Several thoughts: 1) Both the survey and the response are helpful, in my opinion.
2) Weaknesses in the survey from a professional survey criteria point of view are important to point out. The overall shared perspective is that denominational decline in membership is rolling down the road at an ever-increasing pace. The Red Letter group, ie large congregations with diverse worship forms, addresses it directly in its prioritization of Gospel outreach to families and to the community surrounding. That's good! 3) Synod, from the Greek for "same road", is not defined as lockstep uniformity in practice. We're walking down the same road TOGETHER. The old guru Lyle Schaller described it not as "marching" but as pilgrimage. We're on the highway to heaven as pilgrims on a journey. Some walk slower, some with more pace, there are stops along the way for refreshment and to care for the sick and those in need of special care. The highway, the Way, is Jesus. All the doctrinal accoutrements serve to reveal Jesus through the Word, through Water, through the Meal. The relationship is with God and God's community. 4) Red Letter describes to me a desire - and it's a desire to be at the decision tables in the LCMS as we all walk down the road. The group of congregations representing the majority of LCMS Lutherans at worship on Sunday is not involved at the national leadership and decision-making level. That's actually difficult to understand for them, and for any objective observer.
5) Why is that? How does that happen? First, it's on purpose, mostly purposefully because of the diversity of worship style in the various and many worship offerings of those large congregations. It manifests at the national youth gathering, where they send boatloads of kids who are not locked in only to LSB. So, 6) the group running the elections and selections in the LCMS doesn't like that some of the pilgrims on the journey are not locked in only to LSB. That group purposefully keeps those folks away from leadership at the national level. 7) That group is uniquely anonymous among Christian denominations in the US. It's called the United List.
8) So in closing, Red Letter has a legitimate desire, and a legitimate beef. It can't direct the beef to the folks running the election, because they're unknown. It really hasn't even been articulating the desire and distress until the last couple of years.
Excellent and thorough analysis. Surveys like polls and statistics need to be analyzed if they are to have any informative value.
So the LCMS is hierarchical, antiquated, and indifferent to innovation? I’m not seeing a problem here. That describes the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church on earth.
Honestly, having read the Red Letter Challenge by Zehnder, I don’t see anything different than the Non-Denom American Evangelical church that I left.
Several thoughts: 1) Both the survey and the response are helpful, in my opinion.
2) Weaknesses in the survey from a professional survey criteria point of view are important to point out. The overall shared perspective is that denominational decline in membership is rolling down the road at an ever-increasing pace. The Red Letter group, ie large congregations with diverse worship forms, addresses it directly in its prioritization of Gospel outreach to families and to the community surrounding. That's good! 3) Synod, from the Greek for "same road", is not defined as lockstep uniformity in practice. We're walking down the same road TOGETHER. The old guru Lyle Schaller described it not as "marching" but as pilgrimage. We're on the highway to heaven as pilgrims on a journey. Some walk slower, some with more pace, there are stops along the way for refreshment and to care for the sick and those in need of special care. The highway, the Way, is Jesus. All the doctrinal accoutrements serve to reveal Jesus through the Word, through Water, through the Meal. The relationship is with God and God's community. 4) Red Letter describes to me a desire - and it's a desire to be at the decision tables in the LCMS as we all walk down the road. The group of congregations representing the majority of LCMS Lutherans at worship on Sunday is not involved at the national leadership and decision-making level. That's actually difficult to understand for them, and for any objective observer.
5) Why is that? How does that happen? First, it's on purpose, mostly purposefully because of the diversity of worship style in the various and many worship offerings of those large congregations. It manifests at the national youth gathering, where they send boatloads of kids who are not locked in only to LSB. So, 6) the group running the elections and selections in the LCMS doesn't like that some of the pilgrims on the journey are not locked in only to LSB. That group purposefully keeps those folks away from leadership at the national level. 7) That group is uniquely anonymous among Christian denominations in the US. It's called the United List.
8) So in closing, Red Letter has a legitimate desire, and a legitimate beef. It can't direct the beef to the folks running the election, because they're unknown. It really hasn't even been articulating the desire and distress until the last couple of years.
9) Do they deserve to be heard?
Excellent and thorough analysis. Surveys like polls and statistics need to be analyzed if they are to have any informative value.
So the LCMS is hierarchical, antiquated, and indifferent to innovation? I’m not seeing a problem here. That describes the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church on earth.