something different than either.

•  More liturgical churches, and churches that respondents identify as “Confessional and Traditional,”  not only receive more converts, but are experiencing less severe declines in attendance and  membership, and may have younger membership profiles.  I certainly realize that there are parts of the country where the population is dwindling and there are fewer people to address with the Gospel because of that migration.  I am also conscious of the fact that in any given area the number of Christians as a percentage of the population is in decline and the number of those attending any church also declining.  Our average age has been young, the number of children has been high, and the attendance has increased steadily over 30 years bringing this from a small congregation (75 or so in worship to one with 325 in worship).  While there is no predictor of the future, I do not think that we have done things out of the reach of many congregations nor do I think that our situation is so unique that it could not be reflective of growth in other places.  

The reality is that we presume that in order to grow you need to ditch the liturgy, switch to a contemporary Christian song list, abandon liturgical and ceremonial worship for a casual style, and build a building that does not look like a church (complete with a pastor who does not act like one).  Well, Stone has proven that all these assumptions are wrong.  That does not mean you can switch to these things and you will grow -- these must be formally the identity and belief of the people and pastor and not simply a different style chosen to fill the pews with what seems to be working in the moment.  You need to do what you do well -- to the best of your ability.  This means pastors, musicians, and folks in the pew.  The days of whatever happens in worship, catechesis, and fellowship are over.  If you say it is important, people expect you to take it seriously -- especially what we confess and how we live out that confession.