ELCA Council Hears Trends, Suggestions on Church Growth

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:
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