Alienated Lutheran Young Adults. What Does This Mean?
You may perfectly articulate the doctrine of justification by faith, and yet have no faith at all, which may explain a large part of why our Synod congregations are dying.
As an amateur anthropologist interested in the religious bodies of America, I have learned a lot by monitoring social media. Two recent X posts caught my attention, and I urge the teachers of the church throughout the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) to prioritize reading and thoroughly digesting the thread reproduced below (the link includes many interesting comments not included here).
Can our great theologians answer these young men and their families? Do you understand what they are expressing? Do you know this has nothing to do with confessional versus missional, but the ugly specter of Dead Orthodoxy (formal religion without spiritual life)? Is it too terrifying for our antinomian vibe-preaching? Is Pietism really the Lutherans’ greatest vanquishment? Is our real problem that we take Gerhard Forde too lightly? “Sanctification is the art of getting used to our justification.”
There are only too many baptized men and women who practically know nothing at all about Christ. Their religion consists in a few vague notions and empty expressions. They trust they are no worse than others. They keep to their church. They try to do their duty. They do nobody any harm. They hope God will be merciful to them. They trust the Almighty will pardon their sins, and take them to heaven when they die. This is about the whole of their religion! J.C. Ryle, Holiness
You may perfectly articulate the doctrine of justification by faith, and yet have no faith at all. You may believe that Christ died for sinners, and yet never trust in Him for eternal salvation. Ad Crucem.
X posts courtesy of Lutheran Sage and Jon
To which Jon responded…
I am 34. Raised LCMS and never felt like anything was grossly lacking until I met some friends who were Catholic and was impressed by the way their lives simply expressed and modeled devotion. I felt envious! Why did my faith life feel so shallow by comparison? Why was I uncomfortable making the sign of the cross? Why was reverent family prayer and catechesis abnormal? I went through a brief crisis of identity and was watching orthodox and Catholic content. Thank God I found Wolfmueller and OTL. I finally felt some reassurance that the Lutheran church (and “culture”) that I wished for was not entirely theoretical. Only through online resources, self study, and taking the lead on family devotions and catechesis have I started to feel like I am catching up.
Now we’ve got a handful of Memento groups going at our church. Men want to be pushed. They want to be given high expectations for how to run their lives and homes. They don’t want you to beat around the bush and give some half baked answer on birth control. They want sermons that make them want to do better.
The main thrust of this incoherent rant is this: If you want to stay LCMS for the doctrine but want to have a more robust culture of discipleship and sanctification you are going to have to start modeling the culture in your home and with other men in your parish.
We can blame boomers all we want, but let’s not use them as an excuse to not put the pedal down and take our own walks seriously.
Re those who vocations require them to work on Sunday. In the world of the ancient church there was no "day off." The church's solution was to offer the Mass daily, early in the morning before sunrise. We need to move beyond one a week Christianity toward the daily Mass and daily prayer in those areas where people are unable to gather on Sunday morning.
The same hold true for catechesis, Bible study, devotion, etc. People are hungering for more than Lutheran Lite. We need to turn up the Law/Gospel burner to something more than a warm glow, where there is a genuine fear of the Lord, faith in Christ, and love for the brotherhood.
A grievous problem with aging congregation is the stubbornness to move beyond "how we've always done it here."