Saturday, April 9, 2011

Who's Leaving ELCA - One Bishop Election Away from Radical Changes

Everything is explained in this bit of logic.



Pastor G. Erndner, ALPB Forum Online
To make things easier, below is a list sorted by percentage of congregations that left. The first batch are those with 1% or fewer. The last batch are those with 10% or higher.

7A New Jersey Synod 0 cong. out of 186 cong., or 0.0% and 0 Bap. mem. out of 66,770 mem., or 0.0%
7B New England Synod 0 cong. out of 186 cong., or 0.0% and 0 Bap. mem. out of 64,031 mem., or 0.0%
7G Slovak Zion Synod 0 cong. out of 26 cong., or 0.0% and 0 Bap. mem. out of 4,466 mem., or 0.0%
8G Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod 0 cong. out of 80 cong., or 0.0% and 0 Bap. mem. out of 34,291 mem., or 0.0%
9F Caribbean Synod 0 cong. out of 34 cong., or 0.0% and 0 Bap. mem. out of 5,052 mem., or 0.0%
7E Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod 1 cong. out of 290 cong., or 0.3% and 119 Bap. mem. out of 147,481 mem., or 0.1%
8E Upper Susquehanna Synod 1 cong. out of 137 cong., or 0.7% and 444 Bap. mem. out of 39,831 mem., or 1.1%
5A Metropolitan Chicago Synod 2 cong. out of 205 cong., or 1.0% and 3,520 Bap. mem. out of 104,754 mem., or 3.4%

2C Pacifica Synod 13 cong. out of 128 cong., or 10.2% and 12,255 Bap. mem. out of 50,530 mem., or 24.3%
5I East-Central Synod of Wisconsin 15 cong. out of 141 cong., or 10.6% and 6,255 Bap. mem. out of 95,709 mem., or 6.5%
5F Northeastern Iowa Synod 20 cong. out of 181 cong., or 11.0% and 8,392 Bap. mem. out of 88,273 mem., or 9.5%
5E Western Iowa Synod 21 cong. out of 165 cong., or 12.7% and 7,766 Bap. mem. out of 66,769 mem., or 11.6%
1F Montana Synod 19 cong. out of 146 cong., or 13.0% and 6,084 Bap. mem. out of 49,302 mem., or 12.3%
9B North Carolina Synod 34 cong. out of 236 cong., or 14.4% and 14,592 Bap. mem. out of 81,705 mem., or 17.9%
4E Southwestern Texas Synod 28 cong. out of 170 cong., or 16.5% and 15,071 Bap. mem. out of 63,805 mem., or 23.6%

I'd also note that every synod in the ELCA is only one election of a new bishop away from becoming radically different from what it currently is. And of course, that works both ways.

Also, the database includes a category for "1st vote pending". Any analysis I do of congregations that "have left or are in the process of leaving" include those with announced 1st votes pending, as well as "failed/rescheduled". Bethel Lutheran in Parkersburg, Iowa is noted as such in the database.