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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 371

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

IX. 2016 RESOLUTION 13-01A TASK FORCE REPORT
18 Thesis V (Office), C&O 203.
19 Thesis VII (Office), C&O 262. Throughout C&O Walther unfolds
his argument using the same four-part template: (1) a thesis, (2) “Proof
from God’s Word” (with biblical quotes), (3) “Witnesses of the Church in
Its Public Confessions” and (4) “Witnesses of the Church in the Private
Writings of Its Teachers.” It is noteworthy that Thesis VII’s section, “Proof
from God’s Word,” is one of the longest examples of that section in the
work, but it includes only a single Bible reference. Walther offers this final
point, in effect, as a logical conclusion to the previous six theses on the
Office of Public Ministry.

371

33 This chart illustrates by percentage the aging of the LCMS in comparison to other groups:
Adult Populations by Age
U.S. non-Latino whites
Roman Catholic
All Protestants
Evangelicals
Unaffiliated
LCMS

18–29
20
18
17
17
31
11

30–49
35
41
38
39
40
32

50–64
26
24
26
26
20
31

65+
19
16
20
19
8
26

Data from Pew Research Center, Religious Landscape Survey (2008), pages 78 and 79
and U.S. Census 2010.

20 LSB Agenda (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006), 164.
21 See Thesis IX [B.] (Office), C&O 309–310. Walther offers a scriptural argument against a preacher exercising “dominion.”
22 LSB, 169; see also the order of installation on page 180, where the
same promise is made.
23 LSB Agenda, 167.
24 This does not imply that all salary changes, including salary
reductions, are manipulative or sinful. In a congregation with limited or
declining resources, a previous level of financial support may no longer be
possible.
25 On the evolving understanding of marriage, see Stephanie
Coontz, Marriage, A History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love
Conquered Marriage (New York: Viking Press, 2005). On the biblical
understanding of marriage and the threefold purpose of companionship,
children, and restraint of sin, see CTCR, Human Sexuality: A Theological
Perspective (1981), 13–23, www.lcms.org/ctcr.
26 According to a 2013 Pew Research Center poll, Love and Marriage,
only 49 percent of adults believe that having children is an important
purpose of marriage, http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/02/13/loveand-marriage/.
27 As of 2016, the Census Bureau reports that over 50 percent of
American adults are unmarried (53.5 percent of women and 46.8 percent
of men), https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/facts-forfeatures/2017/cb17-ff16.pdf.
28 Pew Research Center, The Decline of Marriage and Rise of New
Families (2010),
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2010/11/18/ii-overview/.
29 CDC data from 2016, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/unmarriedchildbearing.htm.
30 Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study (2015) indicated
that 62 percent of U.S. adults are accepting of homosexuality and 53
percent accept same-sex marriage. Pew’s data for the LCMS indicates that
56 percent are accepting of homosexuality and 46 percent of same-sex
marriage. (46 percent of LCMS members think that abortion should be
legal in all or most cases as compared to 53 percent of all adults.) The data
is available at
http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religiousdenomination/lutheran-church-missouri-synod/#social-and-politicalviews.
31 Ibid., http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changingreligious-landscape/#.
32 Forty Years of LCMS District Statistics, http://lcmsed.org/
diyFiles/40_Years_of_Statistics.pdf.
The most recent data is for 2016, which listed LCMS baptized membership at 2,017,834. See Cheryl Magness, “LCMS Statistics for 2016:
Membership Down, Contributions Up,” Reporter: Official Newspaper of
the LCMS, (Nov. 2, 2017), https://blogs.lcms.org/2017/lcms-statistics-for2016-membership-down-contributions-up/ (accessed April 3, 2018).

The data about non-Latino whites in the U.S. is important for comparison,
because about 95 percent of the LCMS population falls into that ethnicracial category.
34 That effect is multiplied as family structures change. Single or
divorced parents often feel somewhat out of place in churches, especially
as the gift of marriage is (rightly) celebrated. The result is that while the
percentage of single adults is rising, participation in the church for the
unmarried and divorced is much lower than for those who are married.
See Pew Research Center, http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscapestudy/marital-status/.
35 United States Census Bureau, “Older People Projected to Outnumber Children for the First Time in U.S. History,” Release #CB18–41,
March 13, 2018; revised Sept. 9, 2018, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/
press-releases/2018/cb18-41-population-projections.html.
36 United States Census Bureau, “Quick Facts United States,” July 1,
2017,
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045217 (accessed
October 18, 2018).
37 Pew Research Center, “Religious Landscape Study: Members
of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod” http://www.pewforum.org/
religious-landscape-study/religious-denomination/lutheran-church
-missouri-synod/ (accessed October 18, 2018).
38 See Forty Years of LCMS District Statistics. Over the past 10 years,
LCMS districts have declined 5–29 percent.
39 The data, provided to the task force by Concordia Plan Services, is
from August 2017.
40 For example, a pastor may be gifted with a visionary sort of leadership that enables him to recognize patterns and priorities that undermine a
congregation’s outreach and evangelism.
41 2016 Res. 13-01A, sixth resolve.
42 The report provides a fuller exegetical and historical treatment of
this vital topic, www.lcms.org/ctcr.
43 Sermon on Psalm 110 (1535), AE 13:306. Luther’s extended
“sermon” on this psalm was preached over eight weeks. Throughout his
comments, he sees the psalm in its proper, messianic light.
44 Moreover, we note that Hebrews 3:1–2 speaks of the heavenly
calling of apostle and priest, but makes the comparison with Moses not
with Aaron. In so doing, the priestly work of the whole people of God is
emphasized, and not just the priestly work of Aaron and his line.
45 See Thomas Winger, “Pastor and People Together in Christ’s
Church,” (Lutheran Church—Canada, CTCR, 2008), http://www.
lutheranchurch.ca/ctcr/Study percent20and percent20Response/Pastor
percent20and percent20People percent20Together percent20in percent20Christ’s percent20Church.pdf.
46 Winger notes that Luther himself does not use the expression,
“priesthood of believers,” though he affirms the presence of the idea. Some
have suggested a preference for one of these terms over others (and in
some cases, have suggested that certain of these terms may denigrate the
Office of Public Ministry). We will tend to use “royal priesthood” herein,
but without prejudice against the other terms.
47 See his Sermon on Psalm 110 (1535), AE 13.

2019 Convention Workbook