wfn.org | ELCA Council Hears Trends, Suggestions on Church Growth

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 3, 2000

ELCA COUNCIL HEARS TRENDS, SUGGESTIONS ON CHURCH GROWTH
00-188-JB

     MUNDELEIN, Ill. (ELCA)   Lutherans have an "incredible,
persuasive understanding of the gospel" but must communicate it
creatively and effectively in today's changing culture, said Dr.
Kenneth W. Inskeep in a presentation on church growth to the Church
Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Inskeep is director of the ELCA Department for Research and
Evaluation, Chicago.
     The council met July 28-30 here at the Center for Development
in Ministry, University of St. Mary on the Lake.  The Church Council
is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as
 the legislative authority of the church between its churchwide
assemblies.  Assemblies are held every other year; the next is in
August 2001 in Indianapolis.
     "My basic thesis is that we've been on the sidelines," Inskeep
said. "We haven't engaged the population.  We are not articulating
who we are."
     Inskeep suggested Lutherans should be talking more about grace,
a concept that is central to the Lutheran church.  Personal testimony
can be an effective communication method, he said.  Lutherans can
offer "a certain piety without judgment," Inskeep told the council.
     Lutherans believe they are saved by the grace of God alone and
not through anything they do.  They also believe salvation is
received through faith in God and Jesus Christ.  Martin Luther, a
German monk, wrote and preached these ideas in the 16th century.  The
ideas were key to the Protestant Reformation.
     "We have to talk about reaching out and engaging people and
talking about the faith," he said.
     Inskeep presented a variety of factors that contribute to his
thesis:
     + The social environment and culture are difficult and complex,
and Lutherans have something to say about the gospel. "The message is
an answer to a whole variety of circumstances, but Lutherans seem to
be ill-suited to communicating it," Inskeep said.
     + Membership in the ELCA has remained relatively stable since
the 5.2-million member denomination was formed in 1988, though in
recent years, the church has lost some members.
"But no mainline denomination is growing quickly," he said, adding
the growth rate of other denominations has also slowed.
     + "Ethnicity matters greatly" to people of color, Inskeep said.
The Spanish-speaking population in the United States is an important
component of the country's growing population.
     + More couples are cohabitating, delaying marriage and
divorcing.
     + Nearly three-fourths of women work outside the home, compared
to less than half 40 years ago. "Think about what that means in the
way our congregations are organized," Inskeep said.
     + While there is strong opposition to teenage and extramarital
sex, there is greater acceptance of homosexuality, permarital sex and
cohabitation, he said.
     + There is a segment of the population that is interested in
spirituality but does not "join" faith groups, Inskeep said.
     The Lutheran church continues to operate like a "state church"
by baptizing children and offering other "rights of passage," Inskeep
said.  It also places a high value on confessional purity, he said.
     "I'm pretty much convinced the challenge is more of a challenge
because of how deeply the culture of Lutheranism is in us.  To change
cultures is no small, easy task," he said.
     Developing resources for church growth is not easy, Inskeep
said, because results are relatively short-term.
     "The issue is not membership growth.  The issue is our
understanding of the gospel," Inskeep said.  Lutherans should speak
with a "clear, distinctive, identifiable" Lutheran voice that
emphasizes grace, he said.
     Inskeep urged the council and others to continue the
conversation on church growth and how Lutherans can better address
today's social environment and the culture.  The church should try
new methods   strategically aimed -- to achieve growth, he said.
     "That's the way cultures change," Inskeep concluded.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html