As a life-long LCMS Lutheran, a few years ago I was relocated to the Detroit area. Trying to find a new home church for me and my family crystallized to me exactly why the LCMS is on the decline. There were no shortage of churches to try. In fact, the mission was so important to me that I often went to more than one service on Sunday morning to try to find a great fit without spending a year doing it.

So many of the churches were full of older parishioners, but few younger families. Many of the churches were small, dated churches that seemed in a time warp from 50 years ago. Dated liturgies. Dated facilities. Dated styles. Dated leadership. Disproportionately older people. It was a huge disappointment. I generally gravitated to the churches with schools attached because that's where you found the youth and vitality.

I finally decided on a church that was a 45 minute drive from home. I love the church, the pastors, the parishioners, etc. Unfortunately, it's hard to be fully integrated into the mid week bible studies and social activities when it's so far away. I have a Lutheran church two miles from my house, but the experience is like the time warp I've explained above. There's a burgeoning, upper middle class community adjacent to us with nearly 60,000 people but no LCMS church in the community to service them.

The whole experience has painted a very bleak view for me of the state of the LCMS and where it's headed.

I've often believed the LCMS transformation may never happen because our well chronicled stoicism and bullheadedness. But if it does, it will be because we've consolidated a lot of dated, crippled churches into fresh and new ones. While the history of the LCMS is chock full of examples of those who resist change, it's no longer about holding on to beloved past practices. This is about the very survival of the church. Predominantly, the people who fill the pews today won't be around in ten years. So, the decline described in the article above will only be intensified in a very short period of time unless we have bold leadership, some effective centralized vision and planning, and we are aggressive in carrying out the mission.

I've been waiting for the opportunity to serve on a serious, synod-sanctioned effort to begin tackling the issue, as long as the commitment and resources necessary to do so are also available.

Keith Ledbetter
South Lyon, MI
keithledbetter99@gmail.com