LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 94

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testimonies to God’s faithfulness expressed through
the robust ways that our Synod—the people and
pastors, the congregations and institutions—are
doing God’s work with eternal impact both in the
United States and into the all the world.
Thus, my point this morning is really rather simple.
Here it is: It is a miracle that confessional Lutheranism exists in any form today. Humanly speaking, it
should not. If it were up to us, it would not: indeed, it
could not. But it does—purely by God’s grace. For it is
built Upon This Rock! Thus, we see in the continuing
existence of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod—with all of its triumphs and challenges, capabilities and limitations, beauty and warts—evidence of
God’s continued fulfillment of the promise spoken
by our Lord Jesus Christ, “the gates of hell shall not
prevail against my church.”1 So, dear friends in Christ,
let us repent, confess and rejoice.
To the human eye it is easy—sometimes perhaps
too easy—to conclude that we have passed a point
of no return: a fundamental, epochal shift in the
church’s life.
One need only examine the demographic evidence
regarding Christianity in general and Lutheranism in particular in the United States to know that
things have changed. All of the major Lutheran
churches in North America are (1) aging and (2)
decreasing numerically. In addition to this reality,
research shows that the “millennial” generation
could turn out to be the least religious generation
in American history.2
These changes are affecting the American churches.
In 2013, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) had a stated membership of 3.9 million.
This number is significantly lower than the 5.3 million Lutherans (LCA, ALC, and AELC) who formed
the ELCA in 1988. This decline in the number of
members has been mirrored by the departure of
about 1,500 congregations from the church body—
in both cases, a decline of about 20 percent.
And what about the other Lutheran church bodies of
1

2

Lawrence R. Rast, Jr., “Reformation in New Lands and Tongues,” Journal of
Lutheran Mission 2 (September 2015): 16–22.
Cooper-White, Macrina. “Millennials Are the Least Religious Generation Yet, And
Here’s the Surprising Reason Why.” Huffington Post, 2015. huffingtonpost.com/
2015/05/27/millennials-less-religious_n_7452998.html, accessed July 7, 2016.
This story is based upon Pew Research. pewforum.org/2010/02/17/religion
-among-the-millennials/, accessed July 7, 2016.

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U P O N T H I S R O C K • Essay

the United States? Our own LCMS presently has a
baptized membership of 2,097,258 members (2014).3
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS)
reports a baptized membership of 376,177.4 The
Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) has about 15,000
members. Other Lutheran groups have emerged,
largely drawing their membership from among the
disaffected of the ELCA. The North American Lutheran Church (NALC) now claims 140,000 members in about 400 congregations, while Lutheran
Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) now
lists a total of 859 congregations, of which 739 are in
the United States.5
One reality that these church bodies generally share
is an important demographic realignment that is
changing their possible futures. In the LCMS, while
one hears significantly diverging estimates, the average age of its members appears to be somewhere
around 59 or 60. That age has been climbing steadily for some years and continues to be a cause for
concern. Simultaneously, we have been experiencing
a well-documented decrease in family size. The
relationship between the two points is obvious—
fewer babies, higher average age. At the same time,
such aging has implications for our life together. Smaller families mean fewer infant baptisms,
which ultimately results in fewer confirmations.
This impacts parochial schools in direct ways and
is affecting and will continue to affect the Synod’s
institutions of higher education.
Along with our aging membership is the fact that
Lutheranism is among the most racially homogeneous confessions in the United States. Presently,
approximately 95 percent of the baptized members
of the LCMS are white. ELCA is approximately
97 percent white. In both instances—age and racial
homogeneity—American Lutherans are in a changing demographic.
But there is more. In addition to age and race, Evangelical Christians—broadly including Confessional
Lutherans—are increasingly relativistic in their
thinking. While a stunning 90-plus percent of Americans confess belief in “God,” the definition of that
“God” is increasingly fuzzy and uncertain. Further,
blogs.lcms.org/2015/statistics-for-2014, accessed March 16, 2016.
connect.wels.net/AOM/MCG/CongStatsReport/Documents/WELS
%20Statistical%20Report%202014.pdf, accessed July 7, 2016.
5
thenalc.org/history/, accessed July 7, 2016; lcmc.net, accessed July 7, 2016.
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4

“Upon This Rock: Repent, Confess, Rejoice”