Journal of Lutheran Mission | June 2015

Journal of Lutheran

Mission June 2015 | Vol. 2 | No. 3

From the President

The Changing Face of Global Christianity

S

ince the birth of the Christian church at Pentecost, the Spirit of God has moved the Gospel from place to place. The Holy Spirit works when and where it pleases God, as Article V of the Augsburg Confession says. World history is really a subset of the Church’s history in this world. World events ultimately are in service to the Gospel even as the Church remains under the cross and at the same time can suffer from them. The Roman persecutions pushed the Church out of Jerusalem into the broader world. The fall of the Roman Empire brought Christianity to the barbarians. European colonialism brought the Gospel to the farthest ends of the earth. At each of these events and many more like them, the face of Christianity changed as different people groups came into the Church. Today, another historic shift is occurring.

Christianity is shifting away from the Global North (primarily Europe and North America) to the Global South (Africa, Asia and Latin America).

Ethiopia now claims more Lutherans than Sweden, the former largest population of “Lutherans” in the world. For the past century, even where the “numbers” of Christians have not significantly declined in the North, the participation of these “Christians,” who might have been baptized, married and buried in a church, has decreased dramatically. In contrast, many African

churches do not count members per se, but rather those who attend church on Sunday. The Church in the North and the Church in the South need each other. Both have gifts to offer the other. One blessing of our current age is the relative ease with which these gifts can be shared.

On the domestic side, the challenge of the decline of Christianity in the public square also is an opportunity to reach out to peoples who have not heard the Gospel.

This issue of the Journal of Lutheran Mission reflecting on the themes above contains the papers presented at the 2014 Mission Summit sponsored by the LCMS in Orange County, Calif., this past November. The first day of the conference focused on the changing face of Christianity in North America, while the second day of the conference focused on the change internationally. We hope that you will find the papers both thought-provoking and edifying.

We have the sure and certain promise from our Lord that He works all things for good and that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. The changing face of global Christianity is not to be feared, but to be embraced in the confident hope that our Lord will work a blessing from it both for the church and the world, as people hear the Gospel of Jesus.

The changing face of global Christianity is not to be feared, but to be embraced.

Sub cruce, President Matthew C. Harrison

The Journal of Lutheran Mission Contributing Editors Rev. Dr. Charles Arand, faculty, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis David Berger, faculty, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Rev. Dr. Steve Briel, chairman, Board for National Mission, LCMS Rev. Allan Buss, parish pastor, Belvidere, Ill. Rev. Roberto Bustamante, faculty, Concordia Seminary, Buenos Aires Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver III, director, Office of International Mission Regional Operations Rev. Thomas Dunseth, director of deaf ministry, Lutheran Friends of the Deaf, New York Rev. Dr. Charles Evanson, LCMS missionary, Lithuania Rev. Nilo Figur, area counselor for Latin America and the Caribbean, Lutheran Hour Ministries Rev. Roosevelt Gray, director, LCMS Black Ministry Rev. Dr. Carlos Hernandez, director, LCMS Hispanic Ministry Rev. Dr. John Kleinig, emeritus lecturer, Australian Lutheran College Rev. Ted Krey, regional director, Latin America and the Caribbean, LCMS Rev. Todd Kollbaum, director, Rural and Small Town Mission, LCMS Deaconess Dr. Cynthia Lumley, principal, Westfield Theological House, Cambridge Rev. Dr. Gottfried Martin, parish pastor, Berlin Rev. Dr. Naomichi Masaki, faculty, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne Rev. Dan McMiller, director, Missionary Recruitment, LCMS Rev. Dr. Tilahun Mendedo, president, Concordia College, Selma Rev. Nabil Nour, fifth vice-president, LCMS Rev. Dr. Steve Oliver, LCMS missionary, Taiwan Rev. Dr. Michael Paul, parish pastor, Evansville, Ind. Rev. Roger Paavola, president, LCMS Mid-South District Rev. Dr. Darius Petkunis, rector, Lithuanian Lutheran Seminary Rev. Dr. Andrew Pfeiffer, faculty, Australian Lutheran College Rev. John T. Pless, faculty, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne Rev. Dr. Timothy Quill, faculty, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne Rev. Dr. David Rakotonirina, bishop, Antananarivo Synod of the Malagasy Lutheran Church Rev. Dr. Victor Raj, faculty, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Deaconess Grace Rao, director, Deaconess Ministry, LCMS Rev. Geoff Robinson, mission executive, Indiana District Rev. Dr. Carl Rockrohr, dean, Mekane Yesus Seminary, LCMS Missionary, Ethiopia Rev. Robert Roethemeyer, faculty, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne Rev. Dr. Brian Saunders, president, LCMS Iowa East District Rev. Steve Schave, director, Urban and Inner City Mission, LCMS Rev. Dr. Detlev Schultz, faculty, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne Rev. Dr. William Schumacher, faculty, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Rev. Bernie Seter, chairman, Board for International Mission, LCMS Rev. Kou Seying, parish pastor/Hmong ministry, Merced, Calif.

Rev. Alexey Streltsov, rector, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Siberia Rev. Martin Teigen, parish pastor/Hispanic ministry, North Mankato, Minn.

Rev. Dr. Wilhelm Weber, Jr., bishop, Lutheran Church in Southern Africa Rev. Dr. E. A. W. Weber, retired professor and rector, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Enhlanhleni (KwaZulu-Natal) Rev. John Wille, president, LCMS South Wisconsin District

Executive Editors Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver III, director, LCMS Church Relations Rev. Bart Day, executive director, LCMS Office of National Mission

Rev. John Fale, executive director, LCMS Office of International Mission

Journal of Lutheran

Mission June 2015 | Vol. 2 | No. 3

Table of Contents The Culture of Christianity by Scott Murray......................................................................................... 6 America’s Changing Demographic Landscape by Larry M. Vogel ................................................... 10 Reflections on Seven Megatrends Shaping 21st Century Mission

by Albert B. Collver III.................................................................................................................................... 29 Church Survival in Adverse Society by Alexey Streltsov................................................................... 37 Factors That Contributed to the Growth of the EECMY in General and Central Ethiopian Synod in Particular by Abraham Mengesha Mitku ............................................................................... 44 Response to Abraham Mengescha-Mitku’s “Factors That Contributed to the Growth of the EECMY in General and Central Ethiopian Synod in Particular” and Albert B. Collver III’s “Reflections on Seven Megatrends Shaping the 21st Century”

by Klaus Detlev Schulz .................................................................................................................................. 60 A Letter from the Office of International Mission............................................................................. 64 Book Review: The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Second Letter to the Corinthians by John T. Pless........................................................................................................................... 66 Book Review: A Lutheran Primer for Preaching: A Theological and Practical Approach to Sermon Writing by Albert B. Collver III.............................................................................................. 68

© 2015 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

Reproduction of a single article or column for parish use only does not require permission of The Journal of Lutheran Mission. Such reproductions, however, should credit The Journal of Lutheran Mission as the source. Cover images are not reproducible without permission. Also, photos and images credited to sources outside the LCMS are not to be copied.

Editorial office: 1333 S. Kirkwood Road, St. Louis, MO 63122-7294, 314-996-1202

Published by The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod.

Please direct queries to journaloflutheranmission@lcms.org.

This journal may also be found at www. lcms.org/journaloflutheranmission.

Member: Associated Church Press Evangelical Press Association (ISSN 2334-1998) A periodical of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Offices of National and International Mission.

Christianity is a distinct culture.

It reflects in the behavior of

The Culture of Christianity

by Scott Murray

the Church the spirituality of the God who gives it divine worship. Learn how the culture of the Church includes a strong boundary between belief and unbelief, truth and falsehood, wisdom and foolishness.

Day one remarks

L

ike the Chinese proverb notes, we live in tered knowledge, knowledge always critical of both Father exciting times. Who knows what the future will and mother, as though an ill-mannered teen.

For example, the Western university and its open bring as we carry out the mission our Lord has given us? In the future that our God will bring to us, let’s enquiry into truth and the nature of reality arise out of the keep the worship of Christ as our culture, so we have Christian insistence that all of truth is God’s. And though something to share with our brothers in the foreign fields the Western university tradition was fraught with many battles over the validity of certain kinds of knowledge, still and the struggling lost in our own communities.

Christianity is a distinct culture. Usually, we think of there was over the long haul an openness about the modes Christianity fitting into a given culture, such as Western and methods of enquiry into the world and the nature of culture, not as a separate and distinct culture. Culture God. That openness is now being closed off in the dying comes from the Latin word cultus that means, among of the light. Matters of spirit, life, truth, beauty, ultimacy and God are routinely ruled other things, “worship.” Usuout of bounds in the so-called ally culture is defined as “the secular universities. They have way of life for an entire sociIn the mission field, the LCMS forgotten that even the saecuety” and includes worship, stands for something. However, lum, “the age,” remains God’s. spirituality, structure, ethics we will not be able to support Finally, the cultus of the West and behavior. Culture is about these faithful Lutherans if we has become the cult of the everything.” fail to proclaim our historic and self, drowning in the solipChristianity is a distinct sistic sea of foolishness and culture in so far as it reflects well-known Lutheran positions. rabid and intentional ignoin the behavior of the Church That something is precisely what rance of the cross of Christ. the spirituality of the God our brothers are seeking.

How tragically this narrowing who gives it divine worship. of thought impoverishes the The culture of the Church Western world. But this foolincludes a strong boundary between belief and unbelief, truth and falsehood, wisdom ish narrowness is not new to Christianity. It has its roots and foolishness. That boundary also implies a decisive in Eden’s invention of the cult of self. Paul the apostle break with the world and its ways. The cult of the West- speaks of it as the foolishness of unbelief. The foolishness ern world, although arising in the cradle of the Church, is of the cross despite all this still looms as the wisdom of no longer directed by its original mother. Western culture God. This is the Church’s cultus. How do we continue to has become a self-willed Nietzschean bastard, coming share our Lord’s cultus?

Modern ecumenists chide orthodox Lutherans for of age cut off from God its Father and its mother, the Church. This coming of age has a profound effect on the avoiding the ecumenical mosh pit at the mainline church Church. She is now forced to distinguish herself from her dance. We are told by our ecumenical friends that if we bastard child. She can no longer expect support from the would only get with the times and ordain women we cult of the West based as it is on self-willed and self-cen- would have plenty of dates for the dance. We might even

6

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

find an ecumenical mate, or two or three. According to However, we will not be able to support these faithful this thinking, virginal Lutherans are missing the fun Lutherans if we fail to proclaim our historic and wellworld of couplings going on in the mainline church scene. known Lutheran positions. That something is precisely This language, soaked as it is in sexual imagery, is used what our brothers are seeking. This puts to shame our intentionally, because church status and sexual identity Western-style ecumenism with its narrow church political and organizational horizons. are intimately tied together these days.

Now is not the time to give up our Lutheran distincHowever, Christian ecumenicity is exactly not what the LCMS is missing. Radical Western ecumenists have tives, though they be much maligned by our Western missed or ignored the faithful confession of our Christian neighbors. The world is flocking to our doors to have our brethren in Africa and Asia, including the global south, theology taught to them, a theology our non-Western where the majority of Christians live today. Non-western brothers want specifically in distinction from the theology Christians vastly outnumber western Christians. Over represented by the LWF. If by God’s grace we can the years, meta-church organiremain theologically Lutheran, zations, such as the Lutheran this flock of Lutheran churches World Federation (LWF) and the Now is not the time to give beating a path to our door presWorld Council of Churches, have up our Lutheran distinctives, ents the LCMS with at least two attempted to draw non-Western though they be much challenges. First, how do we churches and church leaders into actually provide the theological their orbits. They have had some maligned by our Western education they are requesting? success in this endeavor. neighbors. The world is Second, how can we discuss felHowever, our non-Western flocking to our doors to have lowship issues with churches that brethren are increasingly uneasy our theology taught to them, do not have a solidly settled theowith the Westernized brand of a theology our non-Western logical position from which to ecumenism that consists in the discuss? latest politically-correct enthusibrothers want specifically.

The first question leads us to asms papered over with churchy state categorically that we need to cant. Organizations like the LWF and Western mission societies dangle large sums of leave Western-style impositions at home. While modern money in front of the emerging churches on the condi- church bodies are infected with technique-driven nontion that they ordain women so that the money can keep sense like “Leadership Effectiveness Training” (how did flowing. The LWF found out that these courageous con- St. Boniface ever manage without this?), let us not foist fessing Lutherans weren’t likely to bow to such blackmail. this on our Lutheran brothers yearning for Lutheran The emerging churches are teaching their fathers. And teaching and practice. This mania for technique fails in this has caused some anxiety and even embarrassment to other societies because they do not share our decidedly Western, triumphalistic and bureaucratic mindset. What these Western churches and church organizations.

Our African brothers are increasingly discovering we need to carry out the mission of the Church is to bring that biblical Christianity bears little resemblance to the the message of the Gospel into all the world, preparing politically-correct brand being peddled by the Western the indigenous clergy to carry the Word where they are churches. The Lutheran churches of Africa and Asia are needed. The Word of God can build the Church even seeking two things from Western churches. First, they are without our being present. This is what the LCMS does.

The LCMS can bring its theological capacity into the seeking a source of theological instruction that is recognizably confessional and consciously Lutheran. Second, international field among churches, often founded by they are seeking such fellowship ties as can be forged. The the European churches in the nineteenth century, that LCMS is receiving an accelerating number of requests have suffered, in some cases, a century of theological for help, especially from churches disenchanted with the neglect and where pastors have no access to the confesmorally and theologically bankrupt policies (doctrines?) sional writings of the Lutheran Church. They eagerly seek this teaching and witness to the Gospel of Christ. They of the LWF. In the mission field, the LCMS stands for something. eagerly pour over the confessions of the Lutheran Church,

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

7

especially when that is shared with them in their native is to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. The language. They want to be Lutheran pastors and teach- Church will always be lived in sight of God under the ers. The LCMS carries out its mission best by giving them Lord who forgives sinners and conveys that forgiveness what they both need and want. by located means: preaching and Sacraments. This will Are there cultural hiccups always be the struggle and chalalong the way? Yes, of course. But lenge of the effort to plant the let’s let trusted partners sort those Church of Christ; it will always What we need to carry out issues out as full partners, rather be about the shocking condethe mission of the Church is scension of God to come among than as poor cousins, incapable to bring the message of the of such higher order thinking and poor sinners and giving Himself strategizing. Judging by external to them by the gifts of the pulpit, Gospel into all the world, success alone, they seem to be table and font. preparing the indigenous doing just fine as growth in EthioFear of cultural contamination clergy to carry the Word pia and Madagascar give evidence. should not cause us to worry, where they are needed. The Today and tomorrow, we will for the missionary comes to Word of God can build the be talking about how culture contaminate the hearer with a impacts and intersects with our far more extreme contamination: Church even without our work. In the midst of those disthe saving blood of Christ and being present. This is what cussions, I am hoping we do not His offensive cross. Mere Western the LCMS does. forget about the fact that Christihabits may be seen by our partners anity is a cult of its own, building a for what they are: cultural culture of its own. quirks unique to Westerners. To presume that our partners do not have the capacity to see Day two remarks: Ut Unum Sint Yesterday, we were confronted by the intersection of these things for what they are is offensively to ignore our culture and Christ. Today, we face the more difficult issue brothers’ capacity for discernment of a relatively simple of how to bring Christ to another culture. We struggle sort. Far more difficult is the challenge that the cross and to bring Christ without the unnecessary baggage of our the blood of Christ lays upon a community.

