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| "I enjoy a $500,000 house!" |
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| Three become one, closing two of three congregations. It's the latest fad, after promising to start 100 new churches...yuk, yuk, yuk. |
But there's more! Three more "Merge for Mission" videos available on the YouTubes, to be specific. First, we have Pastor Joel Gaertner's presentation (Archive) to the congregations of Immanuel, Shirley (WI) and surrounding congregations. Pastor Gaertner let a few things slip where Jon had been a little more tight-lipped. Joel tells us there are 24 conversations "in one phase or another." Note: these are not 24 churches discussing merger, but 24 mergers with two or more churches involved! In the case of Milwaukee it's something like 7 churches, at least five in MSP. If we assume an average of 3 churches per merger (and assuming the average merger is a consolidation) we are going from 72 churches to 24 churches, or roughly 50 churches closed. Which means the WELS is treading water. See, that "100 in 10" initiative doesn't disclose that on average prior to the stunt, we were opening five churches a year. So really, it's "50 in 10" new starts but we're actively consolidating about 72 churches to 24, so it's all smoke and mirrors. Jon Hein's "target" at the last synod convention was 200 fewer congregations in a decade. We're just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. Joel mentioned that we don't really have a pastor shortage, the synod is 120k members down from our all-time peak but only two fewer pastors today; so "it's not a pastor problem, it's a deployment problem."
GJ - I love the numbers. Nothing displays the atheism better than Arithmetic 101.
Silence from the Waltherians?
- The efficacy of the Word of God.
- The Means of Grace.
- The most precise (and most ignored) King James Bible.
- Justification by Faith in Jesus Christ.
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