Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Plugging Along

I have been a little overwhelmed with important matters lately. I have also been pondering what the Evangelical Lutheran church bodies seem to have lost. More precisely, it seems that they tend to grow the church, one family or baby at a time, and leave the fallen and dying world to others. There seems to be this "we belong  over here, they are over there..." mentality when it comes to evangelism. I suspect the historical hierarchical structure leaves parishioners with the false sense of "there's a committee for that" when it is really their duty to evangelize. I also suspect the Roman Catholic (and similar) have similar challenges in a general sense. Baptists, Enthusiasts, and Mormons are determined to bring the "lost souls" in, but the known theological issues almost negate the additional bodies in the pews/chairs. So one group has fallen off the "limited evangelism, heavy theology" side of the horse, while the others have fallen on the "unlimited evangelism, light theology" side. So how does a Confessional Lutheran (or just conservative Christian) church evangelize without sacrificing theology and avoiding "mega-church-itis" programs? This is what I am considering now as its becoming apparent that the Church is becoming very luke-warm, unwilling to risk a small persecution by declaring God's Word openly, everywhere.

I was directed to this blog entry by my pastor, and I share it because it is helpful to understand the why behind the prohibition of women pastors. Why I changed my mind