One seldom, if ever, reads the apostle Paul agonizown culture. While in Tanzania, I was taken on a tour of ing about imposing his culture on his hearers, because the original Lutheran mission churches up in the hills of Pare Diocese. What an idyllic context! There as we came he has bigger fish to fry. He wants to give Christ with all over the crest of the hill was a little sanctuary dropped the cultic distinction that that absolutely requires. Since out of rural Germany with the features of carved wood- those of faith are sons of Abraham, the Gospel preaching work characteristic of a Tyrollean village. I felt it as much transcends birth and culture and knits a new humanity out of place as the Africans themselves might have once. together. Where the Gospel is at the center, and not the We saw the list of pastors in that village carved in a com- Law, human culture with its “Don’t taste, touch, handle” memorative stone. The first was a German; after that are simply not powerful enough to intrude. Here there is they were all Tanzanian names. European mission work no more Jew nor Greek. Christ is King for all who trust included the importation of incidental artifacts of Euro- the crucified Messiah.

Let me illustrate this from my experience as a pastor peanization, but the dioceses of the Tanzanian churches are now well-ordered church organizations. It seemed all in a U.S. congregation. My congregation includes a large very churchly to me. The Africans commemorated with contingent of Tanzanian members. About five years fondness those first missionaries, but were not captive to ago, I approached the leaders of the group and asked if them, because they recognized the church’s culture and they would like me to teach a Tanzanian Bible study for could distinguish it from German, as well as Tanzanian them. They looked mournful at this suggestion and said very quietly, “Oh, Pastor, we are members of Memoculture.

The Church’s preaching and teaching begins and ends rial Lutheran Church. We will go to the Bible studies of with Christ the Savior, and in every generation the task Memorial Lutheran Church.” I told them that this was

8

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

music to my ears. But I don’t mind admitting to you that I was ashamed of my church culture insensitivity, because I should have known better, for our Lord has prayed to the Father for us, “That they may be one.” Perhaps we should act like we believe He is correct in His prayer.

The Rev. Dr. Scott R. Murray is senior pastor of Memorial Lutheran Church, Houston, Texas, and LCMS fourth vicepresident.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

9

America’s Changing Demographic Landscape It’s More Than Numbers

by Larry M. Vogel

The mission priority for fathers like Walther and Wyneken was gathering the Lutheran immigrants coming to America — immigrants like them from Germany who were lost, erring and searching.1 We are foolish if we think that it was easy — people were just beating down the doors to start confessional churches. It took vision, sacrifice, powerful preaching, clear teaching and, above all, love for the lost.

Changing cultural landscape: definitions and scope

T

I will examine those core factors, here’s a joke about especially regarding the U.S. demographers. How are population, then compare them demographers different The best single marker to the demographics of the LCMS from accountants?

They’re for a strongly counterand close with a few suggestions identical, but demographers cultural religious group is for LCMS mission priorities. don’t have as much sex appeal.

Rev. Day asked me to talk a significantly higher than Core demographic change — about demographics and our average birth rate. There the demographic transition culture. Let’s jump right into the is no evidence of that in Ever since Malthus, a lot of people excitement…with definitions. the LCMS; rather, other have been worried about too Anthropologist Charles Kraft many people. Phillip Longman markers indicate we are says that culture is the structure of customs and assumptions by which more similar than dissimilar might then surprise us when he informs us that, “All told, some a group of people live in their to the “average American” 59 countries, comprising roughly environment — in other words, — with few kids, but also 44 percent of the world’s total culture is about daily practices plenty of divorces and population, are currently not and the ideas about life that guide living together in particular. producing enough children to those practices.2 Demographics avoid population decline, and is the study of a population in the phenomenon continues order to (1) describe it accurately, 4 to spread. ” The term “demographic transition” (DT) (2) identify patterns and developments and (3) predict new social realities, which means that if you care about describes this phenomenon. It’s one of the most helpful people, then demographics is pretty important. It’s big observations from the study of demographics. The DT 5 picture study of groups of people. Three basic things unfolds over time in stages. A visual may help. Prethat demographers study about a group are its age and transition (stage 1), a society must have lots of children sex distribution, its birth rate and migration patterns because lives are short for most and many die in infancy. (who is moving into, out of and within the group).3 Mortality and birth rates are both high. Note how the DT changes this: 1

• Declining mortality: The population experiences an increasing average life span as a result of declining infant

2 Charles Kraft says that culture “consists of all the things that we learn after we are born into the world that enable us to function effectively as biological beings in the environment.” Anthropology for Christian Witness (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1996), 6. The quote here is from Kraft, 31.

4 Phillip

On German immigration to the U.S., see Michael Barone, Shaping Our Nation.

3 Donald T. Rowland, Demographic Methods and Concepts (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003, 2008), 30.

10

Longman, The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It (New York: Basic Books, 2004), 26.

5

Visuals that were not created by the author contain the source either within the visual or as a caption.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

mortality and greater longevity as nutrition, sanitation and medicine all improve.

• Population growth: As a direct result, the population increases as it experiences natural, biological growth.

• Declining fertility: The population experiences declining birth rates as women, in general, have fewer babies.

• Population aging: The natural growth rate of the population decreases and the average age of the population rises.6 All the stages are complete in Europe, North America, Latin America, Russia, East Asia, Australia and most of Southeast Asia. It took about two centuries to happen in the Western world, but much less than a century in the East.7 Much of the world is still early in the DT. The second graph shows the same 1: papp.iusp.org phenomenon, but has a stage five, marked with a question. It shows what has happened wherever the previous stages are completed. In this stage, the birth rate stays below replacement levels and eventually total population declines. We are on the cusp of this phenomenon in the West. Despite many questions about it, this stage of the transition is occurring throughout the developed world.8 The DT develops slowly, often unnoticed. Rates of declining mortality and childbirth are not uniform.

Nevertheless, the DT is one of the most helpful frameworks for understanding population conditions globally.9 There is also strong economic correlation with 6 Tim Dyson argues that another fundamental change involved in the DT is the urbanization of the population in question; Population and Development: The Demographic Transition (London, New York: Zed Books, 2010).

7 In Western Europe and the U.S., the process occurred over a couple of centuries, paralleling the rise of industrialization. Elsewhere (e.g., South Korea, Taiwan, China) the DT has taken less than a century.

8 For a couple of decades, there was a theory among demographers that populations would naturally maintain replacement levels of population as the transition was completed. Recent facts don’t corroborate that theory. Rather, in a number of countries including almost all of the former Soviet-bloc countries, Cuba, Japan, Germany and much of the EU, the DT is at a stage in which all have very low, sub-replacement TFRs. So stage 5 can happen, but whether it is a “natural” result of the basic model itself remains a topic of debate.

9

One can easily, for example, divide world regions into two categories:

2. coolgeography.co.uk

this transition. Aging nations tend toward prosperity, while youthful nations earlier in the DT are poor. 10 To summarize: What is most relevant today is to realize the profound effects the DT has on a society. Great changes have already occurred due to the DT throughout the Western world, but future changes promise to be even more widespread. The DT began in the Western world more than two centuries ago, but it is on target to be completed worldwide by 2100. World population those who have completed the transition to low mortality and low birth rates and those who are at various stages within the process. Russia is an outlier. It has experienced a decline in infant mortality to subreplacement levels, but longevity is not increasing because of high levels of substance abuse, smoking, chronic illnesses, AIDS, suicide and other problems. See Murray Feshbach, “Population and Health Constraints on the Russian Military,” chapter 5 in Susan Yoshihara and Douglas A. Silva, eds., Population Decline and the Remaking of Great Power Politics (Washington: Potomac Books, 2012), Kindle location 1445–1710. It is noteworthy, however, that a recent trend in Russia toward more births is a significant move back to a more sustainable population.

See Mark Adomanis, “‘Dying’ Russia’s Birthrate Is Now Higher than America’s,” Forbes (April 11, 2014), http://www.forbes.com/sites/ markadomanis/2014/04/11/dying-russias-birth-rate-is-now-higherthan-americas/. Accessed Nov. 7, 2014.

10 On the one side, Europe has gone through the four stages and is now struggling to maintain its native populations. On the other, Africa has experienced certain elements of the DT without others; overall mortality is declining slowly (due to less infant mortality), but, while birth rates have declined about 20 percent in recent decades, they continue to be among the highest worldwide. Clint Laurent, Tomorrow’s World: A Look at the Demographic and Socio-economic Structure of the World in 2032 (Singapore: John Wiley & Sons, 2013 ), 19. Tim Dyson notes that the correlation between economics and DT is not iron-clad: “There is no reason to believe that a major rise in per capital income is required for the constituent processes of the transition to unfold.”

(Population and Development, 5). See also Longman, Empty Cradle, 30. Longevity in Africa is also facing headwinds like AIDS, malaria, and significant deaths from violence and warfare. See The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), “Total Fertility Rate (Children Born per Woman)” at http://kff.org/global-indicator/total-fertilityrate/#map; accessed Oct. 18, 2014. The accompanying World TFR Map is from the same site. See also Longman, The Empty Cradle, 8–11.

Longman theorizes that declining TFRs in the Mid-East have fueled fundamentalism because they are a byproduct of greater freedom for Muslim women, which is viewed as a Western evil imported to Islam.

World TFR maps are available from many sources. This is from http:// www.mapsofworld.com/thematic-maps/world-total-fertility-rate-map. html#. Accessed on Nov. 9, 2014.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

11

will continue to grow until then, but more because of increased aging than childbirth.11

1. Demographic patterns and details For affluent populations, the transition to aging has already occurred. Three specific demographic details are important: age and sex, birth rate and migration.

a. Age-sex distribution over time12 Note the series of age-sex pyramids for the U.S. based on census data. At the end of the 3. mapsofworld.com baby boom in 1960, 38 percent of the U.S. long-term trend of declining percentages of young people was under 20 and 13 percent over 60. By 1985, less than 30 percent of the population was under and an increasing average age for both males and females, 20, a drop of almost 25 percent. The boomers ballooned but with a higher percentage of females relative to males. the 20–40 cohort and 16 percent of America was over 60, b. Birth rate with a few over 85. In 2014, the distribution is generally One of the most significant demographic measures is uniform in age-sex from infancy to about 60 years. About “total fertility rate” or TFR. TFR is the average number a fourth is 0–19 years, another quarter is 20–39, a third of children women will bear. A replacement TFR for a is 40–59 and a final fourth of the population is now aged population requires more than 2,100 births each year per sixty and up — a 150 percent increase for that increasingly thousand women in a society. In individual terms, that female group. Notice the significant number of people means that the average individual woman must have at over age 85, especially compared to 1985. Less than a least two children for a population to remain constant. tenth of 1 percent of the population was over 85 years of The accompanying map compares countries by age in 1985. Today almost 2 percent of the population is birthrate. Lighter colors indicate low birthrates and a — a 20-fold increase. completed DT in Europe, affluent Asia and elsewhere.

Paul Taylor from the Pew Research Council Darker colors, showing high birthrates and a much explains: earlier stage of the DT predominate in Africa, parts of the We’ll have almost as many Americans over age Middle East, India and Muslim Asia.14 As for the U.S., on 85 as under age 5. This is the result of longer life the map, we are in the 2–3 children per woman category. spans and lower birthrates. It’s uncharted territory, But that is deceptive, since U.S. TFRs have been hovering not just for us, but for all of humanity. And while only slightly above and often below 2.0 for some time. In it’s certainly good news over the long haul for the 2012, the last year for which we have firm statistics on sustainability of the earth’s resources, it will create births in the U.S. from the CDC, the general fertility rate political and economic stress in the shorter term, as hit a 25-year low.15 smaller cohorts of working age adults will be hardpressed to finance the retirements of larger cohorts 14 Total Fertility Rate, Maps of the World, http://www.mapsofworld. of older ones.13 com/thematic-maps/world-total-fertility-rate-map.html. Accessed Nov. To summarize: The U.S. population has experienced a 9, 2014.

15

11 See Ronald Lee, “The Demographic Transition: Three Centuries of Fundamental Change,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 17, no. 4 (Fall 2003), 167. He calculates that aging will be ten times more important than births.

12 Based on visualizations and data by Martin De Wulf at “Population Pyramids of the World 1950–2050,” http://populationpyramid.net.

Accessed on Oct. 2, 2014, at http://populationpyramid.net/unitedstates-of-america/2015/.

13 The Next America (May 10, 2014), http://www.pewresearch.org/nextamerica/#Two-Dramas-in-Slow-Motion.

12

Note: Total fertility rate The 2012 total fertility rate (TFR) for the U.S. was 1,880.5 births per 1,000 women, 1 percent below the 2011 rate (1,894.5) (Tables 4, 8, 13, and 14). After generally increasing from 1998 through 2007, the TFR has declined for each of the last 5 years. The TFR estimates the number of births that a hypothetical group of 1,000 women would have over their lifetimes, based on age-specific birth rates in a given year. Because it is computed from agespecific birth rates, the TFR is age-adjusted, and can be compared for populations across time, population groups, and geographic areas.

The TFRs declined for nearly all race and Hispanic origin groups

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

The most recent CDC White Population: 2000 – 2010 report on births says, Race and Hispanic or 2010 Number 2000 Percent 2010 Number 2010 Percent Change Change Latino Origin in millions of total pop. in millions of total pop 2000-2010 in 2000-2010 by “Since 1971, our TFR millions percent has exceeded 2.1 only Total Population 281.4 100 308.7 100 27.3 9.7 two times (1971, 2007).

White alone or in 216.9 77.1 231.0 74.8 14.1 6.5 combination It was 1.9 in 2012. With White alone 211.5 75.1 223.6 72.4 12.1 5.7 the exception of Hispanic Hispanic/Latino 16.9 6.0 26.7 8.7 9.8 58.1 women, all ethnic or Not Hispanic/Latino 194.6 69.1 196.8 63.7 2.3 1.2 racial groups in the U.S. White in combination 5.5 1.9 7.5 2.4 2.0 36.9 have below replacement White: Black/African 0.8 0.3 1.8 0.6 1.0 133.7 American fertility.”16 White: Some Other 2.2 0.8 1.7 0.6 (0.5) (21.1) The accompanying Race White: Asian 0.9 0.3 1.6 0.5 0.8 86.9 table from the 2010 U.S. White: Am. Indian 1.1 0.4 1.4 0.5 0.3 32.3 Census compares the 2000 (Eskimo) and 2010 census results, White: Black, Am. 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 105.7 Indian especially with respect to All other combinations 0.4 0.1 0.6 0.2 0.2 50.4 the growth of the white Not White alone or in 64.5 22.9 77.7 25.2 13.2 20.5 population over against comb. other races and people – Percentage rounds to 0 0 Note: In Census 2000, an error in data processing resulted in an overstatement of the Two or More Races population by about of Hispanic or Latino 1 million people (about 15 percent) nationally, which almost entirely affected race combinations involving Some Other Race 17 origin. It indicates an Therefore, data users should assess observed changes in the Two or More Races population and race combinations involving Some Other Race between Census 2000 and the 2010 Census with caution. Changes in specific race combinations not involvoverall growth in the ing Some Other Race, such as White and Black or African American or White and Asian, generally should be more comparable.

Sources: U S Census Bureau, Census 2000 Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, Tables PL1 and PL2; and U.S. population of just 2010 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, Tables P1 and P2 under 10 percent for the decade. That means that, obviously, the U.S. did more than replace its population in the decade.

However, growth in 2012, down 1–2 percent for non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic is not coming black, Hispanic and AIAN women. The rate for API women rose 4 because of percent from 2011 to 2012, however. overall births, The 2012 U.S. TFR remained below “replacement” — the level at which a given generation can exactly replace itself (generally but because of considered to be 2,100 births per 1,000 women). The TFR has the growth of been generally below replacement since 1971. With the exception of Hispanic women (reflecting mainly, rates for Mexican and the Hispanic other Hispanic women), the TFRs for all other groups were below population.

Nonreplacement (Tables 8 and 14).

