Change in the LCMS has had a Noble History
By Charles S. Mueller, Sr.
Any suggestion that the
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod hasn’t/won’t/can’t adapt to a
changing world is categorically contradicted by its history
from when the earliest Saxon segment of our ancestry arrived
here in the late 1830s until now. For nearly two centuries
our synod has worked its way through innumerable immigrant
and language challenges, through nearing a dozen wars,
through regularly recurring economic depressions, through
the explosive expansion of our nation and the opening of the
west and – most consequential of all – through our nation’s
swing from an overwhelmingly agricultural economy and social
order to becoming the world’s premier industrial power. The
LCMS was deeply involved all the way.
That the challenge of change
has been such a steady diet makes it all the more remarkable
that today, in the first decade of the 21st
century, the LCMS stands as the oldest extant Lutheran body
of size in America, the ups and downs of change
notwithstanding. Impossible?
Our longevity is not so much
something about which to boast as it is something for us to
acknowledge with thanks to God. Under His sure hand our
ancestors faced and dealt with a constantly changing world
and did so with little fanfare. Though seldom in the
vanguard of national or international changes, they were
ever ready to grapple with whatever arose and did so
effectively by clinging to two core values:
1. They were committed to
the inerrant Word,
2. They were determined to
work through challenging moments – together.
Values Deeply Rooted in the First Century
Neither conviction should
surprise anyone. Both are rooted in Walther. His
purposeful resolve to judge everything by Scripture, twinned
to a determination to walk and work together with others who
though different were of the same mind was at the heart of
Dr. CFW Walther’s 1848 inaugural presidential address. In
it he openly stated that some believed the diversity among
those who were forming the new association doomed it from
the start. It could well have failed. As he and others
organized immigrants from areas in Germany that had been
separated for centuries, Walther asked the question: “Why
should and can we carry on our work together although we
have no power but the power of the Word?” His position was
that the work would be carried on successfully if, together
under the Word, the new association would be guided in their
life together with convincing one another rather than by
resorting to force or control.
In summary, that’s how the
LCMS started off and then adventured together through the
first hundred years of its organizational life. There were
rough spots over those years but there was also an awesome
catalogue of accomplishments. It is tragic that so many
LCMS members know little about our remarkable history while
others have distorted it to their own advantage almost
beyond recognition. The fuller story of that first century
is told in numerous books plus pages and pages of regional
and national reports. Walther’s eloquent explanation of the
only way synod could succeed is in Moving Frontiers,
edited by Carl S. Meyer, CPH, 1964, pages 170-176.
Changes in the Second Century
The synod’s second century
opened in the late 1940s as the post-World War II world was
taking shape, GI Generation and all. Many clergy and lay
leaders were concerned in those years about what the face of
effective ministry in the future might be. At the same
time there was much institutional angst about change and
about our place in the world of social/economic/political
adjustments. Trying to find our way, we explored TV, radio,
the print media, outreach programs of all sorts, new
attempts at foreign and domestic missions. Many
congregations tested newer organizational models complete
with councils, administrative boards and committees. There
were efforts to expand and enlarge the role of the laity,
male and female alike.
Internal unrest was
developing as it became increasingly apparent that
congregations were not all of one kind and that disturbing
demographic realignments were in motion changing the face
of our congregation’s neighborhoods as well as our
congregations themselves. The way church was done appeared
to differ from district to district. Some found that scary.
Reaction? More than a few
clergy and congregations assumed a position of denial:
change was not going to happen on their watch without a
fight. One reason many missed out on
community/congregational transformation was that we had
become embroiled in a battle about Bible versions, in
disagreements about hymn books, in arguing about worship
styles, in tension over fellowship questions, in debating
the place and value of the Lutheran World Federation, and in
struggles with ever present internal theological differences
over issues real and imagined.
While all this was going on
we seemed to have lost institutional track of what was
happening in the world around us even though signs of
current and imminent change were everywhere.
Sorting Out Causes for Decline
On top of all that there
slowly surfaced an uncomfortable recognition that after
years of steady numerical growth most if not all such
indicators of congregational health were in decline.
While ignoring our synod’s
easily demonstrable declining birth rate and of the enormous
drop in immigrations from that of the 1840s to the 1940s
there were those who saw all this falloff as another
indicator of flawed doctrine and practice: not enough
theology of the cross (purity in doctrine) and too much
theology of glory (numbers). Some even gloried in our
parish membership losses seeing shrinking numbers as
evidence of doctrinal faithfulness.
Another explanation of the
tragedy of declining and dying churches dismisses it all as
attributable to chance. Growth and/or decline was a matter
of being located in the right/wrong places (chance); of
having the right/wrong kind of pastor (chance); of adopting
the right/wrong programs (chance).
Few seemed to notice two
critical sociological/ecclesial shifts affecting all
churches – Lutheran or not – that were in motion. When left
unattended these shifts forecast how hundreds of
congregations have been brought to their organizational
knees. The two?
The first is that LCMS
parishes at their best are not cookie-cuttered clones having
the same mission opportunities which called for the same
style, resources and experience. The truth is that
congregations can be, and most often are, different one from
another in many ways even while locked together in love on
the walk down a common road (syn-odos).
Secondly, huge changes have
taken place in the generational picture which were not only
triggered by their changing generational numbers and life
expectancy but by the way current generations interrelate in
our crowded (and getting more so) world.
Clearly the world in which
we minister has changed. Delegates to the 2010 Synod
Convention in July are asked to approve some major
adjustments in how the 161-year-old Synod does its
business. Don’t be afraid of change. The LCMS has a noble
history of doing that to meet new challenges.
