LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 58

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58

REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, I
prayed this prayer:
Dear Father in Heaven, look upon your people gathered in
this beautiful and holy place, filled with the presence of Your
Spirit. Focus our eyes and our hearts upon Jesus, given by
You, in your majestic and universal love, for the salvation of
the world. Prepare our hearts and hands this day to love and
to serve You and You alone. Build our commitment to be faithful and strengthen our resolve to be courageous, that through
Your power we might “Shake the Earth” with the great news
of forgiveness, life, and salvation through Christ, the Savior
of the world and the Lord of the universe. We pray this in His
most holy and precious name. Amen.

In the speech that followed, I offered the following comments and observations:
• It is the mission of the church that concerns me most at
the beginning of my term of office as President of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod. Let it be known, with no equivocation or uncertainty of any kind, that accomplishing the mission
of the church to disciple and teach the nations of the world will
be Job One in this administration! We do not have the luxury,
even if we wanted to, of “fiddling while Rome is burning.”
• After briefly describing the origin of the Early Church
following the death and resurrection of Christ, including the
persecution and martyrdom of many believers and disciples,
I added, “Also hardy souls, the people of central Europe, in my
case, southeastern Germany near the Polish border, lived
their faith in a reasonable semblance of joy and peace. But the
oppression of governmental entities made it clear to our ancestors that they had no choice but to leave the place of their
birth, travel on leaky, ill-fated vessels to a distant land, leaving behind their homes, their property, their heritage, their
families.
For what reason did they choose to make this sacrifice?
The integrity of their faith was in danger of being lost as a result of governmental declarations forcing those who bore the
name “Lutheran” to enter into ecclesiastical relationships
without adequate basis for such relationships. That would be
too much to tolerate, much less to affirm.
So, with a portion of their possessions in hand, they embarked upon the journey that would take some of them successfully to places like Perry County, Missouri, and Lee
County, Texas. Many of them died on board and were buried
at sea. The survivors thrived in the new world. They ultimately formed what was once known as the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and other States, later
called the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and
other States. Still later they changed their name to The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
• Notwithstanding the significant growth experienced by
congregations and entities of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod in the first century of its existence, the LCMS is not exactly, at the present moment, on top of the heap when it comes
to church bodies that demonstrate vibrancy and significant
impact on the worldwide Christian scene, either among Anglos or among other cultures and nationalities. Few would
argue with the existence of our strong biblical, doctrinal and
confessional stance. Nevertheless, many would view as marginal our church body’s impact on the entire body of Christ,
not to mention the 4 billion unsaved people in the world, given
our propensity in the past for internal dissension and divisiveness.
Could it be that, in our zeal to retain our steadfast confession of the faith once delivered to the saints by our forefathers,

2007 Convention Proceedings

we have become under-concerned with the demonstration of
that faith in our daily lives? Could it also be that we have become less than passionate, if not lukewarm, with the proclamation of that faith to the unbelievers of the world who literally surround us at the beginning of this 21st century?

A few specific parochial statistics should suffice to make
the point:
• Annually, 35 percent of the congregations of the LCMS
gain not one adult by baptism or confirmation.
• Annually, 47 percent of the congregations of the LCMS
gain one adult or less by baptism or confirmation.
• Since 1968, the number of annual adult confirmands has
remained virtually the same, just under 30,000. Statistically, it requires the efforts of 115 LCMS members to result in one adult confirmation.
• We are facing significant financial challenges that will
chart the course of the Synod in the years ahead:
• Total annual LCMS congregational contributions have
risen from $200 million to more than $1 billion in the
past 30 years ($1.3 billion in 2003 and $1.4 billion in
2006).
• Congregational contributions to the LCMS budget
through the districts of the Synod have declined from
just over $25,000,000 to slightly under $25,000,000, not
adjusted for inflation, in the past three decades ($22.5
million in 2003 and $20 million in 2006).
• LCMS communicant membership has risen from 1,875,000
to 1,950,000 in the past 30 years, a sign of the graying of
the LCMS.
• LCMS baptized membership has declined from 2.8 million
to just under 2.6 million in that same period of time.
• We are blessed with a strong commitment to biblical and
confessional theology, yet average attendance at worship,
Sunday School, and Bible class continues to decline in
many of our congregations.
• LCMS Bible study trends indicate Sunday School pupil enrollment dropped from 850,000 thirty years ago to under
500,000 today, with youth and adult Bible study group participants increasing from 310,000 to 340,000 during that
same period.
• LCMS total weekly worship attendance has declined from
1,140,000 to 960,000 in the past 30 years, a decrease
of more than 15 percent. Approximately one of every
three baptized members of our Synod attends worship
each week.
• We struggle with reaching and retaining people in our congregations, including our children and grandchildren:
• Almost 50 percent of the infants baptized in our congregations are not confirmed in them.
• Almost 50 percent of the children confirmed in our congregations are not active in them at age 21.
• We are currently experiencing critical shortages of professional church workers, including both pastors and educators. Many of our workers are stressed. Some are depressed
and on the verge of burnout. Others are contemplating resignation due to family and/or financial pressures.