Latino whites From Joyce A. Martin, et al., Births: Final Data for 2012, National Vital Statistics Reports (vol. 62, no. 9), Center for Disease Control, U.S. increased their Department of Health and Human Services, 2. Abbreviated as CDC population by 2012. Accessed on Oct. 2, 2014 at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/ only 1.2 percent nvsr62/nvsr62_09.pdf.

16 Data published on Dec. 30, 2013. For as long as the CDC has tracked for the decade, TFR for Hispanic women, they have exceeded the overall U.S. TFR, but and that result is due to modest immigration from Europe. in 2012 the Hispanic TFR had diminished to 2.2, only slightly above replacement level. CDC 2012, 7. The CIA, which uses slightly different Non-Hispanic white deaths exceeded births beginning in measures than the CDC, estimated the TFR for the United States at 2.0 2012.18 Compare the 1.2 percent white population growth for 2014. See Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, online to Hispanic population growth of 58.1 percent. Latino at https://ww.cia.gov; from Country Comparison: Total Fertility Rate, accessed Oct. 2, 2014, at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html.

17 Because the census identifies both by race and ethnicity, there is some overlap — as when an individual is identified as both white and Hispanic — which the chart takes into account. Lindsay Hixson, Bradford B. Hepler, Myoung Ouk Kim, The White Population: 2010, 2010 Census Briefs (September 2011), 3. Accessed Oct. 7, 2014, at http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-05.pdf.

18 See Sam Roberts, “Census Benchmark for White Americans: More Deaths Than Births,” New York Times (June 13, 2013), online at http:// www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/us/census-benchmark-for-whiteamericans-more-deaths-than-births.html?_r=0. Last accessed Nov. 7, 2014. I can find no reliable data comparison of births to deaths for 2013.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

13

growth is based first on immigration, second birthrate 4: migrationpolicy.org

and third on increasing longevity.

The United States has, throughout The expression, “Demographics its history, been the most frequent Synod’s overall is destiny,” claims too much, but it numerical decline, then, single destination for worldwide contains more than a kernel of truth. immigration.22 Today, “[a]bout 20 In the accompanying visual (Fertility clearly is due in part percent of all international migrants Rate), you can see that Hispanics have to the demographics reside in the United States, even a higher TFR than any U.S. ethnic of non-Latino white though America is less than 5 or racial group. Latino equals youth percent of the world’s population.”23 America with low birth in the U.S.: 37.1 percent of Latino The accompanying graph shows rates, and also to where Americans are under 20, compared the percentage and number of to 22.4 percent for whites.19 Latinos we are concentrated immigrants by decades beginning in will have a much larger proportion geographically.

1900.24 Historically, a significant rate of their population of child-bearing of immigration is not exceptional age for the foreseeable future. Thus, the U.S. Latino population pyramid differs markedly from includes all the foreign-born in the U.S. as nearly as they can be that of the non-Latino white pyramid.20 including documented and undocumented immigrants as well To summarize: The U.S. is not reproducing itself by counted, as those immigrants who are now naturalized citizens. childbirth. U.S. population would be in decline except 22 See Michael Barone, Shaping Our Nation: How Surges of Migration for immigration. Growth in the U.S. population depends Transformed America and Its Politics (New York: Random House, 2013).

One can clearly see the effect of the emergency quota and immigration on two primary factors: immigration and immigrant exclusion laws of the early 1920s, legislation that remained in full force until 1952 and was only replaced in 1965. birth rates.

c. Migration The final core demographic component is migration, which includes two elements: international immigration and internal migration.21 19 Based on 2012 numbers — latest available — at U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanic Origin, The Hispanic Population in the U.S.: 2012; https:// www.census.gov/population/hispanic/data/2012.html. Accessed 11/10/2014.

20

Even if the Latino-American birth rate drops to that of whites, the Spanish-heritage proportion of the population will grow about twice as fast as the non-Hispanic white share. In the decade 2000-2009, 9 Latino-Americans were born for every Latino who died, while white births barely exceeded deaths. Saenz, Rogelio, Population Reference Bureau. Population Bulletin Update: Latinos in the United States 2010, (December 2010), 1-2. http://www.prb.org/pdf10/latinos-update2010. pdf. Last access 11/10/2014.

21 Emigration from the U.S. is too low to be considered. Immigrant and foreign-born are synonymous terms; the immigrant population

14

23

Chiamaka Nwosu, Jeanne Batalova, and Gregory Auclair, “Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States,” Migration Policy Institute (MPI) website: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statisticsimmigrants-and-immigration-united-states. Accessed Oct. 23, 2014.

MPI’s sources are Migration Policy Institute tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010 and 2012 American Community Surveys, and 2000 Decennial Census. Data for 1960 to 1990 are from Campbell J. Gibson and Emily Lennon, U.S. Census Bureau, Working Paper No. 29, Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 1990, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1999.

24

As of 2011 a little over 13 percentof the U.S. population is foreignborn, about 41 million people out of a total of 310M. That is high compared to the middle of the 20th century, but not as high as the early 20th century. Currently, a little over half of the total foreign-born population of the U.S. is from Latin America (with the majority of this group from Mexico). The second largest share is Chinese immigrants, and the third largest is Indian immigrants. In 2012, however, India sent more immigrants to the U.S. than China did. See MPI, Current and Historical Numbers and Shares, http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/ frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-unitedstates#1.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

for the U.S. The top state destinations for immigrants entering the U.S. U.S. is the only We turn now to internal migration — movement nation that has within the country. Americans have always been mobile, ever experienced seeking opportunity. Mobility continues today.27 Almost immigration on 3 percent of the U.S. population moves to a different this level and has state each year and about a third of the U.S. population done so throughout has moved from the state where they were born.28 most of its history 5: Immigrant Destinations Internal migration correlates with age and is regional.

and to its benefit.

Those under 45 are three times as likely to move out of The U.S. population is undergoing dynamic changes state as those older. 29With few exceptions (e.g., North in its makeup. The Census Bureau Dakota), the Midwest and Northeast predicts that white population will are struggling to retain population.

Our church has one peak in ten years and then begin to fall The most important aspect of in totality and as a percentage. Black strength that amounts internal migration is urbanization. population will grow slightly, Asians To be sure, some urban centers (like to more than any 25 and Hispanics dramatically.

Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago or St. of her weaknesses: Louis) are static or are in population While current percentages of our evangelical and decline (although with increasing immigrants to the U.S. are similar to catholic faith. . . percentages of immigrants and other those from the 1850s to the 1920s, the minority populations).

Broader source countries for U.S. immigrants As the Augustana urban areas — cities plus suburbs/ have changed markedly. Today’s reminds us, we know exurbs — continue to grow, however. immigrants are largely Latino, Asian that the one, holy, Small to mid-sized cities are also and African rather than European.26 catholic and apostolic growing.30 Rural and small town Overall, immigrant growth is most church will not fail. evident in cities, in the coastal U.S. America is suffering except in areas and along the Southern border and where immigrants are minimizing is less evident in the suburbs and their population loss.31 Immigrants rural America (although there are some small towns are themselves highly mobile. Many settle near the and smaller cities that are growing only because of entry points — thus the heavy Latino populations along immigration). The accompanying pie graph identifies the the Southern border and Asian populations on the West Coast. Not all immigrants remain in these states, 25 “The non-Hispanic white population is projected to peak in 2024, however. The next visual shows that the number of states at 199.6 million, up from 197.8 million in 2012. Unlike other race or in which Hispanic kids comprise more than 20 percent ethnic groups, however, its population is projected to slowly decrease, of kindergartners has doubled in twelve years. These now falling by nearly 20.6 million from 2024 to 2060. Meanwhile, the Hispanic population would more than double, from 53.3 million in include states in the aging Northeast, the Great Plains and 2012 to 128.8 million in 2060. Consequently, by the end of the period, nearly one in three U.S. residents would be Hispanic, up from about one in six today. The black population is expected to increase from 41.2 million to 61.8 million over the same period. Its share of the total population would rise slightly, from 13.1 percent in 2012 to 14.7 percent in 2060. The Asian population is projected to more than double, from 15.9 million in 2012 to 34.4 million in 2060, with its share of nation’s total population climbing from 5.1 percent to 8.2 percent in the same period.” “U.S. Census Bureau Projections Show a Slower Growing, Older, More Diverse Nation Half a Century from Now” (Dec. 12, 2012), https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/population/cb12243.html. Accessed October 29, 2014.

26 Pew reports that the Latino percentage of immigrants has been declining while Asian immigration has increased. The drop in Hispanic immigration as a percentage of immigrants coincides with recent economic decline and increasing focus on border security. “The Rise of Asian Americans,” Pew Research Social and Demographic Trends. April 4, 2013, at http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/06/19/the-rise-ofasian-americans/ accessed Oct. 23, 2014.

27 Internal migration hit a 30-year low since the recession of 2008.

Raven Molloy, Christopher L. Smith, and Abigail Wozniak. 2011.

“Internal Migration in the United States.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(3): 173–96. Accessed online at https://www.aeaweb.org/ articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.25.3.173 on Oct. 23, 2014.

28

Molloy, 178.

29

Ibid., 183.

Kenneth Johnson, Demographic Trends in Rural and Small Town America (University of New Hampshire: Carsey Institute, 2006), online at https://carsey.unh.edu/publication/demographic-trends-rural-andsmall-town-america. accessed 10/23/2014. See also Hope Yen, “Rural America Is Steadily Shrinking, Census Data Says,” Pittsburgh PostGazette (July 28, 2011), accessed online Oct. 23, 2014.

30

31 Mark Mather and Kevin Pollard, “Hispanic Gains Minimize Population Losses in Rural America,” Population Reference Bureau (August 2007) online at http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2007/ HispanicGains.aspx, both accessed Oct. 23, 2014.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

15

the Northwest.32 From the standpoint of demographics, immigration is a huge plus for our country — and, indeed, the only hope for the ongoing stability of programs like Social Security. Paul Taylor reminds us that immigration is “akin to raising the birthrate, but its impact is more immediate, because the newcomers arrive ready to work.”33 Despite some exceptions, rural/small town decline remains. Kenneth Johnson says: The share of people in rural areas over the past decade fell to 16 percent, passing the previous low of 20 percent in 2000. The rural share is expected to about life based on increasing longevity: “A key point here drop further as the U.S. population balloons from is that mortality decline generates 309 million to 400 million by higher levels of confidence in mid-century, leading people society as regards the worldly The Church will remain to crowd cities and suburbs future.”35 Since people feel more and fill in the open spaces forever because she is certain about their future here around them.34 grounded in God’s unfailing and now, their attitudes change To summarize: In the promises of life and salvation, about everything from how U.S. immigration is the most flowing from their pure many children they should have, significant migratory factor. scriptural source and bubbling to sexual and marital habits, to Population growth is dependent gender roles, and so forth. In more on immigrants and forth in the spoken Word biblical language, demographic immigrant birth rates than on and the visible, Christ-given change results in people taking native population growth. In Gospel signs of Baptism and far more “thought for the terms of internal migration, Eucharist. morrow” (Matt 6:34, KJV) — for urbanization, broadly an extended earthly life rather understood, continues. Smaller than life everlasting. cities, suburbs and exurbs are benefiting more than center cities themselves. The center cities are increasingly a. Direct results of the demographic transition marked by immigrant groups and other minorities.

Certain cultural changes are direct results of the demographic transition.36 2. Current and future realities: sociocultural con• First, quite obviously, the population increases as sequences of demographic change more children survive infancy and older people live Demographic change affects culture — that is, customs longer. Decreasing infant mortality initially results and assumptions — both directly and indirectly. These in “increasing dependency” (more children needing effects are general. Nevertheless, broad trends are adults to care for them) early in the DT. However, as instructive, and what I will consider is all true to a great dependency increases and urbanization occurs, bigger extent in American society and in the culture of North families are liabilities, not assets. People begin to seek America. ways to limit family size (contraception), and smaller Demographer Tim Dyson argues that the social effects families become the ideal. This represents a radical of demographic change are centered in a new attitude reassessment of the importance of children and, with it, of family itself.

32 Jens Manuel Krogstad, “A View of the Future Through Kindergarten • Second, with delayed marriage and contraception, the Demographics, Pew Research Center FactTank (July 8, 2014), at http:// www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/07/08/a-view-of-the-futurethrough-kindergarten-demographics/. Accessed Nov. 10, 2014.

33

The Next America, 86.

34

Johnson, Demographic Trends.

16

35

Dyson, 159, emphasis added.

36

These changes are, arguably, direct effects with demographic causes and not merely correlates.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

birth rate (TFR) declines, although at varying speeds.

Although males are affected, the lives of women are altered profoundly as they spend less of their lives nurturing children. Sex roles thus begin to be less distinctive immediately and change even more over time.

• Third, because of urbanization there is a decline in the importance of the extended family as many single individuals, couples and nuclear families leave rural areas and smaller communities. This is a change of worldview — of lifestyle and not merely location.

People lose the influence of extended families, folk traditions and values, and often inherited religious beliefs out of a need to seek employment opportunities.

Migration not only undermines the significance of the extended family; it also strains nuclear families as more is demanded of them.37 Finally, those who migrate are frequently unmarried, and the percentage of unmarried adults rises.

• Lastly, over time these demographic factors result in an aging population. This is true for every developed nation.38 As populations age, there is a new form of increasing dependency, but on the other end of the age spectrum. Instead of large numbers of dependent children, aging societies are supporting an increasing number of older people with limited ability to provide

37 Families also become more child-centered (social supply and demand). Having fewer children means greater emotional investment in children since rarity makes for value. Consider what can be called the “4-2-1 effect” in China where every four parents now have only two children and every two children produce only one grandchild or, on a more mundane level, the constant whirl of social, school and sporting events focused on American kids. In its extreme, children are feted and catered to and parents become hypervigilant, fearing the injury or loss of the only child. Children experience increasing influence over against parents and others. The Wall Street Journal and other outlets recently noted the phenomenon of children calling parents by their first name. In Britain some child advocates recommend such things as having children participate in the interview process for hiring new teachers. See “Children Put ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ on a First Name Basis: For Attention, Power, or a Test” (October 29, 2013) accessed online Oct. 29, 2014 at http://online.wsj.com/articles/children-put-mom-and-dadon-a-first-name-basis-1414609230. “Pupils ‘interviewing teachers for jobs,’” BBC News online (April 3, 2010) at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ uk_news/education/8599485.stm. Accessed Oct. 25, 2014.

38

Europe and most of Latin America are aging and so is the U.S. and Canada. In China there was a precipitous TFR drop in less than a generation because of the government’s one-child policy. In other parts of Asia such as Taiwan (1.1), South Korea (1.25), and Singapore (0.8), the TFR drop was nearly as rapid and is now lower than in China—a self-imposed one-child policy. CIA, “Country Comparison: Total Fertility Rate,” The World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/ publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html, accessed Oct. 27, 2014.

for all their needs.39 Even as large numbers of dependent children are viewed as liabilities, so are large numbers of older people. Note how this number is increasing (see graph from WSJ40).

To summarize: The direct results of the demographic transition are, in turn, a rising youth population as mortality drops, then a declining birth rate, and, finally, population aging.

b. Indirect demographic effects Each stage of the DT also has indirect effects — effects that correlate with core demographic changes, but for which the DT is not directly causal. The stage of declining mortality prior to significant decline in birth rates is one of youthful population growth and high childhood dependency. Africa illustrates this today. A frequent corollary to growing numbers of children is poverty.

That corollary is evident both internationally and within population segments. Virtually every country in the world today that is in the early stage of the DT is impoverished with a very youthful population. Moreover, the most youthful immigrant population in the U.S. — the Latino population — is also marked by high rates of poverty.

