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	November 28, 2003 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 138

	Third 'Igniting' event looks at worship attendance

	By Joe Isenhower Jr.

	OMAHA, Neb. -- There is no single formula for increasing worship
attendance in Synod congregations, but lots of ideas and a range of
approaches to share.

	That is one way to sum up the Nov. 14-15 "One Mission Ablaze:
Igniting Congregations" event at Kings of Kings Lutheran Church here
that gathered representatives of 23 Synod congregations among those
reporting the highest increases in average worship attendance from 1997
to 2001.

	"Whatever is working for you, I pray that your experience will
encourage and energize other congregations here and in the Synod," LCMS
President Gerald Kieschnick told the pastors and lay leaders.

	This was the third of eight "Igniting" events that are part of
Kieschnick's initiative to "move [the Synod] forward as a dynamic church
body that will reach many people for Christ."

	Kieschnick said that surveys indicate that on any given Sunday,
only 20 percent of Americans are in church.

	"It's not true that if we build it, they will come," he said.

	"We count people [in church] because people count," he told the
participants. "This is not about doing church, but being church."

	Participants identified "leveraged actions," or factors
influencing worship attendance, including prayer, worship leadership,
purpose, outreach, a sense of Christian community, involving youth,
service times and styles, lay training, spiritual growth, and networking
with growing churches.

	They shared what they see as factors for worship attendance
growth in their congregations.

	Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Houston, reported a gain of 576 in
its average worship attendance in the four-year period, the largest such
gain in the Synod.

	Bruce Collett, the congregation's director of outreach and
mission, said Gloria Dei experienced "the beginning of a cultural
change" in 2000, when it started a two-year "Each One Reach One"
campaign "to raise awareness of each member's calling to witness and
invite people to know Jesus and His church."

	"We were blessed with new members peaking at 367 joining Gloria
Dei in 2000 and 314 in 2001," said Collett, who added that an average of
200 guests and 25 first-time worshipers registered each week for those
two years.

	"The one constant that I heard throughout the [Igniting] event
was that all of the growing churches have leaders who felt committed to
do whatever it takes to reach the lost," said Rev. Paul Hoyer, pastor of
Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Lake Mary, Fla.

	Hoyer said that a factor for Holy Cross, with a 249 average
worship-attendance gain over the four years, was a new sanctuary in 1998
"that allowed us to do the same things that we were doing, only much
better.

	"I do not think that growth comes from a specific action or
program," said Hoyer, "but rather from an attitude of the leader and the
people."

	"I have never conducted my ministry in terms of counting heads
at worship services," said Rev. Steven Briel, pastor of St. John's
Lutheran Church, Maple Grove, Minn., "but solely in terms of preaching
the Gospel of our Lord's forgiveness and salvation as faithfully and
clearly as possible and properly administering His holy Sacraments,
including an evangelical but careful practice of closed communion."

	St. John's had an average worship-attendance increase of 196
between 1997 and 2001.

	Briel said that factors influencing the congregation's growth
include the growth of the Minneapolis area to the northwest, where Maple
Grove is located, and the congregation's school, which "has attracted
many folks ...."

	Omaha-event participants were invited to complete "covenant
forms" to lead their congregations to greater worship-attendance
increases in the next five years, share their expertise in
worshipattendance growth with four other congregations, and join in an
agreed-on project.

	The project they adopted late in the event calls for other
events "patterned after the Omaha meeting," involving congregations that
they mentor. Agreed-on results are to "multiply [the] 'Igniting'
experience, networking, mutual encouragement [and] creating a culture."

	The project will be funded with a $50,000 grant from Thrivent
Financial for Lutherans.

	"This is serious business," Kieschnick said as the event closed.
"The kinds of resources and gifts obvious in this room can have a
tremendous impact on the body of Christ."

	Although dates and the location are not set, the next "Igniting"
event will concentrate on the average worship attendance increase of
congregations in nonmetropolitan areas over a five-year period.

	****************************************

	If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996-1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996-1230.

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