[rhema]

Ping

[hinckley buzzard]

ELCA leaders claim to be led by the Holy Spirit, so does this mean the Spirit is downsizing the ELCA?

The Holy Spirit got His hat and left the ELCA some time ago. All that is left is the sanctimonious content-free boilerplate spew from sociopaths like Mark Hanson.

No wonder the ELCA is a dead church, walking. At least it has a path to follow, well beaten down into the dirt by the Episcopalians.

[lightman]

The churchwide assembly is increasingly appearing to become a club of insiders or regulars. Slightly more than 50% of the voting members were first-time attendees. Several years ago more than 70% were first-time attendees at assemblies, but in recent assemblies that percentage has steadily declined. This decline in new attendees does not bode well for a churchwide organization that has been perceived for many years to be disconnected from synods and congregations.

Perhaps.

But because in the past most of the "voting members" were newbies they were very easily influenced by slick presentations by the Churchwide staff and emotional experiential stories told from the floor.

Maybe now the increasingly veteran participants will become more discerning--as well as more accountable to the Synods which keep re-electing them.

Otherwise, I agree completely with Pr. Chavez's analysis.

[MarkBsnr]

I did not find any figures which gave either the number of children that adults had, or the number of children expected to stay within ELCA as they grew up.

I would be interested in seeing what the hope for the future really is. Without believing Christians, a building is just a building. Without people, a congregation or parish or church is merely a legal entity.