Violence, another indirect effect of early stage population increase, corresponds to a high percentage of young men. The world’s hotspots are almost without exception places where there is a high percentage of young men relative to the general population. Young men are more willing to go to war than old men. So, whether in central Africa or Salafist Muslim areas of the Middle East, or in youthful Afghanistan and Pakistan, one finds an increased willingness to engage in violence.41 This indirect effect, of course, is also related to poverty. A high percentage of poor young men without many economic opportunities is a prescription for disaster — and even terrorism. And while the technology of the West and the U.S. in particular can stem this in many ways, the current (as of this writing) crisis in Syria and Iraq indicates the degree to which wars still require the boots of young soldiers on the ground.42 39

Longman, 52–57.

40

Dan Fitzpatrick, “Rising U.S. Life Spans Spell Likely Pain for Pension Funds,” Wall Street Journal (Oct. 27, 2014). http://online. wsj.com/articles/rising-u-s-lifespans-spell-likely-pain-for-pensionfunds-1414430683. Accessed Oct. 27, 2014.

41

Magnus, 205–209.

42

Phillip Longman says, “The United States lacks the amount of people necessary to sustain an imperial role in the world, just as Britain lost its ability to do so after its birthrates collapsed in the early 20th century.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

17

TFR decline also has important indirect corollaries. An obvious aspect of TFR is the desire to restrict childbirth and, therefore, a demand for contraception.43 Contraception has more than a physical dimension. Its widespread use distances sex from conception, thus often divorcing sexual relationships from marriage.

Contraception also diminishes sex role specificity, leading to further cultural effects.

The blending of gender roles is significant especially for women. Since nothing is more gender specific than pregnancy and childbirth, as birth rates decline, the average woman spends less of her life on pregnancy and infant child care. Ronald Lee estimates that pre-DT women on average spend 70 percent of their lifespan nurturing small children, but after the DT, only about 17 percent.44 That’s a sea change of difference in terms of sex-specific responsibility. Other effects follow.

Women have a greater portion of life available for employment outside family responsibilities. The need for and access to female education rise. Marriage is often postponed in lieu of education and also career. Women’s autonomy rises. More women are unmarried, either intentionally or because education and work serve to limit marriage possibilities.45 As women’s lives change, so do households. The accompanying table46 shows concrete examples for the U.S.: In 1940, 90 percent of American households For countries such as China, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain, in which one-child families are now the norm, the quality of human capital may be high, but it has literally become too rare to put at risk.” “The Return of Patriarchy,” Foreign Policy (March/April 2006), 59.

43 It is noteworthy that restricting childbirth is not solely the result of contraception. Europe limited its TFR in the 19th and early 20th centuries primarily through coitus interruptus. See Ronald Lee, “The Demographic Transition: Three Centuries of Fundamental Change,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 17, no. 4 (Fall 2003), 174.

44 Lee’s estimate is striking. He calculates that prior to the DT an average woman spent 70 percent of her lifespan caring for young children, but now spends only about 17 percent of her life in such nurture. Demographic Transition, 167.

45

Sara McLanahan notes: “The primary trends of the second transition include delays in fertility and marriage; increases in cohabitation, divorce, and nonmarital childbearing; and increases in maternal employment (Lesthaeghe 1995; Lesthaeghe and Surkyn 1988; Mason and Jensen 1995).” “Diverging Destinies,” 607. See also Longman, “The Return of Patriarchy,” Taylor, The Next America, 107–124, and Dyson, Population, 170–179.

46 Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Families and Living Arrangements, Table HH–1 Households by Type, 1940 to Present, https://www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/households.html.

Downloaded Oct. 27, 2014.

18

consisted of a family: husband-wife, with or without kids, or mother or father alone with kids. Today just over onethird of American households are non-family households of single individuals or unrelated persons living together.47 Clearly, marriage is in decline when only 48 percent of households are married. Even more significantly, families of any sort are also in decline, with over one-third of households being non-familial. Nicholas Eberstadt warns of a “flight from marriage” (a “global tidal wave away from early stable lifelong conjugal unions”).48 The flight from marriage creates diverse social problems — further indirect effects of the DT. To mention just one, consider the societal costs of children in a single parent household.

Demographer Sara McLanahan argues that as the DT moves to sub-replacement birthrates, it widens “social class disparities.”

Children who were born to mothers from the mostadvantaged backgrounds are making substantial gains in resources. Relative to their counterparts 40 years ago, their mothers are more mature and more likely to be working at well-paying jobs. These children were born into stable unions and are spending more time with their fathers. In contrast, children born to mothers from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are making smaller gains and, in some instances, even losing parental resources. Their mothers are working 47 Table of “Selected Social Characteristics in the United States,” U.S. Census Bureau American Fact Finder, at http://factfinder2.census.gov/ faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_13_3YR_ DP02&prodType=table. Abbreviated as CenFact, accessed on Oct. 28, 2014.

48 Nicholas Eberstadt writes: “Perhaps more important than any of the other portents for future childbearing is what has been termed by demographic specialists ‘the flight from marriage’: the modern global tidal wave away from early stable lifelong conjugal unions.” In Susan Yoshihara, Douglas A. Sylva, Nicholas Eberstadt, Population Decline and the Remaking of Great Power Politics (Washington: Potomac Books, 2012), Kindle edition locations 131–133).

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

at low-paying jobs. Their parents’ relationships are The stage of population aging is also having dramatic unstable, and for many, support from their biological indirect effects and corollaries. To mention only a few, fathers is minimal.49 consider the pension crises facing many cities and states.

The University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project It is, primarily, a result of demographics. Add to that sky(NMP) further corroborates these concerns in a report rocketing health care costs, which are directly affected by titled When Marriage Disappears.50 longevity as ever older people cost the system more and In middle America, marriage is in trouble. Among more while payments into the system on their behalf the affluent, marriage is stable and appears to be are restricted by stringent Medicare reimbursement getting even stronger. Among the poor, marriage limits. The stresses go farther, with the Social Security continues to be fragile and weak. But the newest and Administration now publicly warning that current perhaps most consequential marriage trend of our benefits cannot continue beyond 2033 with a shrinking time concerns the broad center of our society, where base of workers paying in and a mushrooming number of marriage, that iconic middle-class retirees demanding checks.53 Either institution, is foundering.51 older retirement ages or reduced The “affluent” in the NMP are retirement benefits or tax hikes will It has never been easy Americans with a bachelor’s degree be necessary to make the program to proclaim Christ to or better, which is about 30 percent of fiscally solvent. The U.S. military the city of man — it will those 25–60 years old. The likelihood budget will be hard-pressed in the not be easy today. Yet, of the affluent educated getting future to achieve its primary purpose we pray nonetheless, and staying married today remains of defending the nation because of very high. The “poor” correspond the cost of supporting pension costs, “Thy kingdom come.” to those who never finished high which in 2012 were nearly equal to school, roughly 10 percent of the the cost of active duty military pay.54 population (12 percent to be exact). They continue in a These things are true in the U.S. because we are an aging pattern of not marrying and unmarried childbearing. The society, even though we are still much younger than crisis is in “Middle America,” the remaining 60 percent of Europe or Japan and other parts of Asia. Such countries the adult population who finished high school, may have are facing even greater secondary repercussions from had college or trade school education, but never achieved aging. a bachelor’s degree. Their marriage trend lines are the Finally, migration has indirect effects and corollaries. most troubling, resembling those of the uneducated poor, Most obvious is the potential for intra-group friction. not the affluent 30 percent: less likely to marry, bearing Contemporary debates about immigration are, in part children outside of marriage, high divorce when they if not largely, a result of ethnocentrism as individuals marry and less happiness if still married.52 encounter a different language, customs and values.

Nativism to one degree or another seems a constant 49 McLanahan, 608. corollary to the whole of U.S. immigration history.55 50 E. Bradford Wilcox, ed., When Marriage Disappears: The New Middle Urbanization multiplies the potential for friction by America; The State of Our Unions: Marriage in America (Charlottesville: The National Marriage Project, December 2010 [NMP]), in Executive Summary; accessed Sept. 5, 2014, as e-book pdf download from http:// www.stateofourunions.org/.

51 52

When Marriage Disappears, ix. Emphasis in the original.

NMP, 13–16; 19; 20; 22. These patterns might seem to indicate that the middle and the poor have stopped caring about marriage, but something else is going on. All three groups, from the poor to the affluent had similar responses to the question of how important they think marriage is — more than 75 percent across the board. NMP, 27.

See also Sara McLanahan: “As marriage becomes more concentrated among high-income groups, couples in the bottom part of the distribution may come to see it as less attainable for them, thus losing whatever benefits are associated with this universal institution (Waite 1995). This idea is consistent with what unmarried parents in the Fragile Families Study (McLanahan et al. 2001) have said. When asked why they are not married, parents often say that they are waiting until

they can achieve a certain lifestyle that they associate with marriage.”

“Diverging Destinies: Children and the Second Demographic Transition,” Demography (41:4, Nov. 2004), 619.

53 The Social Security Administration’s own website states this bluntly when accessing one’s personal statement of benefits online: “Without changes, in 2033 the Social Security Trust Fund will be able to pay only about 77 cents for each dollar of scheduled benefits.” “About Social Security’s Future” at http://www.ssa.gov, accessed Oct. 24, 2014.

54 See Lawrence J. Korb, “Reforming Military Compensation: Addressing Runaway Personnel Costs Is a National Imperative,” Center for American Progress, accessed on Oct. 24, 2014 at http:// www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/report/2012/05/07/11573/ reforming-military-compensation/.

55

See Barone, Shaping Our Nation.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

19

increasing the size of conflicting groups. The difficulty of learning a new language compounded by poverty among immigrants only furthers the potential for anti-immigrant resentment.

As people from different backgrounds, cultures and languages begin to interrelate at work, shopping and in other aspects of public life, long-held customs and practices begin to change. I have already mentioned how family customs feel the effects of migration, but religion does as well. In 2008, 8.1 percent of America claimed a religion other than Christianity, including Mormon (1.7 percent) and Jehovah’s Witnesses (0.7 percent) as well as all the completely non-Christian religious traditions (4.7 percent). As new religions are introduced, some individuals find them appealing and switch. Others find enough similarity to think that religious distinctions no longer matter and reject religion altogether. They become agnostics, atheists and “spiritual but not religious” (16.1 percent of the U.S.).56 What was once sacred is now questioned increasingly.

To summarize: The most significant indirect sociocultural effects of the DT include declining sex role differentiation (changing women’s lives in particular), declining familial relationships, a flight from marriage, economic stress from an aging population, inter-ethnic and inter-racial conflict, diversification of religious beliefs and practices, and more distinctive generational and religious differences.

c. Will there be exceptions to this demographic trend?

Other societies have faced demographic decline. It was a significant problem in the Roman Empire. There were too few children being born.57 Many are recognizing that same problem today, especially in Europe and most of East Asia. Demographers note that countries as diverse as Sweden and Singapore are sponsoring programs to encourage increased family size, offering services and financial incentives to women to have more children.

They are doing not because they are enamored of marriage, but because their demographics have them scared, as their national populations are in decline. They realize there will not be enough “human capital” (that is, 56

Pew Religious Landscape, 10.

57 See Phillip Longman, “The Return of Patriarchy,” Foreign Policy (March/April 2006): 56. Rodney Stark comments on this extensively in The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1997), 115–128.

20

young working people), to support the aging.58 To date, none of these government-sponsored programs have successfully reversed the second demographic transition and produced TFRs high enough to sustain a population.

It is doubtful that any policy change will be able to effect meaningful upward change in TFR for the West or for Asia. As Longman puts it, “When cultural and economic conditions discourage parenthood, not even a dictator can force people to go forth and multiply.”59 Historically, the one major recent change in the almost inexorable trajectory of the DT has been the result of the horror of the Second World War. Only after that slaughter was there a significant change in TFR — a change that involved most of the countries affected by the war. It was called the “baby boom” and it reversed the TFR slide toward smaller families that had started in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It lasted a generation. One can only plead for God’s mercy to spare us the sort of bloodbath that changed the trend for a time last century.

There is another exception to the general rule of declining fertility. The title of a recent book by Eric Kaufmann summarizes the point by way of a question: Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?60 The short answer is yes. He says: “Simply put, this book argues that religious fundamentalists are on course to take over the world through demography.”61 This is not quite as new as Kaufmann thinks. Rodney Stark cogently argues in his The Rise of Christianity that the higher fertility of Christian women in comparison to pagans and Romans was a significant factor in the early church’s growth.62 That fits Kaufmann’s thesis: “Those embracing the here and now [the most secularized individuals and societies] are spearheading population decline, but individuals who shun this world are relatively immune to it.”63 He is not talking about the ordinarily religious, but those with religious commitments strong enough to pit them against their surrounding culture — those Niebuhr almost certainly would have categorized as “Christ against culture” religious types, although you don’t have to be Christian to qualify. So Kaufmann notes the population 58

E.g., Longman, Empty Cradle, 52–67; Yoshihara, Population Decline.

59

“Return of Patriarchy,” 58.

Eric Kaufmann, Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth? Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century (London: Profile Books, ebook [Kindle] 2010).

60

61

Ibid., Kindle location 51.

62

Stark, 115–128.

63

Kaufmann, Kindle location 63.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

growth of the Old Order Amish and the QuiverFull movement among Christian groups, but also adds Mormons to the mix before turning to Salafist Muslims (fundamentalists), and finally to the mushrooming population of ultra-Orthodox Jews.64 With Michael Blume, he grudgingly admits that “when it comes to Creationism vs. Intelligent Design, ‘evolutionary theorists brought up far more scientific arguments but committed believers in supernatural agents brought up far more children’.”65 He also concedes that “[r]eligious zealots are no more violent than socialists or anarchists.” His fear is elsewhere. “The greater threat is cultural: that fundamentalism will replace reason and freedom with moral puritanism.”66 Or as Longman predicts: “If no alternative solution [to declining birthrates] can be found, the future will belong to those who reject markets, reject learning, reject modernity, and reject freedom. This will be the fundamentalist moment.”67 Please note: No one expects this to be an overnight change. They accept that secularization of attitudes will continue to dominate for some time;68 that overall decline in religiosity will not soon change; and that an aging society is inevitable. Their point, rather, is that the highly religious will be important long-term exceptions to demographic decline and that the highly religious will increasingly exercise the power of growing numbers. This growth of religious influence will occur primarily through childbirth, not conversion.

To summarize: Although we won’t see Old Order Amish or QuiverFull fundamentalists (or, for that matter, 64 Kaufmann’s comparison of Muslim vs. Christian growth is noteworthy: “The natural increase of Muslims was nearly double that of Christianity, allowing it to outpace Christianity despite the fact that Christianity trumped Islam 3:1 in the market for converts.” Kaufmann, 120, Kindle location, 2494. With regard to Israel, he notes that the ultraOrthodox population has gone from a 20 percent share of the total population in 1960 to nearly 50 percent today.

65

Ibid., Kindle location 274.

66

Ibid., Kindle location 117.

67

Empty Cradle, 168–169.

68

Kaufmann, 9–11, Kindle locations 450–503.

Mormons) taking over the U.S. in our lifetime, the U.S. and other aging societies will experience a growing percentage of the highly religious while the moderately religious continue to decline.69

3. The LCMS and demographic change — implications for theology and mission a. LCMS and U.S. age-sex demographics What, if anything, does such demographic change mean for the LCMS and its mission? My answers are based on extrapolations from LCMS statistical reports and from other data that is available about the LCMS from Pew Research’s Religious Landscape Survey.70 I want to publicly thank Gene Weeke and Ryan Curnutt, Synod’s statisticians, for their assistance.71 To get a helpful picture of the LCMS demographically, we must start with race. As members of a church body that is 95 percent non-Latino white (the highest percentage of any Christian tradition except the ELCA), the LCMS must simply realize that we are representative of a shrinking demographic

69 “The established, inherited, moderate religions which used to reign unchallenged are being dismembered by secularism and fundamentalism. Once secularism rears its head and fundamentalism responds with a clear alternative, moderate religion strikes many as redundant. Either you believe the stuff or you don’t. If you do, it makes sense to go for the real thing, which takes a firm stand against godlessness.” Kaufman, Kindle location 204.

