A Little Advice for the Synods - A Plan for the Lutheran Church

Teach and trust the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace.

The LCMS-ELS-WELS have been venerating Fuller Seminary, copying its crafts assaults for decades. They are in merger talks - but not exactly merger. To salvage some dignity, they may adopt a version of non-geographical synods. That has been done with Slovak Zion (LCA) and the English District (LCMS). But this merger is not unlike Sears-Kmart, doomed from the start.

Angry voices will claim nothing of the sort is happening, but they have to close many of their dying schools. They could drop more seminaries, proportionately, than ELCA has, and not be short of bricks and mortar, columns and statues, unused libraries and aging tennis courts.

It began when LCMS-ELS-WELS was willing to participate in a lavishly funded Church Growth Initiative, to "do evangelism" with ELCA and the Fuller divines. That was like having Paul McCain leading a conference on detecting plagiarism and avoiding Romanism. In the name of growth - and using up Thrivent dollars so ELCA would not get them - LCMS-ELS-WELS sold the remains of their heritage for a bowl of cold lentil soup.

 When your synod teaches the Subjective and Objective Justification of this Calvinist, Leonard Woods, you are in deep trouble.

The Schools Are Gone - Forget That Path
First, the colleges and seminaries have to be purged of the leaven of UOJ and Church Growth. Those people have no idea what Biblical doctrine is, and they prove it every time they write. The LCMS-ELS-WELS radicals have done exactly what the extreme Left has done in many American institutions, especially higher education and public education. They have quotaed the worthwhile teachers out of teaching while enabling and leveraging the worst of the apostates.

All it took was a few of the right people on the boards, and they could hire their idiot friends to promote their UOJ and Church Growth fantasies. It goes beyond their own passions for falsehood, because it is an utter repudiation of Biblical truths.

 ELCA (ic) and Episcopal leaders: who does not match?
Correct - the girl in purple and blue.

The Congregation Is the Last Refuge
WELS-ELS-LCMS ineptitude, corruption, and felonies are enough to make anyone totally Missourian in polity. Unless we take Fathers Weedon and McCain, LCMS seriously - and who can? - the congregation remains the only place where the Word and Sacraments prevail.

The Lutheran congregations have almost unlimited freedom to do what is Biblical. The pastor, in spite of his claims of helplessness, can create a revived center of Gospel proclamation. In this era of drought and famine, too many want to provide one more iteration (love that word) of Fuller toxins.

Here Is the Plan
Some of you lazy-bones skipped to this part, but that is OK with me. This part matters the most, but it is ignored with religious fervor, mostly out of ignorance. Your synod leaders have been teaching you how to fail, after learning their folly from Fuller and Willow Creek.

1. The pastor writes out his sermon for each service (midweeks too) and publishes it. Blogs make that easy. This must be Biblical exposition except for some theme sermons, but always very close to a given text, carefully explained.
2. The sermon can be pasted into Word and sent around an email list as well. That provides a useful inventory of sermons.
3. The sermon can also be posted on Facebook, which will gain and lose friendships.
4. Holy Communion is provided regularly, keeping in mind Pietism's aversion to the sacraments and our chance to provide the Visible Word as often as possible.
5. Pastoral teaching should be aimed at creating a extensive knowledge of the unified truth of the Scriptures. Taking people through a book of the Bible and a part of the Book of Concord - those efforts will accumulate the Treasure of the Gospel over time. It can be done Christmas style - "
6. in the spare room of a rented house."
7. The worship services should be beamed over the Net and saved - via Ustream or some other service. I have lost track of the people who could not attend their home church and used our service because of sickness, snow, and other factors. People worry about preserving their ownership of the church building - a huge cost - and fuss over $100 a month to broadcast the Gospel to the world.
8. The Gospel should be taken to the sick and shut-in faithfully, no excuses.
9. Nothing should keep a pastor from accumulating worthwhile writing and publishing it in print-on-demand books (Lulu, Amazon, etc.) For example, I can print a 100 page book in color for $10, the same book in black and white for $2.50. Bulletins do not last. Magazines do not last. Books last. I have bought my own books back via Alibris, when I ran out of old copies. Someone can be the finishing editor for books and Kindles, with color illustrated Kindle ebooks at 99 cents.
10. Facebook can be used the same way. Norma A. Boeckler, our artist-in-residence, has many thousands of likes for her Scriptural art - proof that stained glass windows in a new form can be sent all over the world.

 ELCA stats: why do the smaller synods want to follow them to doom and perdition?