LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 22

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

22 PLANNING FOR THE CHURCH’S MISSION

Product is now already $650 billion annually. In the
next 10 years conservative economists predict that the
$650 billion will rise to $1,200 billion, or “one trillion,
200 billion dollars.”

These are figures which few men can visualize
realistically. What does it mean for the average family
or for the average congregations? The average family
income today is up $146 a year over 10 years ago. It is
expected to go up another $200 per year in the next
10 years. Meanwhile the workweek for many is shorten-
ing, and the “new leisure” provides freedom for a kind
of recreational activity which does not readily con-
tribute either to increased church attendance or to
participation in the life of the parish if the traditional
pattern of the previous generation does not change.

This is coupled with people having more “discre-
tionary income,” that is, money to spend on things
other than day-to-day necessities. For one example
only, pleasure boaters in the U.S. spent more than
$214 billion in one recent year (1963) on boats, equip-
ment, accessories, and service. This amount of money
spent for one leisure activity already exceeds all con-
tributions to all churches in the U.S. in a given
year. (1) As we consider our world and our time, we
look at it in terms of the cross of Christ, Savior and
Lord of both world and church.

I. A Church Body on Christ’s Mission

We have been speaking of a few of the trends and
characteristics which provide the setting in time and
space for the church’s mission. In that setting what
can we say about the gateways for outreach of the
congregations of The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod?

The 50 states by regions and geographical divisions
could be represented as this slide (2) does.

If on the other hand we look at the United States
on the basis of the relationship of population density
to geographical areas, the map looks very different (3).
Can you see where your home community and your
congregation would be located on this map? So often
you see percentage-of-growth figures by state or re-
gion. Remember this map next time you see them, so
that the relative size of the base places the growth in
proper perspective. One percent gain in a certain re-
gion can mean far more persons than many percent in
another area.

Perhaps you have heard the abbreviation SMSA for
Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. The U. S.
Census Bureau has marked off 219 such SMSAs in
the U.S.

These are urban concentrations of population usually
following established county lines and include also
diminishing open areas between heavy population con-
centrations. The SMSA is an unusual concentration
which provides a prime target for mission expansion and
church planning differing from the practice of an earlier
time of establishing churches almost in the wide-open
countryside where farm families were settling or where

the railroad was reaching. The church on a mission
must go and be where the people are, and most of the
population of the U.S.A. already lives in these 219
areas.

Despite the adjustments of the previous map, the
baptized membership of The Lutheran Church — Mis-
souri Synod is by no means evenly distributed. This
slide shows (4) the distribution of the baptized mem-
bership of The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod in
the U.S. 25 years ago by classification of parish as to
whether the parish was located in what we now call
a Standard Metropolitain Statistical Area or not.

In Out
Year Total SMSA % SMSA %
1940 =: 1,298,625 671,113 51 627,512 49
1964 2,650,857 1,570,156 59 1,089,701 41
1990 8,250,000 5,857,500 71 2,392,500 29

In 1940, just before the beginning of World War II,
the baptized membership of The Lutheran Church —
Missouri Synod in the United States (proportionately
represented by the inner circle) was almost evenly
divided between the parishes located in Standard Met-
ropolitan Statistical Areas and those in the wide-open
spaces not in them.

By last year this distribution in SMSAs rose from
51% to 59%, and the percentage for those in the wide-
open spaces had gone down from 49% to 41%. At the
end of the next quarter century (1990) only 29% of
our baptized membership is projected to be outside the
present Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Never-
theless, kindly observe that though the urban con-
centrations will be proportionately greater, the num-
bers of baptized members outside these urban concen-
trations will then be four times as large as they are
today. This will mean that in the half century from
1940 to 1990 most of the congregations in our fellowship
wherever they are will undergo serious alterations, if
not upheavals, constituting for them a social and com-
munity revolution. This cannot mean business as usual,
for the plan and program of Gospel outreach in full
use of Word and sacrament must be tailored to fit.

In 1940 there were congregations and mission sta-
tions of The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod re-
ported in all but 32 of these 219 SMSAs, scattered from
one coast to the other. Most of these locations were the
result of the zeal in the use of the Gospel by the synodi-
cal membership of an earlier day and not primarily the
result of deliberate mission expansion planning. Yet be-
tween 60% and 70% of all congregations now in exis-
tence received synodical help through the synodical
Church Extension boards. By the grace and providence
of God, when World War II broke out, we as a Synod
were in a highly strategic position for mission. By 1960,
the latest federal general population census year, the
number of SMSAs in which at least one congregation
of The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod is re-
ported had increased to 195 out of the 219. In the last
5 years the establishment of new mission stations in