70 A disclaimer is necessary. The LCMS baptized membership is only 1.4 percent of the total U.S. population, and one cannot make too many assumptions about how well our population reflects the national population given that we are a small sample. I should also note that Pew’s Religious Landscape is six years old. I do not think that negates its value, but it should be kept in mind especially when we look at age distributions. Pew Research: Religion and Public Life, Religious Landscape Survey: Religious Affiliation: Diverse and Dynamic (February 2008), 15; downloaded from http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/reportreligious-landscape-study-full.pdf. The survey accounts for most of the data in this section. Among its strengths is its large sample size, but because of language limitations, Pew warns that it provides minimal estimates for non-English speaking groups.

71 LCMS Department of Statistics, Forty Years of LCMS District Statistics (March 25, 2013) is a very helpful resource prepared by Weeke and Curnutt.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

21

group.72 Not only are whites declining as a percentage of age-sex distribution tendencies of white America. Our the population, non-Latino whites are also the group that proportion of females is slightly higher than the overall is declining most rapidly in terms of church involvement, population (in line with all other Christian groups). as another Pew study has shown. Pew’s 2000 study “Nones” In terms of age, the LCMS varies more widely with on the Rise is blunt about disaffiliation in the U.S., noting significantly fewer adults between 18–49 than average that the increasing number of people, especially young and significantly more adults 50 and over.77 people, leaving the church is not a universal phenomenon across American races and Adult Populations by Age 18-29 30-49 50-64 85+ ethnicities. Rather, “[w]hen it comes to race.

U.S. non-Latino whites 20 35 26 19 . . the recent change has been concentrated in Roman Catholic 18 41 24 16 one group: whites.”73 The shrinkage does cross All Protestants 17 38 26 20 denominational lines. Such decline is not only Evangelicals 17 39 26 19 true of the mainline, but also in Evangelicalism Mormon 24 42 19 15 as a whole.74 Unaffiliated 31 40 20 8 Our office of Data and Statistics has no LCMS 11 32 31 26 information about age and sex of our members Data from Pew, Religious Landscape Survey (2008), pages 78 and 79 and U.S. Census 2010. or the male-female ratio of the LCMS. Pew’s Landscape Survey, however, indicates that the LCMS is 47 percent male and 53 percent female overall as b. Birth rate compared to a 48 percent male to 52 percent female ratio. That comparative dearth of young adults has an obvious The entire Christian population shows a similar pattern of implication for the overall LCMS birth rate. A low number greater female than male participation.75 of births going forward is unavoidable given the lower As for age, Pew’s Religious Landscape stats show the than average number of potential mothers. However, we LCMS as one of the oldest religious groups in the U.S.76 have no statistical basis to determine the average birth Note the accompanying compilation of data from Pew rate for individual women in the LCMS, so we can only and the U.S. census to see how the LCMS compares to the assume that young LCMS women will not have markedly white population and to select other groups in terms of different birth rates than the general white population. age group proportions. Our level of aging is well above Another way to try to get at our birth rate is more roundthe average for whites, other Protestants and Roman about, but at least it is specific to the LCMS. Note the Catholics. We reflect the mainline churches in this area. following graph of LCMS membership over 50 years. It is To summarize: The LCMS is generally reflective of the in five-year increments from 1962 to 2012, the last year for which I have complete statistics on the LCMS. 72 Pew, Religious Landscape, 77.

The graph goes back far enough to enable us to see the 73 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, “Nones” on the Rise: One-inend of the baby-boom generation (those born from 1945– Five Adults Have No Religious Affiliation (Oct. 9, 2012), 21. Available as pdf at http://www.pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise/.

1964). U.S. TFRs peaked around 1960 at 3.6, dropped to Accessed Nov. 9, 2014.

2.9 in 1965 and to 2.5 in 1970. From about 1975 on they 74 See John S. Dickerson, The Great Evangelical Recession: 6 Factors That have fluctuated — to a low of 1.8, but never exceeding Will Crash the American Church. . . and How to Prepare (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2013; ebook), who concurs with Christian Smith’s estimates of 2.1 significantly. The graph of baptized membership the Evangelical population of the U.S. as only about 7–9 percent of the suggests that the LCMS seems to have followed this trend, U.S. population (25). Pew assumes a figure of about 26 percent (see Religious Landscape, 10), but the difference is definitional rather than peaking in 1972 at just under 2.9 million and gradually data-driven. Dickerson defines Evangelicals as those “who believe in declining thereafter. Two facts indicate a declining LCMS salvation by faith,” that the Bible is God’s Word and without error, and birth rate. First, significant loss of baptized membership that Jesus is the Savior (23). See also his op-ed piece from the New York Times online at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/opinion/sunday/ the-decline-of-evangelical-america.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

Accessed Nov. 5, 2014.

75 Protestants overall and Roman Catholics are at 46 percent male and 54 percent female. Pew, Religious Landscape, 95. That pattern reverses toward a male majority in all other religions that Pew surveyed and in those who are unaffiliated with any religion.

76

Pew, Religious Landscape, 83.

22

See Forty Years, an historical study of LCMS district membership.

After observing the Synod’s overall numerical decline, they note that “In nearly every district, the ratio of baptized to confirmed members has also been shrinking over the years, meaning that there is a smaller group of members who are baptized but not confirmed. This usually is an indicator of an aging membership.” (See also graph at bottom of B-3 in Forty Years.)

77

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

begins in 1977, while significant confirmed membership loss does not begin until 1992 and even then trends downward more slowly than baptized membership, a time spread that matches with typical confirmation ages.

In addition, you can see that the percentage of baptized to confirmed membership shrinks consistently over time. In the early 1960s, confirmed members were 72 percent of the total LCMS membership. According to the best stats now, 78 percent of all LCMS baptized members are also

confirmed. Looking from the perspective of the end of the baby boom, between 1972 and 2012 baptized LCMS membership declined by 23.7 percent while confirmed membership declined by 15.8 percent — meaning we were losing baptized membership at about 150 percent of the rate of confirmed membership loss. In noting such realities, LCMS Research Services says this “usually” indicates an aging population.78 Pew corroborates these extrapolations, showing that LCMS adults have fewer children living at home with them than the national average or the average for all Protestants (even fewer than the average for mainline churches alone!).79 72 percent of LCMS members have no child at home; 11 percent have one child, 10 percent have two, and only 7 percent have three or more. Nationally the numbers for the total population are 65 percent with none, 13 percent with 1, 13 percent with two, and 9 percent with three or more.80 To summarize: Every indication is that the LCMS has a low birthrate. Without doubt its population is aging significantly, with ever smaller numbers of members who are of child-bearing age now and in the foreseeable future.

c. Migration I earlier dealt with the two aspects population movement: immigration and internal migration. The LCMS is clearly dissimilar to the U.S. in terms of reflecting immigration, since the U.S. is less than 64 percent non-Latino white, while the LCMS is 95 percent non-Latino white.81 The 5 percent includes African, Asian, Hispanic and various other immigrant Americans so there has been some immigration effect, but it is minimal. One reason for this is that the LCMS has little presence in the areas of the U.S. where minority groups live — whether blacks, whites, Asians, Latinos or other immigrants. On this map,82 the white portions of the map are zip codes with minimal minority populations. The colors represent minoritydense counties. They are coded according to how many LCMS congregations we have in each. Gray means we

have no congregations, which you can see includes most of the minority-rich zip codes in the U.S. We have one congregation in the pink zip codes and two in the blue ones.

To a large extent our present LCMS geography correlates with our history as a German immigrant church. The accompanying ancestry map, from the Census Bureau, based on 2010 data, shows the ancestry group with the largest population by U.S. counties. Missouri’s concentration is heaviest in the sky blue, German-heritage counties.83 The third map corroborates this.84 In white areas, the LCMS is strongest (between 2 and 6 percent of the population). In the red areas, we are between 0.8 and 81 According to the 2010 Census. See http://www.census.gov/prod/ cen2010/briefs/c2010br-05.pdf.

82

78

Forty Years of LCMS District Statistics (March 25, 2013), ii.

79

Pew, 87.

80

Ibid., 89.

Prepared by Ryan Curnutt, LCMS Office of Research and Statistics.

83

Hamilto Lombard, “Ancestry: Who Do You Think You Are?” StatChat (University of Virginia, March 13, 2014), http://statchatva. org/2014/03/13/ancestry-who-do-you-think-you-are/. Accessed on Nov. 7, 2014.

84

Prepared by Ryan Curnutt, LCMS Office of Research and Statistics.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

23

2.0 percent. Yellow is 3/10th to 8/10th of 1 percent and green and blue are less than 3/10th of a percent. We are strongest in states that are not fastgrowing and weakest in the largest and most populous states. Pew gives percentages for LCMS membership: 64 percent in the Midwest versus 7 percent in the Northeast, 13 percent in the West and 16 percent in the South.85 We are also dissimilar, therefore, to the national population in terms of population location.

The LCMS is similar to the general population, however, in

more recent migration patterns. Over the past few decades, the Synod has experienced some shifting of its population to the southern U.S., especially to the Southeast and to Texas. Texas experienced growth in baptized membership over 30 of the past 40 years, as did Florida-Georgia and the Mid-South and Oklahoma Districts, while the Southeastern District experienced growth in 20 of the past 40 years.86 In the districts where we are numerically strongest, we’ve experienced modest growth in several. Nebraska District grew modestly for 30 of the past 40 years (B-8), while there was modest growth for 20 of the 40 years in Missouri (B-4), Kansas (B-16), Rocky Mountain (B-16), and Central Illinois Districts (B-20).87 The mention of Midwestern districts in this mix hints that the population shifts that have occurred in the LCMS seem to have followed U.S. trends in which most southern movement is due to whites leaving upper Midwest cities and the Northeast’s urban areas. Statistics from our districts in such areas tend to bear that out as

well. Unfortunately, despite some growth in previous decades, no district has experienced overall numerical growth in the past ten years.

Not only are we not strongly present in heavily minority locales, we are also not strongly present in the areas of the country where population is growing fastest overall, which includes many of those minority locales, but other areas as well. The map of projected population growth indicates the fastest growing areas of the country in dark blue.89 The dots show where our congregations are. You see a strong cluster of LCMS congregations in zones that are pink or the lightest blue, where growth is negative or minimal.

To summarize: Synod’s overall numerical decline, then, clearly is due in part to the demographics of nonLatino white America with low birth rates, and also to where we are concentrated geographically.

However, while these hard demographic factors must account for a significant part of the LCMS’s decline, they are by no means able to account for all of it. We must remember that despite declining TFRs the white population of the U.S. continued to grow through the last forty years. Only two years ago, in 2012, did the continuing spiral of low birthrates cause the death rate 88

85

Pew, Religious Landscape, 92.

86

Forty Years, B-4, B-20, B-12.

88 For examples from Forty Years, see Atlantic (about -40%, C-2), New England (about -35 percent, C-36), New Jersey (about -40 percent, C-38), Eastern (about -40 percent, C-8), Michigan (about -20 percent, C-22), Ohio (about -25 percent, C-48), NID (about -40 percent, C-44), SWD (about -30 percent, C-60), and English (about -30 percent, C-10).

Atlantic, New England and English experienced significant losses during the Synod controversy in the 70s, but the loss estimates here are based on decline since 1977.

87

Ibid., B-8, B-4, B-16, B-20 respectively.

89

24

Prepared by Ryan Curnutt, LCMS Office of Research and Statistics.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

to exceed the number of births for non-Latino whites.90 But the LCMS decline goes back about 40 years, not two. Obviously, the problem is bigger than the lack of babies.

d. Indirect demographic effects What about the areas I referred to as “indirect demographic effects” — those other socio-cultural changes that correlate and are associated with core demographic change? The LCMS exhibits both similarities and dissimilarities in this area too.

Take marriage and income, as examples. Pew’s statistics on marriage — which are LCMS specific — are again relevant. They are helpful in terms of household and family information. Sixty percent of LCMS people are married, higher than both the total population or than other Protestants. Five percent of LCMS members live with an unmarried partner, slightly lower than the national average of 6 percent, equal to Evangelicals as a group who are also at 5 percent, but higher than the ELCA that has only 3 percent of its members cohabitating.91 Our divorce rate is slightly below the national average and the Protestant average. We have about 35 percent more widowed members than the national average and one point more than the Protestant average. We have far fewer never-married adults — 11 percent for the LCMS compared to 19 percent for the national population and 17 percent for all Protestants.92 To summarize: In terms of marriage practices and income, Missouri varies only slightly from the overall patterns of American Protestant churches.

These factors are all very generational in nature. So it should not surprise us that we are struggling to retain 90 There were 12,000 more deaths than births for non-Hispanic whites in 2012. White population grew overall only because of European immigration (+188,000). See Sam Roberts, “Census Benchmark for White Americans: More Deaths Than Births,” New York Times (June 13, 2013), online at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/us/censusbenchmark-for-white-americans-more-deaths-than-births.html?_r=0.

Last accessed Nov. 7, 2014.

91

Pew, Religious Landscape, 72–74.

92

Ibid., 80.

youthful members, to say nothing of effectively evangelizing them. It would be downright miraculous if the LCMS were not a posterchild for the phenomenon of religious disaffiliation among white Americans, especially those under thirty. The rising tide of “Nones” is real, and given the age spread of Missouri, must especially be a significant factor for membership decline among the youngest adult population cohort.93

e. Will the LCMS be an exception?

All of this indicates that when one compares the LCMS to the U.S. population overall, we are probably more culturally similar than dissimilar to the rest of the white population. Our similarity to the U.S. population is true in terms of core demography insofar as we have data. We have low fertility and are aging quickly like the rest of white America. The only difference seems to be that these phenomena are truer than the rest of the population because they are exacerbated by the loss of young adults also through disaffiliation. As for migration, we are gaining very few of the new Americans overall — far less than Roman Catholics or Pentecostals, but also some evangelicals. And our present geography makes us congregation-heavy where population is light.

But could we be an exception to the rule of demographic decline among whites? I mentioned that those with the highest religious commitments and a willingness (or even an eagerness) to be counter-cultural are such exceptions — the Amish, the QuiverFull, orthodox Jews. How about Missouri? Could we become a church marked by significantly higher birth rates than average? Could we become the Mormons of orthodox Christianity? If I look at the information available from studies of our population, it is clear that we aren’t bucking any trends in terms of age and birth statistics right now.

Even if we kept all our children, it would be hard to stay even into the next generation, and the fact is, we’re losing 93 As Pew shows, the unaffiliated are largely young whites, with the under-30 more than three times as likely to have no religious commitment as those over 65 and more than twice as likely as those over 50. Pew,“Nones,”10.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

25

an awful lot of our kids.

In other words, though demographers don’t use terms like “lukewarm,” the LCMS is not a group that they would call “highly religious.” There is no evidential basis to assume that the LCMS currently, in an overall way that gets down to the laity in large measure, takes faith commitments to a level that makes us willing to live in open, purposeful cultural contradiction to our society.

Like other Christians, we probably have a slightly higher birth rate than America as a whole, but only marginally so. Our pastors do appear to be more purposefully counter-cultural than many other Christians, but I am skeptical about how far that translates into the pews. But the best single marker for a strongly counter-cultural religious group is a significantly higher than average birth rate. There is no evidence of that in the LCMS; rather, other markers indicate we are more similar than dissimilar to the “average American” — with few kids, but also plenty of divorces and living together in particular.

Our income level also militates against us being countercultural. Nonconformists are typically found more often among the poor.

Maybe that is as it should be. We’ve all read Niebuhr and know that at least according to his typology we Lutherans should be a “Christ and culture in paradox” and not a “Christ against culture” kind of church. Or not. You decide! My purpose, again, is simply to speak factually as much as I can.

