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By Daniel J. Lehmann
Numbers tell a tale of change
Some up, down—always onward E
very so often it’s worth taking time to consider a few numbers. The figures below were shared by the ELCA Office of the Secretary at the spring Church Council meeting. While death hasn’t exactly taken a holiday,
there has been less of it in the ELCA. Since 1997, deaths of congregation mem- bers peaked in 1999 at 51,496, gradually declining over the ensuing years to 42,281 in 2010.
Bequests received by congregations have bounced up and down since 2000.
That year, 6,674 congregations received bequests. That figure jumped to 8,409 in 2004, dipped to 2,991 in 2007 and climbed back to 3,517 in 2010. The total value of the bequests followed a similar pattern. In 2000, the total value of the bequests equaled $95.6 million. It dropped to $83.9 million in 2004 and remained flat at $82.8 million in 2007 before rebounding to $94 million in 2010. As of the beginning of April, 915 congregations had taken first votes to leave the ELCA, with 684 passing and 231 failing. On the second vote (required to officially withdraw from the ELCA), 25 failed and 631 passed. Of those, 621 have been officially removed from the ELCA roster.
States most impacted by congregations voting twice to leave were Minne- sota at 70 (6 percent of all ELCA churches there); Ohio, 53 (9 percent); Iowa, 53 (11 percent); Texas, 48 (13 percent); Pennsylvania, 40 (3 percent). Such votes peaked between January 2010 and April 2011, drifting downward since. Those departing represented 7 percent of ELCA congregations; 7 percent of
baptized membership; 8 percent of worship attendees; 8 percent of total giving; and 5 percent of mission support. Where did those congregations go? With- drawing congregations must join another church body. Lutheran Congregations for Mission in Christ received 54 percent of the congregations while the North American Lutheran Church got 40 percent.
Synods least impacted by congregations voting to leave (zero or one) were
Alaska; Arkansas-Oklahoma; Caribbean; Metropolitan Washington, D.C.; New England; New Jersey; and Slovak Zion. With roughly 200 new starts over the past few years, the ELCA today claims about 9,800 congregations and 4.2 million members.
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Guiding the church may rest in the hands of different leadership. Of the 65 synods, 35 will host bishop elections over the next two years, 10 in 2012 and 25 next year. What does all this mean? Our church is changing, just as it did in such centers as Antioch and Rome, Wittenberg and Philadelphia/Minneapolis. We are not stuck in the present and neither are we stranded by inaction in pining for some idealized past. We look and move forward with confidence like our forebears, placing our trust in the Lord to guide us.
Our church is changing just as it did in such centers as Antioch and Rome, Wittenberg and Philadelphia/ Minneapolis.
MICHAEL D. WATSON
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