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I came across this article today. Now people are ranking churches. It's interesting to read their criteria.
Work, school and church has been keeping me busy. I've been traveling and speaking and growing in my vocational position. It's also growing into the international realm. The great thing is my pastor has been helpful in finding me a congregation to attend while on the road. A number have HT ties and I've met up with some HT folks while on the road. I'm almost done with my dissertation. I successfully defended my PhD research in March while on the road. I walked through commencement and was hooded, but will truly relax and celebrate once the degree is in hand.
I've also been preparing for the upcoming Given conferences. I'll be working to ensure attendees have a roof over their head. As one person has put it fitting the square peg into the hole. It is like a big puzzle with all the constraints. This is still work in progress. I'm also serving as a first time delegate to the convention. I'm glad to serve where God has put me. I pray for wisdom to do God's Will.
One of my concerns is that there is a "bleed" of people leaving the church for other church bodies or nto even church at all. I've seen it in my family as well. My cousins were all confirmed in the LCMS and now, I may be the only one that attends church with any frequency. Some have quit the church alltogether. This is why youth ministry such as HT and campus ministry are so critical. If we want people to know what it means to be Lutheran and remain Lutheran and not just join the latest fad, they need to know what they beelive and why they believe it. They also need to yearn to hear the Word and receive the Sacrament, the main activities in our Lutheran church body for their salvation. If it is to be a social or country club, they can go anywhere to do that. I believe this is what is contributing greatly to the bleed fo people away form the church and specifically the LCMS. We are started to feel the pain from this acute blood loss. There has been a decrease in giving, so along with the poor economy congregations have taken a hit. Synod has also taken a hit, thus the budget issues seen.
In addition, there hav ebeen pastors forced to take secural jobs and churches that cannot afford pastors, yet are in dire need of a shepherd. I believe evidence of this is the number of men and women who did not receive calls to be pastor or deaconness placements this year from the seminaries. I wonder also how this impacts other church workers as a number of students are studying for these other church vocations too. The effects have been cascaded and we are at a critical point. If we don't stop the bleed or at least have a long term solution to treat the chronic condition, it may mean the end of the synod as we know it. Putting a band on the wound may appear to tide the flow, but only for a bit. It is not the answer. I'm still waiting to hear someone step up to indicate how this will be addressed. I've heard about many band aids, but I think that some need to a look a bit deeper beyond the bandages to the source of the problem. What you can do is pray for the church, the unchurched and wisdom as the delegates make decisions this summer. God only knows what will happen.
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