To summarize: LCMS demographics make it unlikely that we would be an exception to overall demographic trends among non-Latino white Protestants.

4. LCMS missions: practice and assumptions That’s enough demographics for me. I warned you that the “numbers” would be grim. They leave me feeling discouraged. I love this crabby old mother of ours, the Missouri Synod, with all her warts. She has nurtured me lovingly. I hate to have to think about more and more decline: the loss of members (including relatives whom I dearly love); financial struggles; closing schools and churches all across America and especially in cities, where my heart is. It grieves me more than I can say. There is no hope in these numbers.

But we live by the Gospel, not numbers. We will all die without it, so I simply would remind you that we walk by faith not by sight or statistics. That doesn’t mean we can ignore the numbers, but I pray that it will allow us to keep them in their place.

26

Our church has one strength that amounts to more than any of her weaknesses: our evangelical and catholic faith. Consider that here. As the Augustana reminds us, we know that the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church will not fail. No, the Church will remain forever because she is grounded in God’s unfailing promises of life and salvation, flowing from their pure scriptural source and bubbling forth in the spoken Word and the visible, Christgiven Gospel signs of Baptism and Eucharist (AC VII).

And that enduring church is still evident in Missouri.

Walther, after his despair, came to confess at Altenburg that the gathering of his bedraggled fellow immigrants, despite the disorder they were experiencing and the false teaching they had endured, was still in a church “where children of God may thereby be born” (Theses, II, III).94 It is still so.

The Church stands under Christ and His mission to all nations. God the Spirit’s past work among us is an encouragement. The mission priority for fathers like Walther and Wyneken was gathering the Lutheran immigrants coming to America — immigrants like them from Germany who were lost, erring and searching.95 We are foolish if we think that it was easy — people were just beating down the doors to start confessional churches. It took vision, sacrifice, powerful preaching, clear teaching and, above all, love for the lost.

As America changed in the 20th century, Missouri retained a strong small-town and rural presence, but many missionary pastors and leaders followed the population, planting increasing numbers of churches in cities. Planting new churches where America was moving emerged as the mission priority. The new churches were for Missouri’s own members, but they were also active seeking the lost in the communities surrounding them.

God gave the Synod a booming population in the first three quarters of the 20th century largely from her own babies, but also through such purposeful, wise mission.

Early in that same period, Missouri indicated another home mission priority when she began an outreach to African Americans in the South, emphasizing education as a companion and complement to mission. Despite a too-easy accommodation with segregation, Missouri established a stronger African American practice than any other Lutheran body and most other white Protestants, See Walter Forster, Zion on the Mississippi (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953), 523–525.

94

On German immigration to the U.S., see Michael Barone, Shaping Our Nation.

95

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

developing wise, visionary black leaders whom we honor still today.

The LCMS has continued its work of mission over recent decades, but has experienced overall decline rather than growth. Theological controversy divided us, but social change is what really shook us — like the rest of Christianity. We loved integration until it came to our neighborhoods, and then we fled the cities in droves.

Sexual revolution left us stunned and then seduced. We became more promiscuous (a word no one even uses anymore) ourselves and suffered with everyone else “no fault” violations of solemn marriage promises. While no one even noticed, we bought into the idea that there’s something wrong with a big family, all the while suburbs sprawled and our smaller families required ever larger homes.

As for missions, our efforts were still focused on planting churches in the places our people and people like us were moving. Some of our districts prospered, and many strong churches were planted; praise God! I am certain that such efforts will continue as they should. We will continue to reach out, planting churches where there are young couples and families. We must continue that.

We will also need to continue and expand ministry to an aging America. It will become an ever greater aspect of the Church’s life. It will be evangelistic as well as pastoral.

It will take place in homes and institutions. It will involve the shut-in and infirm, but also will present us with opportunities to deploy vibrant retirees in various ways to further the Gospel outreach. We must continue that too.

But that is not enough. Indeed, I believe that in light of the changing demographics of the U.S., the third historic mission priority — the cross-cultural priority that produced a concerted mission to black Americans in the deep South — must become our highest priority.

Outreach to those least like us deserves the best of our thinking, a profound commitment and financial sacrifices. Far more importantly that preserving our institutions is the call of our Lord to make disciples of the nations. In the new America, if our church does not turn its attention outward — to those who are least like us, to our “Gentiles,” even those who count themselves as our enemies, we will not be faithful.

I have no illusions about the difficulty of it; I spent over 25 years trying, trying and trying some more to minister faithfully in culturally diverse settings. Crossing ethnic divides isn’t easy. In some ways, it is even harder to cross the popular culture divide so apparent in much of the

Millennials and the generations following. There we face nothing short of antipathy toward the church, especially one that upholds orthodox, confessional teachings and life. Earning the trust of the “other” is a challenge, but not a new one. Stark reminds us that Christianity in its first centuries had that very same challenge — a challenge that was met not only because of its message, but also its manner of life. It brought “charity and hope” to the poor, an “expanded sense of family” and new attachments to cities full of strangers, orphans, and widows. In the midst of inter-ethnic conflict, the unity of the Spirit crossed human divides.96 These are salutary and hopeful reminders of the Church’s strength when she proclaims and shares the mercies of God. In light of our demographics, I want to suggest, in specific, that we ask the Lord to prepare workers for the following segments of America (in no particular order).

1. Those generations in their 30s and under — including those who stand opposed to faith and those who claim a faith that has dispensed with the church. Many will view us with hostility. And many are our kids and grandkids. We cannot abandon them to Satan’s empty secularism.

2.

“Minorities” and especially Latinos and other immigrants. Many, if not most, live in poor neighborhoods that we have forgotten. Some are highly educated and prosperous. They are all different from most of Missouri — red, yellow, black, brown and every color. It will not be easy to earn their trust. Yes, many are firmly committed to Rome or Pentecostalism. Yet many other are unchurched and non-Christian.

3. The unmarried — those who have postponed marriage, or scorned it or were never blessed with it; the divorced, the single moms (and dads), the lonely, and the many widows. We will need to value, teach and model holy marriage for them, but we must not make marriage a requirement for discipleship in Christ’s holy family.

Forum Letter recently led with something Augustine said in comparing the city of God to the city of man: “But let this city bear in mind, that among her enemies lie hid those who are destined to be fellow-citizens, that she may not think it a fruitless labor to bear what they inflict as enemies until they become confessors of the faith.”97 It has 96

Stark, 161.

City of God, 1, Preface, 35, at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/ npnf102.iv.ii.xxxvi.html. Quoted in Richard O. Johnson, ed., Forum Letter (November 2014), 1. Thanks to Carol Geisler who pointed this 97

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

27

never been easy to proclaim Christ to the city of man — it will not be easy today. Yet, we pray nonetheless, “Thy kingdom come.”

God, grant us your Spirit’s power, wisdom and might that we may be faithful to our confession and in proclaiming Christ to our world.

The Rev. Larry M. Vogel is associate director of the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations.

out for me.

28

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Reflections on Seven Megatrends Shaping 21st Century Mission

by Albert B. Collver III

Timothy Tennent outlined seven meagtrends that are helpful in diagnosing challenges to the Church.

The answer to the challenges? Start with repentance and continue with the proclamation of the Gospel.

C

hristian mission fundamentally takes even if the question was not framed in this way.

The World Missionary Conference of Edinburgh in takes place “where the Church and that which 1 is not Church” meet. Physically, of course, this 1910 had some 1,200 delegates from the major Protesline of demarcation could be represented by the inside tant denominations and mission societies represented and outside of the church building or by a national primarily from Europe and North America. The goal of or geographical boundary that separate the heathen the World Missionary Conference was to address a practical approach to missions. The great from Christians. In an era when the twentieth-century missiologist David church held cultural and political The discussion Bosch, describing the conference, said, sway, such a definition or such a of mission and the “Edinburgh represented the all-time line of demarcation appeared to question of the nature highwater mark in Western missionmake sense. In the era of so-called ary enthusiasm, the zenith of the Christian nations, the Constantinian of the Church cannot optimistic and pragmatist approach era when the church held a privileged be separated. Any to missions.”2 Looking back, although place in society, generally speaking, discussion of mission this is frequently denied in the current Christians were located where the will inevitably involve age, the World Missionary Conference church was (often represented by a a discussion about the of 1910 could be viewed in triumphalbuilding), and where there was no ist terms. The European and American church, there were no Christians. At nature of the Church, churches, for all intents and purposes, least, this is the general or simplistic the purpose of the had taken the Gospel to every corner model often presented as the image Church and the goal of the earth or at least believed that the of the institutional church holding of the Church. task would be accomplished within a sway in society. At least in the Western generation.3 An emerging question in Christian world, the utopian view of the Constantinian era, when the church holds a privileged 1910 was how the churches could work together better. position in society and her clergy are respected, is Practically speaking, this equated to discussions on how passing way. Such a view, nevertheless, seemed to be one of the dominant positions at the time when the World 2 David J. Bosch. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. American Society of Missiology Series 16 (Maryknoll: Orbis Missionary Conference of Edinburgh in 1910 was held. Books, 1991), 338.

Here the modern Ecumenical Movement also was born. 3 Paul H. Cho. “Between Edinburgh 1910–2010: Changing Theological Fundamental to Christian mission at the beginning of the Views of Mission.” Modern Believing 51, no. 3 (July 2010): 16–24, 19.

“The end of history will break in when all peoples have heard the twentieth century was the question of what the Church is, gospel. Therefore, mission begins with the view of the end and prepares 1 Hermann Sasse. “The Question of the Church’s Unity on the Mission Field.” 2:179–195 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2002), electronic location 4944.

for the end. The missionary movement of the twentieth century received a tremendous inspiration from this theology of mission, which was also present in the 1910 Edinburgh World Missionary Conference.

John Mott believed that the goal of reaching all peoples was possible ‘in this generation.’”

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

29

churches established in the same country by different of a church.8 These views provided the large structures denominations might even perhaps become one, as the or guideposts for mission in the twentieth century, even “mission field” made it appear as if the divisive distinc- affecting the Missouri Synod, which remained slightly tions back home (in Europe and in America) were no behind the latest “cutting” edge of missiological thought, longer relevant on the mission field.4 After all, churches which as far as I am concerned was not necessarily a existed within a couple of hundred yards of each other bad thing. on the mission field, each half full in an area where there Fast forward a century to the World Missionary were 7 million people who were not Christians. Surely Conference of 2010, also held in Edinburgh. Unlike the missionaries should be able to cooperate and or work to 1910 World Missionary Conference, the centennial conestablish one church! The divisions of Christianity caused ference had Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox an offense to the pagan world. Ironically, among the 1,200 representatives from around the world. Unlike 1910, or so delegates at the World Missionary Conference of the 2010 conference had materials available in Amharic 1910 with representatives from (for Ethiopia), Chinese, English, every corner of the world, among French, Japanese, Swahili, Korean The mainline Protestant the hundreds and hundreds of and Spanish. This is an interesting churches, in an effort to white faces, “There were only very grouping of languages, including remain culturally relevant, those of two of the fastest growing few colored faces.”5 have abandoned the churches in the world: Ethiopia One of the takeaways from (Mekane Yesus) and China. The the World Missionary Conferhistoric confession of the composition of the 2010 conference of 1910 was the emergence Christian Church. This ence in Edinburgh reflects the of a greater awareness of the also has resulted in a reality that the majority of ChrisChurch and her role in missions, general decline of mission tians no longer live in the West. the birth of the modern ecumenwork in foreign lands More than thirty volumes of mateical movement and eventually rial were produced. (And I am the development of mission Dei by mainline Protestant theology, which states that mischurches being replaced by perhaps presumptuously guessing that this event went largely unnosion belongs to and starts with the justice programs and other 6 ticed by the people attending this triune God and not the Church. humanitarian aid projects. mission summit with the excepWith the redefinition of mission tion perhaps of the good Dr. Detlev as the sending of God into the world, “Then mission may be taking place outside of the Schultz, professor of missiology at Concordia Theological church and even outside of the Christian dispensation Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.) Again, while perhaps not altogether.”7 A practical implication for the missio Dei a question in the forefront, the role of the church still mission theology was a de-emphasis on the professional remained a lingering question. The 2010 World Mismissionary, on the clergy and on becoming a member sionary Conference said of the church, “We believe the church, as a sign and symbol of the reign of God, is called to witness to Christ today by sharing in God’s mission of 4

Ibid., 17. “A divided witness to Christ was therefore a major stumbling-block to mission.”

5

Sasse, electronic location 4944.

6

Cho, 20. “Although the concept of missio Dei was a starting point for considering a theology of mission, it was not the mission of the Son and the mission of the church, initiated by the Holy Spirit, which were primary but the mission of God as such. God makes Godself known in promissio to the world. There is no ‘resident’ God, but only the God of the Exodus, who enters into history and reconstitutes it through the word of promise and so brings about the divine purpose. The goal of God’s work of salvation is a reconciled world. The starting-point for this theology of mission usually took the form of solidarity with the poor and oppressed.”

7

Ibid.

30

8

Ibid., 20–21. “The meaning of this theology in practical terms for missionary work is that it is not a question of going from the centre to the periphery, from the church to the world, but from the world to the world. The missionary is not the one with a special call, not the professional priests or ministers, but is first and foremost the layperson. Outsiders are not necessarily called to become members of the church: they should let themselves be brought into God’s mission in the world and stretching into the future, which belongs within God’s eschatological care. Only in this way can a human being find his or her true humanity, which is itself hidden in mission. Mission thus moves from sending to sending. Sending leads into the future, and the future leads to a new sending.”

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

love through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.”9 of the institutional church and holds that the church has Much could and perhaps should be said about the been off the rails more or less since the age of Constan2010 World Missionary Conference’s confession of the tine. He would like to return to the purity and apostolicity Church, most notably how the phrase that the Church is of the church during her first three centuries, before it a “sign and symbol of the reign of God” is vastly different became institutionalized. Hirsch writes: from what Article VII of the Augsburg Confession says: One of the core tasks of apostolic ministry is to “That the one holy Church is to continue forever. The plant churches, but we are increasingly convinced Church is the congregation of saints in which the Gospel that the term church planting itself is problematic. is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly adminThat is partly because we are never actually comistered.” It should come as no surprise to you that most manded to plant churches. In the Bible, that is alcontemporary missiologies find Augustana VII as outways considered to be Jesus’s job; for our part, we dated, inadequate or simply wrong. (Most contemporary are called to evangelize the world by making discimissiologies, for instance, do not ples.... To get to the real heart of believe that the church will endure the Great Commission, we sugThe cause of a recession forever but rather that the church gest that it might be useful to or extinction of the Gospel drop the phrase “church plantis simply part of the present dispensation.) in a particular place was ing”; instead we should begin to For example, David Bosch focus on the approach of “gosa lack of gratitude and writes, “The most famous of the pel planting.” This is actually thankfulness for the sixteenth-century definitions of very useful because it takes us Gospel. This has been the church is the one to be found to the core of what missionary repeated throughout the in the (Lutheran) Augsburg Conwork is about in the first place: fession of 1530. Its Article VII history of God’s people. planting the message of Jesus describes the church according to and cultivating contextualized The answer to this is two distinguishing marks, namely communities of faith that shape repentance. Repentance as ‘the assembly of saints in which themselves around it.12 leads to reformation and the gospel is taught purely and the Hirsch views the institutionrenewal. sacraments are administered right10 alization of the church as a death ly.’” Bosch continues: knell for movements such as pietism, revivalism and the In all these instances the church was defined in missional church. An example for Hirsch of the instituterms of what happens inside its four walls, not tionalism of the church is the denominational seminary.13 in terms of its calling in the world. The verbs used He writes: in the Augustana are all in the passive voice: the church is a place where the gospel is taught purely and the sacraments are administered rightly. It is a place where something is done, not a living organism doing something.... The church of pure doctrine was, however, a church without mission, and its theology more scholastic than apostolic.11 More recent missiologists such as Alan Hirsch also operate with a different understanding of the church and the role of the church. In fact, Hirsch is deeply distrustful 9 “Edinburgh 2010 Common Call” (http://www.edinburgh2010.org/ fileadmin/Edinburgh_2010_Common_Call_with_explanation.pdf) 10

Bosch, 16.

