rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Grace, St. Timothy Lutheran churches become one - ...":
Recently, I was discussing some changes in demographics with a friend of mine. I brought up the trend toward lower marriage rates in this country. The CGM used demographics as a tool to allegedly help them reach more of the lost. All of this has backfired on them.
If the growthers were really serious, they would look at the fact that many simply do not care about institutions any more. The megachurch model is faulted with their "Bible studies" which are nothing more than a book of the month club.
There is a latency effect as congregations simply cannot keep enough members to pay the mortgage on their expansion programs. Many cannot even cover their overhead. Anyone who thinks that this scenario will turn around soon is delusional.
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GJ - Robert Schuller built a monument to himself, "to reach the unchurched," but the neighborhood changed and people moved away. He was stuck with an over-mortgaged Philip Johnson spectacular he could not support. When televangelists run out of money, they lose stations. When they lose stations, they get even less money.
WELS will keep excommunicating members and pastors until the last few share the endowment funds and Thrivent loot.
