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| Lutherans who do not trust the Word imagine they will do better in a cardboard tank manufactured by the Calvinists and improved by the Pentecostals. |
The Sears-KMart merger combined the power of two retail giants, one very old, one somewhat new. The latest bailout failed and Sears will liquidate.
WELS and Missouri are negotiating a peace, brokered through Thrivent and ELCA. The obvious issue is redundancy. They threw tons of money at buildings while local teaching on a campus was giving way to online. The Schwan money built a lot of gee-gaws that everyone could have lived without. Meanwhile, the tuition was hiked to gobble as money loan money as possible.
Nimble businesses plan to darken under-used properties or move to more prosperous locations.
The apostate Lutheran leaders looked backwards rather than forward, proving once again that they ignored the Parable of the Unrighteous Steward. They are as wise as doves, as innocent as serpents.
They coveted the hyped growth of certain congregations that focused on no confessions and plenty of entertainment. As one local Evangelical minister said to others, "The worship leader is the key." They nodded their heads collectively. That built Community of Joy and liquidated the parish when the pastor came to his senses.
The aging, sclerotic, sagging Boomers that lead WELS-LCMS are spectacular failures who have grabbed power, spent money like Congress, and hollowed out their sects. Their parishes are bad copies of CG-Missional ones, mockeries of Lutheran, Biblical, Means of Grace worshiping congregations. One can aim at material success or Biblical fidelity. The first brings the religion editor to marvel at the numbers. The second brings the cross.
I lost track of how many years we have broadcast services over the Net, - King James readings, The Lutheran Hymnal, Mr. Bose on the pipe organ. We are in our 10th year broadcasting from a spare room in a rented house. Too bad we did not adopt the name Bethlehem Lutheran, which might have spared us the wrath of Paul the Plagiarist. Before that we were in a mortgaged house, that is, rented from the bank.
We had a group of people who wanted to participate, so the service was for traditional Lutherans. No one expected much, except to continue faithful worship, about 60 Means of Grace services a year. In the last two years, quite a few have joined us part of them (because they have good local congregations) or joined us for good (since a traditional service is almost impossible to find). We spent very little money since the place and equipment were part of my normal online teaching.
A lot has happened in the last few years. I will add to this later today.
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| The Fuller Seminary faculty recently met, "Why have we stopped growing?" |