11

Ibid., 248.

For instance, we believe that making a church dependent on external institutions to do its theologizing lies at the root of many of the organizational as well as the missional problems we face. The denominational seminary is a classic case in point. If 12 Alan Hirsch, Tim Catchim and Mike Bren. The Permanent Revolution: Apostolic Imagination and Practice for the 21st Century Church (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012), Kindle location 5962.

13 Hirsch notes that he did not find his seminary education particularly helpful to the challenges he faced in the ministry. “I have to say that nothing in my seminary training had prepared me for the experience of those years. Everything in my education was geared toward maintaining the established, more institutional forms of the church. The vast majority of the subjects on offer were theoretical and were taught by theoreticians, not practitioners.” Alan Hirsch. The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos Press, 2006), 30–31.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

31

one organization is set apart to handle all the ideas and leadership training, then the local church no longer believes it has to do the hard work of these itself. As a result, it becomes lazy and dependent on the external organization. If we are not careful, creating external training and licensing bodies can be a death knell to a movement and cultivate a propensity toward institutionalism.14

1. Yale University’s Campus Crusade for Christ meetings are mostly made up of Asians, while the university’s Buddhist meditation meetings are almost exclusively attended by whites.

2.

More Anglican Christians worship in Nigeria in any given week than all the Episcopal and Anglican churches of Europe and North America combined.

3. More Christian churches exist in Nepal than in Spain.

4. “All ten of the most gospel-resisOnce again, the discussion tant people groups in the world of mission and the question of are located in Western Europe, For Lutherans, the the nature of the church cannot whereas all ten of the most gosChurch is an article of be separated. Any discussion of pel-reactive people groups in the faith. Jesus never fails, mission will inevitably involve a world today are located in either discussion about the nature of the and He is the Lord of His China or India.”17 church, the purpose of the church Church. Jesus Himself Tennent states, “None of these and the goal of the church. developments were predicted fifty promised that the gates of Yesterday, I mentioned to a col18 hell will not prevail against years ago.” Tennent’s observation league that Dr. Joel Lehenbauer’s that none of these trends were preHis Church. fine paper had a lot of prolegomdicted a half-century ago should ena. As a systematic theologian, remind us that missionaries in I, too, cannot escape prolegomgeneral are horrible prognosticators of the future, tendena, for it was in fact the World Missionary Conference ing to be either overly optimistic or overly pessimistic of of 2010 that provided the context for the Seven Megathe future, while frequently unable to see emerging areas trends Shaping Twenty-First Century Mission. The seven of opportunities. This is not a criticism of missionaries megatrends come from Invitation to World Missions: A but rather more a reflection on the fact that people in the Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-First Century by Dr. midst of the battle of where the church is and is not do Timothy C. Tennet, a Wesleyan and current president not always have the best perspective of what is occurring of Asbury Theological Seminary. He wrote this book “in on the macro level. In terms of the Augsburg Confession, celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the 1910 one also must confess that the Holy Spirit works when World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotand where He pleases, and He rarely, if ever, consults us land,” as a “call to faithful remembrance as we look back before He does so. on those who have gone before us, and it is also a call to Tennet reflects, “As I survey the landscape of conlook ahead and reenvision what it means to be called into temporary missions and missiological reflection, it is the world.”15 A century ago, Tennent notes, “Missions was clear that those who live in the West are facing a serious conceptualized … as moving outward from its sending crisis concerning missions and Christian identity within center in the Western world to the unreached world. We the larger global Christian movement.”19 To examine the were the bearers of the missionary mandate and message, “crisis” of Western Christianity, Tennet developed seven and those outside the West were the object of missions, megatrends or major shifts that are interrelated. the mission field.”16 Tennent notes that the missionary Megatrend 1: The Collapse of Christendom world has been turned upside down. He provides some • “The Western world can no longer be characterized snapshots to illustrate his point: as a Christian society / culture in either its dominant 14 Hirsch, Kindle location 6505. ethos or in its worldview. Christendom has col15 Timothy Tennent. “Megatrends That Are Shaping Twenty-First lapsed, and the twenty-first century missions must Century Missions From Moratorium and Malaise to Selah and Rebirth.” be reconceptualized on new assumptions.

Preface. In Invitation to World Missions: A Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-First Century (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic & Professional, 2010), 15–51.

17

16

Ibid., Kindle location 92.

18

Ibid.

19

Ibid.

Ibid., Kindle location 85.

32

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

For Tennent, Christendom refers to a political and ecclesiastical arrangement that reinforces a special relationship between the church and the state. The state strengthens the church by promoting Christian hegemony over the religious and cultural life. The church, in turn, gives legitimacy to the state by supporting the political establishment and tacitly granting divine sanction to the actions of the state.20 Hirsch makes similar observations about Christendom.21 It should be fairly apparent that this privileged arrangement largely has fallen away in both Europe and the United States. In fact, the government is becoming increasingly hostile to the church in the West.

Tennent identifies three consequences of the loss of the church’s privileged position in society.

1. When the church held a privileged position, the church and culture were at the center, while mission was on the periphery, beyond the edge of culture. With the loss of a privileged position, the church finds herself in the center of the mission field. The church is on the periphery or edge of culture and society. In fact, the Western church is increasingly finding itself on the edge of world Christendom.

2.

The Western church has moved from Jerusalem to Athens. The church is no longer the center of society, nor does society generally hold the values of the church. The church exists in a pluralistic environment with competing gods seeking the attention of people in the “post-Christendom marketplace.”22 3. Mission work is moving from a geographic, particularistic identity to a global identity. Tennent notes at the 1910 Edinburgh World Missionary Conference the world was divided into two parts: the Christian sphere and the non-Christian sphere. The lines of demarcation between the church and where there was not church were clearly marked. Today, there are no clear lines of demarcation. Tennent observes, “For the most part, we don’t know how to think about missions without our20

selves being at the center (including sending structures, personnel, money, and strategic planning).23 He states that missions must be rediscovered in the West apart from Christendom, where the church and Christian identity has no geographic center. Tennet notes, “Missions is about peoples, not places.”24

egatrend 2: The Rise of Postmodernism: M Theological, Cultural, and Ecclesiastical Crisis • The rise of relativistic pluralism, the loss of faith in the inevitable progress of the human race, and an increasing uncertainty about normative truth claims have resulted in a cultural, theological, and ecclesiastical crisis.

As a result of relativistic pluralism and the desperate desire for the church to retain its position at the cultural center of Western society: The mainline churches felt that it was necessary to compromise the distinctive truth claims of historic Christian faith in order to retain credibility within the culture. What, under Christendom, had been a gradual, mild domestication became, under post-Christiandom [sic] and postmodernity, a virulent attack upon the very heart of Christian identity. 25 This is why the mainline Protestant churches have adopted the social causes of the day: civil and equal rights, pro-homosexuality and so forth. The mainline Protestant churches, in an effort to remain culturally relevant, have abandoned the historic confession of the Christian Church. This also has resulted in a general decline of mission work in foreign lands by mainline Protestant churches being replaced by justice programs and other humanitarian aid projects. Consequently, “Evangelism and church planting was largely discredited.”26 Tennet also attributes the rise of the megachurch movement to the Western church’s desire to remain at the cultural center. He writes: The megachurch movement found that by abolishing the ‘strangeness’ of the church and not challenging the overt materialistic commercialization of life in the West, they could bring in large num-

Ibid., 107.

21

Hirsch, 66. “If it helps, the truly liberating thing to realize is that Christendom was not the original mode of the church, and hopefully it will not be the final one. It is high time for us to dethrone Constantine; as far as matters of church go, it seems he is still the emperor of our imaginations. The church now faces the challenge of discovering mission in a new paradigm while struggling to free itself from the Christendom mindset.”

23

Ibid., Kindle location 154.

24

Ibid., Kindle location 170.

25

Ibid., Kindle location 186.

22

26

Ibid.

Tennent, Kindle location 138.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

33

bers of people. Church services and programs became increasingly entertaining and pragmatic … the megachurch movement had learned to make the gospel’s entrance into one’s life almost seamless and unnoticeable … very little attention has been paid to cross-cultural missions, either in creating and sending support structures for full-time career missionaries or seeing themselves as a part of the wider global church. The megachurch movement unwittingly became just another illustration of popular culture, rather than a prophetic call to a radical gospel and the Jesus of prophetic imagination.27 Tennet’s observations do seem to capture several characteristics of megachurches, particularly their disconnectedness from the denominations to which they are affiliated and their general lack of support for career missionaries, favoring short-term missions or their own international projects.

Tennent also identifies the “emergent church” movement as an outgrowth of his second megatrend. They, however, are in some respects a reaction against the megachurch movement. The emergent churches understand that they are living in a post-Christian society and have generally rejected the one-size fits all, bigger-is-better mentality of the megachurches. “Instead, they emphasize more intimate relationships, authentic experiences, and images. The sermon is not as central in the emergent churches, because postmoderns mistrust authoritative statements and regard metanarratives as nothing more than propaganda.”28 As far as Tennet is concerned, both megachurches and the emergent church movement are attempting to attract the same people — those people who are disenfranchised from the mainline Protestant churches. Neither the megachurch movement nor the emergent church movement focuses on evangelism or church planting, rather both are more interesting in attracting people who departed from the mainline Protestant churches. He writes: The emergent churches, like the megachurches, have generally held an uncritical attitude toward postmodern epistemology. Like the megachurch, they are focused almost exclusively on those disillusioned with Christianity and the church in the

For Tennet, both the megachurch movement and the emergent church movement is a continuation of the ecclesiastical crisis created by the mainline Protestant churches who sought to retain a central place in Western culture.

He does not consider either the megachurch or the emergent church movements to be truly missional.

egatrend 3: The Collapse of the M “West-Reaches-the-Rest” Paradigm • Western Christians have been slow to grasp the full missiological implications of the simultaneous emergence of a post-Christian West and a post-Western Christianity.

• The old mission-sending center is collapsing.

Tennent notes, “Jerusalem, Antioch, North America, and Constantinople were all at one time at the center of Christian vibrancy, but today these places have only a very tiny remnant of Christianity remaining.”30 As the Western world become more post-Christian, it is not becoming more secular, rather it is returning to paganism with the movement toward a “dizzying array of new and old spiritualities.”31

Megatrend 4: The Changing Face of Global Christianity • The simultaneous emergence of multiple new centers of Christian vitality has created a multidirectional mission with six sending and receiving continents.

• For the first time since the mid-fourteenth century, the majority of Christians (approximately 67 percent) are now located outside the Western world.

The Church is moving South and East. For instance, in 1976 it was estimated that there were approximately one million Christians in China. Today, “The Chinese church comprises over 90 million believers and is the fastest growing church on the planet with an average growth rate of 16,500 per day.”32 I would note that very few of the Chinese Christians are Lutheran. Another notion 29

Ibid., Kindle location 235.

30

Ibid., Kindle location 249.

Kindle location 227.

31

Ibid., Kindle location 258.

Ibid., Kindle location 235.

32

Ibid., Kindle location 294.

27 Ibid., 28

West, that is, the post-Christian…. It is too early to tell whether or not the emergent church will engage with the larger, world Christian movement and be willing to support long-term cross-cultural missionaries.29

34

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

that Tennet challenges is that the spread of Christianity is “progressive.” The 1910 World Missionary Conference had a “progressive” view of the spread of Christianity. The Western church could advance the spread of Christianity to the entire globe. In contrast to this, Tennet notes, “Christian history has been one of advance and recession.

Christian history has witnessed powerful penetrations of the gospel into certain geographic and cultural regions, only to later experience a major recession in that region and sometimes even wither away almost to extinction.”33 The West presently may be experiencing such a recession, and perhaps even a future extinction. Lutheran theology has an explanation and an answer to this recession and possible extinction. Martin Luther described the movement of the Gospel from one people to another as a passing rain shower.

Luther writes: For you should know that God’s word and grace is like a passing shower of rain which does not return where it has once been. It has been with the Jews, but when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have nothing. Paul brought it to the Greeks; but again when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have the Turk. Rome and the Latins also had it; but when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have the pope. And you Germans need not think that you will have it forever, for ingratitude and contempt will not make it stay. Therefore, seize it and hold it fast, whoever can; for lazy hands are bound to have a lean year.34 The cause of a recession or extinction of the Gospel in a particular place was a lack of gratitude and thankfulness for the Gospel. This has been repeated throughout the history of God’s people. The answer to this is repentance.

Repentance leads to reformation and renewal.

Megatrend 5: The Emergence of a Fourth Branch of Christianity • We can no longer conceptualize the world Christian movement as belonging to Roman Catholic, Protestant, or Eastern Orthodox communions exclusively. The twenty-first century is characterized by enormous changes in Christian self-identity, which influence how the Christian message is understood and shared.

33 34

Ibid., Kindle location 294.

Martin Luther. Jaroslav Jan Pelkian, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, eds. Luther’s Works, Vol. 45: The Christian in Society II (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 352–353.

Tennent observes that the five-hundred-year-old, threefold division of Christianity into Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox no longer holds as “many of the new Christians cannot be easily categorized under any of the traditional headings.”35 He notes that Pentecostal-oriented movements are on the rise and are not easily categorized into any of the three groups mentioned above.

The increasing dominance of Pentecostalism can be seen in the Roman Catholic’s attempt to begin ecumenical dialog with Pentecostals.

Megatrend 6: Globalization — Immigration, Urbanization and New Technologies • Globalization has fostered dramatic changes in immigration, urbanization and technological connectivity.

The result is that the traditional sending structures and geographic orientation that have dominated missions since the nineteenth century are no longer tenable.

Tennent states that every local context is connected to and informed by the global context. Under the category of immigration, he notes that the people of European descent in the Western World are engaged in cultural suicide. The birthrate has dropped below the level necessary to sustain a population. As a result, social liberal Western governments have adopted immigration policies to an economic base for their social liberal policies. He observes that the West is declining “faster than it did during the worst years of World War II, when it suffered the brunt of Hitler’s atrocities.”36 “Thus, one of the major trends in Western Europe over the last sixty years has been the collapse of Christendom and the rise of Islam.”37 In regards to urbanization, Tennent notes that most Protestant mission strategies from one hundred years ago focused on reaching people in rural areas. The mission techniques were geared toward a rural people. Today’s world is urban, and mission strategies need to be adopted to reach people in a heavily urbanized environment. In addition to the difficulty in reaching urbanized people, urbanized people are more exposed to religious pluralism and are further removed from traditional biblical values. Technology also forces us to change how we communicate with people.

He writes, “Jesus Christ and the biblical message do not change, but how we communicate the gospel effectively in

35

Tennent, Kindle location 327.

36

Ibid., Kindle location 372.

37

Ibid.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

35

such a new context requires some significant changes.”38

Megatrend 7: A Deeper Ecumenism • The simultaneous emergence of post denominational identity among many, as well as the emergence of thousands of new denominations requires the forging of new kinds of unity that transcend traditional denominational and confessional identities.

Tennet would advocate for a deeper ecumenism for the twenty-first century. He views the old denominational lines as barriers to the Gospel. He would call for the church to listen to the perspectives of other confessions and unite under “Christ Himself, who is the Truth,” that is, to express more than the unity of a creed, but according to Tennet it should not be less than that. He would like for the church to develop an ecclesiology in a global context with a global Christian identity.

