Posted on 03/05/2025 4:02:23 PM PST by Morgana
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) is a confessional Lutheran denomination that is the second largest in the country, historically viewed as serving as the conservative foil to the apostate Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Led by President Matthew Harrison, the denomination claimed 1.7M baptized congregants in 2023, with a reported weekly attendance of nearly 523k spread across 5.7k congregations. Notably, 45% of LCMS congregations have a weekly attendance of less than 50 people.
Pew Research, which previously published studies of the LCMS in 2007 and 2014, has released a massive new religious landscape survey on the denomination, with a sample size of 35,000 that includes 1200 Laity.
The results are dispiriting.
When it comes to homosexuality, 50% of respondents say it should be accepted, along with 50% who strongly favor/ favor same-sex marriage.
Likewise, 54% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
When it comes to evolution, 81% believe that humans evolved over time, either with or without God.
Lastly, when it comes to demographics, the numbers are bleak, with only 5% of members under the age of 30, and nearly half of members are senior citizens.
At the rate they’re going, merging with the ELCA in 20 years remains a very real possibility.
(Excerpt) Read more at protestia.com ...
Bowing before Molech
And they should remove "Missouri" too. Just call it "Church Synod".
Aka satan.
They’re pretending to be Christians, but we all know what Jesus said about wolves in sheeps clothing.
I am an LCMS member. This survey has nothing in common with my congregation. Nothing. We have members under 30, we are growing, we follow Christ, our pastors are firm about discussing sin, the consequences of sin and the only way forward, Christ.. My experience simply does not relate in any way to this survey. A “merger” with ELCA would be like the US merging with Venezuela. Unthinkable. I won’t do it. Ever.
The Missouri Synod was definitely the most Conservative (and I think the largest) Lutheran Church in the USA until the 1970s.
Missouri Synod membership began contracting around that time period, and it has slowly, but progressively, moved to the political Left ever since.
Rename it the Lex-Lutheran church.
There will be no merger.
LC-MS hasn’t changed its views to put bodies in the seats, and it won’t.
Yup. I agree. If we would merge with any other denomination it would be WELS.
Apparently it does not translate into voting or Harrison would never have won the election.
Not sure who PEW asked.
I am also a member of a vibrant LCMS church and it in no way comes close to the results of this survey.
Anything PEW does is skewed left for a purpose. Grain of sand on this one....
I am also a member of a vibrant LCMS church and it in no way comes close to the results of this survey.
Have you met the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod? Way more conservative in everything.
Too good to fix the Catholic Church’s human failings with prayer and adamant boisterousness....comes to this....too good to fix man’s failings still.
We call it “Lutheran Church Misery Synod”.
I just got done giving a Bible study on the Belgic Confession. Luther would be enraged to see what has happened to the Lutheran Church.
I’m not sure who they asked either, because they said it was a survey of 35,000 with 1200 laity. That would mean these are primarily results from about 33,000 LCMS pastors.
No way. Absolutely, freaking no way.
I don’t know if the LCMS even has 33,000 pastors.
Something is very, very screwy with this report.
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