Lavish Church Growth ads in "USA Today" and ugly billboards are not reaching postmoderns. They waste many dollars. iPod audio (Issues Etc.) podcasts did and do reach postmoderns. If the goal is to reduce the number of souls in the pews... well, just look at the numbers and you will see their successes.

Word and Sacraments build souls. Beyond the much improved hymnal, what Synod-wide action to help us in the pews is helping churches with W&S?

Evangelism is important. I shudder to think of it in their CG-terms, but Youtube-style short-videos would be a good investment for confessional Christianity. Any takers?

Obviously there are many bright spots in the LCMS overall, but for the most part, good steward's are few and far between. One of the usual mantra's chanted at the IC is "it's not my money, why should I care." I have heard this on a weekly basis from someone consistantly since I have been there.

Abuses range from the small (no acutal travel expense policy so anything goes while traveling - $500 dinner for 2 - no problem if the department allows it) to the large (lavish parties at the tirannual Convention and other annual meetings - that cost over $100,000 - entire executive offices redesigned and refurbished since a new director does NOT want to use the same restroom, furniture, etc...as the last director). I could go on and on...

As I've seen this decline locally and on the National LCMS scene--I've despaired of the certain demise of the LCMS.

I will probably join the PCA--at least they observe their Confessions.

I am not a Lutheran because of my German heritage, or because it is an interesting cultural phenomenon. Frankly, I often tell my friends that being a Lutheran can be a miserable experience, full of suffering-- we are, from our genesis, a call to repentance and faithfulness to the Church Catholic. We are not Protestants, nor are we the bland, lowest common denominator Evangelicals of American reknown. We are catholic Christians, grounded in Scripture and the confessions and the creeds, rivitted on Christ and the Cross... and as such, we will often be a spurned minority.

We don't cast aspersions on other Christians, regardless of the quantity of errors that possess their communions, but we do bear witness to the truth, regardless of whom we meet. Ours is a lonely road, long and narrow, and with fewer travellers than the broader roads out there. Let us not tire of either our mission, nor our journey.

In Christ,
Brad

Mr. Bruce,

Lutheranism is not dead. It is flowing through the pages of the Bible and through the Sacraments, and still lives in the confessions that are recorded in the Book of Concord. It lives in us today. A congregation may be dead. Many congregations may be dead. But Jesus warned us that would be the case. John's Revelation warns us that would be the case. The evils you write about happened in the ancient Church (1st Corinthians), in the Middle Ages, in the Reformation, and will always be happening. It will get worse.

Don't sacrifice a good beautiful doctrine for the show. Lutheranism isn't bad because we have people in our congregations who dont' believe and who have handed themselves over to sin. The fact that they are not disciplined is very concerning. But it doesn't mean that what Lutheranism is, truly is, has declined. It most definitely hasn't.

And for the person that asked about WELS and ELS, I'm not the author, but here is my perspective. They have their problems as well. Their doctrine on the divine call is not very good, and they are abandoning the liturgy for contemporary worship in droves. Pietism -- labeling something as a sin that is not, or making something a requirement of righteousness that is not is also something else that they struggle with. I've attended both and have family in the ELS. Out of all the major Lutheran church bodies, the LCMS, despite all of her struggles, is still the closest to the teachings in the Book of Concord and still the most devoted to the proper separation of Law and Gospel. I'll leave when that can no longer be said. While she is still fighting for her confession, I don't consider leaving to be an option.

Keishnick isn't an idiot and he's not surrounded by idiots... so there must be something to what he says. My take on what he says is more like. 'It's not my Grandfather's generation that the church needs to reach out to'. Everyone 'used' to belong to a church, it was a matter of getting them to show up once in a while. It's not that way anymore. People like Robert Bruce in the comments before me want to see genuineness and relevance. Though I love liturgy, even I am not genuine in saying it and they become menotanous. Though I love hymns, they often are played or sung poorly and lose relevance with my grandfathers (and fathers) grandchildren.

I would love to see 'Traditional Conservatism' make a concerted come-back. There are lots of churches that are trying to maintain it, but it's a poor attempt. Until I see it have life, I'll continue to attend a church with genuineness & relevance there there may not be 100% pure christianity, but it beats the streets where there's 0%. Thank God salvation is a personal thing, not corporate!

The moneygrubbing thing is something I'm still working through too... if I could wire my gifts directly to God, I might be a little less hesitant when the offering plate comes by. About all I can do is pray that my gifts only go to areas in the church that are genuine and relevant... then it's up to God to make them go there.