They just move on. The faith spread and German and Scandinavian immigrants brought it to the US. Now district will not even provide address labels to restart it. it’s the one thing we can;t do in heaven, share the gospel with a lost soul. We have a very good pastor who is leading us. Hollywood, atheists, eastern religions and occultists have their own ideas about death. Will it get better? We always concluded it was a poor job of parenting……Please hear me out. I am an LCMS member in a small church in western Nebraska. Serving our youth and young families like we do our older members is a must. With sincere love to you all! I also think that you’ll agree with me when I state that the troubling political, economic and racial tensions in our society are reflected also in the church, like it or not. You send out the believers into the world to make converts – THEN bring them into the church. If youth were truely abandoned like this after getting connected I would say that a large portion of them will not be attending an LCMS church as adults. They have sat beside the dying. We have tried to lead our churches to serve the younger members of our churches. In that December issue, Harrison provides six bulleted points concerning Hawley’s and MacPherson’s reports. We can all agree that we live in very tumultuous and troubling days. There is no need to attack these things that people show their faith and want to share. You know why? Some churches say they only believe in faith healing and let their members die by things modern medicine can cure. A few years ago my youngest daughter, who was attending Concordia Seward, felt inspired to make a difference. Families (including my own), need instruction in modeling Christ and His beautiful Bride, the Church. There is a subtle Aryan arrogance flowing in our Synod by some who have confused the pure gospel with German traditions. Instead of focusing on growing numerically, we need to build deeper relationships with God, one another in the Body of Christ, and our communities. ” After three years and growth we were ask by DCEs to take it over and they let it die after only three months.”. The world is full of mythologies concerning dying and death. Whether we draw more or not is not even the point. The response of our community has been amazing. I’ve heard young pastors claim that evangelizing isn’t that important, because if God wants someone to be saved then they are part of the elect and they will be in heaven one way or the other anyway, and God doesn’t need me to do it. If this continues church membership declines as they leave home and don’t feel any reason to attend church in their new community. Sometimes our traditions can get in the way of the gospel being heard by both believers and unbelievers. “These reports don’t only share difficult data; they also point out what the Synod does well and what strengths we can build on. “As I have repeatedly stated,” Harrison writes for that edition, “I doubt very much that any significant change in the childrearing habits of LCMS members will occur or greatly affect future numbers. We lose members sometimes because they know the importance of a youth group and we often have two few children to even form a youth group. Dr. A.L. One can hold onto God’s pure Word and still use some more modern worship forms. I have met with the pastor and he gives me no response. Liberal churches are dying. Address the decline from inside and we will solve our own problem. This was done after the Sandy Hook shooting and no revision has been made. Not sure I agree with your stance on this. Death Café is an international nonreligious grass-roots movement that gathers people interested in talking about issues of death and dying. Not to use the gifts God gives is short sighted. Noting that he is “amazed” by the “Synod rumor mill” to the effect that he finds “the answer to our decline of numbers in the LCMS is to have more babies,” Harrison responds in the March Journal. What does the future hold?”. It is heresy to claim that one must use specific worship forms and instruments, vestments and genuflecting to properly worship our good and gracious God. Byrd say the word and the message from God are the value but there are many ways to share and reach out without casting stones at others valued gifts to do so. Where is His word spoken and taught 5 days a week? Otherwise, when growth occurs, it might grow content on a diet of American Evangelical spiritual food. For them, the Gospel is fine, but it is not enough. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews… to the week I became week, to win the week. We still face death; Satan still tempts us to doubt and despair in the face of it. The counties where the Synod is strongest across the country also tend to be the counties where population is decreasing. © 2003-2020 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod All Rights Reserved. This is an area of weakness which allows the secular worldview to invade and infect Christians with doubt about their own unanswered questions. We have tried to have our youth and young adults take ownership in our church and feel that their input matters. Everyone’s answers match what all churches say at every level. If we as committed lutherans became less lutheran and more Christian and wear the joy of His salvation on our persona so others can see it, our churches would begin to fill. Jack, Amen and Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have the living Word that is the “solid Rock on which we stand” and will not be taken away from us. Informazioni su dispositivo e connessione Internet, incluso l'indirizzo IP, Attività di navigazione e di ricerca durante l'utilizzo dei siti web e delle app di Verizon Media. We have to ask, why isn’t God choosing to do that? I feel so helpless as most of the membership sits in a trance during Sunday service and looks at me like I have two heads if I dare to question. The church has to get back into celebrating families, that having large families is a beautiful thing, that the best way to grow and spread our great church is to create our own through creation of life itself. ” One of the reasons our churches are declining is that we are speaking in a foreign language to folks today. Kirby, My parents had a large family by today’s standards(5 boys) We are all baby boomers so my family rearing days are over. Regularly I see users claim that for most of history since the death of Jesus, up to the Reformation, that Christendom remained largely united. The Bible teaches that death is not an annihilation in which we cease to exist. ), The LCMS should look at the churches in Ft. Worth, TX. We may have to downsize in the future, but then again…who knows? Roland Rushman. In our Lutheran schools, our Lord has given us a wide-open door to homes and families — not only to those in our parish, but also to those families in our community. You might want to check out the book “Has American Christianity Failed” by Bryan Wolfmueller. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any kind of Sunday School lesson, church seminar, or sermon preached about how to evangelize. We have a sign now entering the mission field on our doors to remind us at our church. This is a twisted version of the doctrine of election, and frankly is laziness. A contribution designated (restricted) for a specific purpose when accepted, will be used only to fund expenses related to that purpose. Our pastor was serving three parishes at the time and was unable to attend but a group of us decided to get together and discuss possibilities. Why? With the recent death of my own brother, my family is facing it now. These beliefs are obviously unbiblical, if not plain silly, but there are some other unbiblical myths that many Christians, and maybe even some Lutherans, believe. I am 50 now and have held every office our church has but most recently as elder. he said you are the church. Some of us older pastors have seen some disappointing and arrogant attitudes and theologies rise in portions of our synod iduring the last 25 years. Walther, I agree. Seminarians are taught today not to deviate from the hymnal in any way, while 40 years ago many of us were regularly using special worship services provided by synod’s own evangelism, stewardship, education, and other departments. LCMS President Rev. I really think we need to be Lutheran-and know what that uniquely means-why be a confessional Lutheran? It has very little to do with larger families. I will be praying for the Synod. Of the 5 of us, 1 has passed, 2 are nominal lutherans, 1 isn’t sure what he is, and I feel trapped in my present LCMS church. Saint Paul tells us in first Corinthians nine, “though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. A Learning Content Management System (LCMS) is a professional software solution for authors, teams and organizations to create, manage and deliver learning content. The people at either church would be happy to share information to help other churches, I believe that it is extremely important to address apologetics within the church youth and even within it’s adult members. Baptism, as the application of the saving Gospel, is, therefore, a true means of grace. Josh Peterson and Michael Woon I like your responses! We were not present when Nine times in Holy Writ we read, “sing unto the Lord a new song! Paula Schlueter Ross (1953–­2019), former managing editor of Reporter, was a magna cum laude graduate of Webster University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. I share their age and feelings about our leadership. Teach the word yes by all means. In 1962 the Cleveland convention of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod received some expressions of doctrinal concern regarding certain theological speculations in the area of eschatology ("the last things"), especially as these touched questions of death, the soul, resurrection, and immortality (Reports and Memorials, 1962, p. His answer to LCMS decline is to focus ministry efforts on areas where Northern Europeans are in the majority in America. Hi Kyle, How does God use members who leave our congregations to deliver to us faith in Him, in Him alone? Missouri Synod doesn't allow pastors from other sub-branches of the Protestant movement to serve in their congregations. A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles (St. Louis: The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, 1972), adopted in Resolution 3-01at the 1973 LCMS Convention. They just confirm them and expect to see an absence from ages 14-25 in hopes they will one day return one day with their young families. I feel like a pariah in society because I have a large family, that I choose to bring gods little blessings into this world but we constantly hear everywhere “are you a glutton for punishment?” “You know how that happens right?” “Man you got your hands full.” It’s like having a actual family is a hassle, a black mark. some will respond. I’m not sure what the “rumor mill” is but I was at the district convention two years ago where the second vice president of our synod told our convention that our decline is due to less births in our synod. The Synod is growing in membership in counties that are growing in population, but more slowly than the overall population increase. and social ministry is not an excuse for telling someone with care and love about the Jesus who came to this earth to give his life for you and me and provide the eternal hope we all long for. (And no, I’m not an LCMS employee or CPH employee, but truth is truth, and this is what the LCMS teaches! What youth group did Paul organize? A youth program was to have evolved from this effort. Organ Donation/Donation To Medical Research. The church bodies that have made a place for these age groups have increased in numbers and the sense of community is amazingly felt through all ages. need to be encouraged to frequently and fervently pray for the holy Christian Church, including the members of our local parish, both young and old. He encourages no community evangelism and has given up on the youth in his own words. And Curtis notes that “the reports also highlight the many strengths of the Synod in education, community building and outreach.”, Curtis offers a workshop — primarily for professional church workers and lay leaders — aimed at making the “large amount of informative and interesting data [in the reports] useful at the district, circuit and parish level.”. One can see members of Methodist, Presbyterian, the United Church of Christ, or Episcopal churches going to communion at ELCA altars. Heath Curtis, coordinator for Stewardship Ministry with the LCMS Office of National Mission (ONM), told Reporter via email that the ONM commissioned the demographic studies “to try to understand what’s going on” after listening to “oft-repeated” comments about “a decline in membership and an aging of the church’s membership” as his office was “helping Synod congregations with their stewardship needs.”. Are declining is that we live in very tumultuous and troubling days are the path we should looking! About that, too the reports and schools closing in the past 50 years, we stopped making disciples Christ! Hurdles and hoops that turn them away — are: the Rev for Him, growth... Means of grace out of the Lord and his beautiful Bride, the gospel of Jesus is the lcms dying Harrison... 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