Concluding thoughts In one sense, particularly if one is enamored with cultural “Rome,” a person may be tempted to weep with Jerome at the fall of Rome. Even Jeremiah wept at the fall of Jerusalem. We may be weeping over the decline of Western Christendom. The demographic realities described both

by Tennent and the speakers over the past day at our mission summit will not be reversed by new missional techniques or theories. For Lutherans, the Church is an article of faith. Jesus never fails, and He is the Lord of His Church. Jesus Himself promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church. Apology Article VII speaks to both the past and the present realities of the Church. At the time of the writing of the Augsburg Confession and the Apology, from the perspective of the Lutheran Reformers it appeared as if the Church no longer existed in places. Apology VII confesses:

disappear, as if there were no Church, which has happened under the papacy; it often seems that the Church has completely perished. Therefore in order that we may not despair but we may know that the Church will nevertheless remain until the end of the world, likewise that we may know that however the great multitude of the wicked is, yet the Church exists, and that Christ affords those gifts which He has promised to the Church, to forgive sins, to hear prayer, to give the Holy Spirit this article in the Creed presents us these consolations.

The Church will endure just as Christ promised. He will raise up preachers of the Gospel. He has called us to repent and confess the faith to the entire world. The megatrends that Tennent outlines are helpful for us to diagnose the challenges and the Law that we need to preach to the people. It is a helpful diagnostic. The answer to the challenges begins in repentance and continues with the proclamation of the Gospel. He has called us to be faithful and to proclaim.

The Rev. Dr. Albert Collver III is the LCMS director of Church Relations, assistant to President Matthew C. Harrison and executive secretary of the International Lutheran Council.

And this article has been presented for a necessary reason. The article of the Church Catholic or Universal, which is gathered together from every nation under the sun, is very comforting and necessary. We see the infinite dangers which threaten the destruction of the Church. In the Church itself, infinite is the multitude of the wicked who oppress it despise bitterly hate and most violently persecute the Word, as the Turks, Mohammedans, other tyrants, heretics etc. For this reason the true teaching of the Church are often so utterly suppressed and 38

Ibid., Kindle location 420.

36

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Church Survival in Adverse Society

Christ must be at the core of everything the Church is and does.

by Alexey Streltsov

F

irst of all, let me bring greetings to this honorable missionary assembly on behalf of the Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church where I serve as a pastor and Theological Seminary of Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church where I work as a rector.

I am very pleased to be here with you and speak to you for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the plain fact that at this time of the year it is more comfortable to be in the south of California than in the center of Siberia.

Once Christendom, always Christendom?

have extravagant income, their living standards were not sub par compared to many of their neighbors. Christian children received education in Christian schools and were raised with the comfortable feeling that much of the world around them was Christian, although there could be temptations to the faith coming from those who did not match the profile of the basically Christian community. Those days are long gone. Yet many people continue to operate under the assumption that what we see today around us is only a temporary state of affairs, that the norm is It may well be that those what transpired a few decades ago, Christians who enjoyed and that this state of affairs will religious freedoms for inevitably come back in the near future when we will overcome all generations will become the obstacles to the Christian faith. subject of persecution that

The title of my presentation is “Church Survival in Adverse Society.” When I was thinking about the possible content of my message, more than once a question This is at best a wishful thinkcame to my mind of what I could neither they nor their ing, an “ostrich policy.” You may possibly say to a church that has recent ancestors have ever lock yourself in a small room in persevered in a multi-confesexperienced. your house and pretend you don’t sional and multi-religious milieu notice that the walls have come for some 150 years, that established strong centers of pastoral education, that presented down, and all you have left is your little room, at least in a number of evangelism programs involving various the community where you happen to be.

Sudden changes in society always take most people off strata of society and various technological means. In any number of fields, the LCMS has served as a confessional guard. People tend to think that if things went in relatively beacon for the conscientious Lutherans worldwide, and the same way for some time, then it will also continue that even its theological and ecclesiastical opponents recog- way in the future. Not necessarily! Who could have prenized its earnest desire to preserve the doctrine presented dicted in 1515 what would happen in just a few years to in the Confessions of the Lutheran Church. the monasteries and convents in the large parts of GerHowever, most part of that history took place in many? The pietists of the eighteenth century would not society that was — at least to its general self-perception have expected that — following publication of the Wolfen— predominantly Christian. Clergy were viewed as a buettel Fragments of Herman Samuel Reimarus — their recognized and respectable part of society, especially in children and grandchildren would be overrun by the more rural settings. While pastors could not expect to spirit of Rationalism. Complacent Orthodox clergy of the

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

37

Russian Empire would barely have predicted on the verge God, who is able to raise up children for Abraham of the Bolshevik revolution that a number of them would from stones,2 is likewise able to restore His bride from the become martyrs, willingly or unwillingly. And who could ruins. But people again and again through sin and unbehave possibly thought just several decades (if not years) lief make a desert where the springs of water once were, ago that faithful pastors in the Western world would be in when they try to corrupt or silence the clear voice of the danger of facing outright rejection and even persecution Gospel. It happened before, and, alas, it will continue to just for asserting the biblical claim that homosexuality happen in the future. The collapse of Christendom that was a sin in need of repentance.

Timothy Tennent refers to as “megatrend 1” in his assessIndeed, Christ said that “the gates of hell shall not ment of shifts in the modern missiology has too many prevail” against His Church. This promise of Christ far-reaching consequences for anyone to ignore. holds true. The gates of hell have not prevailed over una “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me” sancta, the one holy Christian apostolic Church that we (John 12:26a). confess in the Nicene creed. Nor will it happen in the The rapid disintegration of Christianity in Europe and future, for Christ is not a liar, and He is “the same yesterNorth America of the last decades comes as a final result day and today and forever.”1 However, this promise does of long-term erosion that started not relate to every particular place at least two hundred fifty years within the Church, to every local ago. Trying to remove the stone Use every opportunity or national church or synod, but blocks from your foundation and to strengthen your faith: only to the Church in general. In replace them with sand is never a Be faithful in church this life, the Church militant may good idea in terms of the stabilseem to lose individual battles, but attendance, support the ity of the house. What was once the victory in the war belongs to work of your church and a gnostic-like secret “knowledge” Christ, and that will not change of the elite has gradually trickled mission department, the even if a small remnant of faithful down to the masses, resulting in work of your seminaries.

Christians becomes all that is left the loss of any meaningful Chrison this earth. tian identity.

In a number of places that once were significant cenAlready in 1872, radical German theologian David ters of early Christianity we can see only ruins, reminding Friedrich Strauss wrote an essay, “The old and the us of the glorious past of the church there but presently New Faith.”3 In this book, Strauss poses a fundamental serving only as tourist attractions and research material question: “Are we still Christians?” Following his critical for archeologists. Persecutions of Christians in Iraq, Syria investigation of the Bible and the history of Christianity, and numerous other places continue with increasing Strauss arrives at the definite conclusion: “To be sincere, intensity, making one believe that the long-term Christian we have to admit that we are no longer Christians.”4 presence in those regions will soon come to an end.

According to Strauss, “old faith,” which to him was In these circumstances, few people abide in the illumaintained both by the Roman Catholics and the sion that “once Christendom, always Christendom.” I Protestants, albeit with some variations, is unacceptable remember how twenty-two years ago I met a neo-evangelin any form. Strauss posits a liturgical and pastoral ical missionary from Campus Crusade for Christ who was question: “What is a priest who is ‘enlightened,’ that is, sincerely convinced that America was the world-leading who ‘stands on the ground of modern science,’ to say to Christian nation whose global and divinely instituted task his parishioners?” it was to carry the light of the Gospel to the whole world.

The key to the dilemma is the understanding of ChrisAlas, I was fairly unsuccessful in trying to explain to that tology: This “enlightened” pastor considers Christ to be sancta simplicitas that Russia was not a totally heathen country, that its Christianity was at least a thousand years old, and that the current predominantly secular environ- 2 Luke 3:8.

3 David Friedrich Strauss, Der alte und der neue Glaube. The references ment was the result of the destruction of the church that further are given from the Russian translation, Д. Штраус. Старая и once was widely represented there. новая вера: христиане ли мы еще? (пер. Ф. Д. Капелюш), 1906.

4 1

Strauss, 36.

Heb. 13:8.

38

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

mere man, and therefore Christmas only celebrates a birth of a renowned man. Likewise, “In the feast of Transfiguration it is difficult to abstain from satire. To tell educated people of our time about this event as about actual fact is to insult them.”5 The prayer addressed to Christ becomes a meaningless trick: “What’s the sense of addressing a mere man in a prayer, because [the pastor] considers Christ to be not god but man!”6 Gradually parishioners became familiarized with these notions, which unsurprisingly led to the abandonment of Christian beliefs and values. What happened in the West over a long period of time came to be realized in Russia in much more drastic fashion.

one establishment that could replace the church.

The popular idea in the early 1920s was that the question of existence of God could be decided by majority vote. Then the retrograde minority would have to submit to the “people’s will.” For example, in a given town or village groups of “laborers” would write to the local Communist authorities (independently, of course!) with the request that they need a cultural club or a movie theater in for their children and youth, while there is that church building that stands at that place used by increasingly less number of people. Authorities will generally give in to the common will of the people and transfer this church building to whatever people ask for (this is how it looked officially, of course). This is how the Lutheran Church in Persecution of the Church in Russia Siberia and in Russia in general lost most of its property Dmitry Pospelovsky, former proin the 1920s and 30s. fessor of history at the University You must invest now in All Christians and Lutherans of Western Ontario, discussed the came under attack, but the minisyour spiritual future and incompatibility of a totalitarian terium of the church was selected the future of your children, regime with the Christian faith: as the primary target. “I will strike and there may come a time Totalitarianism may not be the shepherd, and the sheep of his (perhaps even quicker than flock will be scattered.”9 not hostile to faith in God, for it itself is some neo-pagan cult we tend to think) when you Pastor Ivan Lokkenberg of St. of idol-state, idol-nation, idolwill have to reap the fruit of Mary’s Church in Tomsk wrote in race, finally, idol-leader. As any 1929 that people did not come to your investment. religion, totalitarianism enthe meetings because “they were compasses the whole person, it terrorized” and held to an opinion that they would be requires from a man a full self-denial for its cause, purged for attending the church. He claimed that the law just as the profoundly believing person commits prohibited the parish from taking care of the poor and himself to God.… Totalitarianism… creates its utoto organize any study or evangelism groups. The church pia by violent submission of human personality by building property was transferred to the state, yet the conmeans of state or party system.7 gregation had to pay all the utilities for the building even though it could not use the building the way it wanted.10 From the outset, totalitarian ideology intended not to Official charges brought against Lokkenberg included coexist with traditional religiosity but rather to replace (1) hiding some of the books, that is, he turned over 52 the very idea of God. Thus, Lenin claimed in his article books by order of the authorities, but he hid the rest both “Socialism and Religion”: “Electricity will replace God at the church basement and in his house; (2) charity work for a peasant. Let a peasant pray to electricity instead of among the congregation members; (3) he sent personal God.”8 Given the role that church played in the social life data from the congregation abroad, acting as a legal entity of the people, Lenin thought that theater was perhaps that without registering as one.11 As a result, Lokkenberg was arrested, and the Lutheran church activity in Tomsk was 5 Ibid., 34.

6 Ibid., 35. officially shut down.

7 Дмитрий Поспеловский. Тоталитаризм и вероисповедание.

The situation in Tomsk is sadly typical of what transБиблейско-Богословский Институт св. Апостола Андрея, Moscow, 2003, 34. Pospelovsky wrote about “classical” totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century, but now in 2014, his assessment still sounds very relevant, given the recent shifts in the social agenda in the western world.

8

E. Andreeva, “I do not believe in God, nor advise it to you,” quoted from http://www.bibliotekar.ru/andreeva/47.htm

9

Zech. 13:7.

10

Ольга Курило, Лютеране в России XVI–XX вв., (Moscow, 2002,) 314–315.

11

Ibid., 315.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

39

pired at that time throughout all the country. By 1937, Attempts at religious persecution in SELC recent there were no parishes left and no clergy left. Church history buildings were closed down, and many of them were The second half of the twentieth century witnessed a slow permanently destroyed. In Irkutsk in eastern Siberia, the resurgence of the Lutheran Church in Soviet Union and monument to Lenin was erected on the very spot of the then Russian Federation. The church we see around us altar of the former Lutheran parish. In Tomsk, St. Mary’s now is in human terms only a fraction of what she was church was replaced by the Ferris wheel at the entertain- in the past. While Lutherans reached almost 5 percent ment park. of population of the Russian Empire (with a far greater All organized activity of the church ceased, and faith percentage among the elite: science, army, business, continued only in the homes of people who were not able etc.), which amounted to more than seven million to conduct public worship. Yet even in the midst of suf- people, today Lutherans from all jurisdictions combined fering and persecution, God was still in control, fulfilling constitute less than .05 percent of the population. The His judgment concerning the world. days of prominence of Lutherans in Russian society are At one of the last open court processes during Stalin’s long gone.

Communist purges of the 1930s, Nevertheless, with freedom General Prosecutor Vyshinsky of religion, congregational life What we have on this read a sentence not just to his was somewhat restored, and the earth is not the end. The former comrades but to himself Lutheran Church is represented end has already come on was well: now in most major cities of the country. The church I belong to the cross, and when we are As we see … during arrest of received its first registration as a Rozengoltz there was found … able to preserve the cross, “mission” in 1992. However, in a little paper with some notes in that is Christ and Him some provincial areas, local offithe back pocket of his trousers, crucified, in our preaching cials continued to deal with the which upon closer investigation and teaching, in our churches as though the Soviet past happened to be a hand-written was still around. approach to the ministry prayer. I would like to ask the In the local Siberian republic of court to read some portions of and mission, then we have Khakassia, problems with the local the text of this so-called prayer fundamentally nothing to officials started almost immediand ask Rozengoltz to provide be afraid of. ately in 1996 when a process of his explanations regarding local registration was initiated by it. This is the text: “God shall the young mission.

Suddenly this process was interrupted, arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who and our mission was denied registration. To be sure, the hate him shall flee before him! As smoke is driven legal excuses were of a bureaucratic nature, but the reason away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts 12 behind such action was the Communist atheistic ideology before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God! of the local administration as well as its intolerance of the God truly has a sense of irony. Those godless author- contacts local Lutherans had with their fellow believers in ities were busy denying God, but in the end they denied the Baltic and in North America. themselves. Soon Vyshinky himself was pronounced an For example, the head of the local town administration “enemy of the people” and executed, and thus the Word of confronted our missionary Pavel Zayakin with the stateGod that was read publicly by his command at the Com- ment that he himself was a true Communist and thus he munist atheistic court once again fulfilled what it said. did not believe in the Bible, which he probably perceived as a moral basis for his legal case against the mission.

In the fall of 1997, local parishioners complained that police had visited their place inquiring how they became members of the Lutheran Church. People who were co-founders of the mission as a legal organization were 12

Quoted from http://www.samisdat.com/3/311-006.htm.

40

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

targeted here. During these police raids, parishioners were harassed and threatened with punishment because they were local people and could easily be reached. Most people (in fact, all but one, a courageous woman by the name Yulia Burtina) gave in to pressure to write “confessions” (which were partly dictated) that Pavel Zayakin had pressured and forced them to come to the church.

Thus the prosecutor’s office brought the charge against the Lutheran mission that it had cheated the people by misinforming them about the purpose of the mission.

The prosecutor claimed that these people did not confess the Lutheran faith. During the court proceedings, people were put under enormous pressure. There were more visits to homes of the congregation members where they were “encouraged” to write explanations that could be used against the local mission. During the court session, the questions were asked in a way reminding one of the classical acts of the martyrs: “Do you confess the Lutheran faith or do you not confess the Lutheran faith?”

(By the way, such questions went against the official Russian Constitution).

One old lady fainted during the court session. Another lady parishioner got so scared that she blurted out, “I do not believe anymore. I used to attend the Baptist services, then the Lutherans, but now I do not even read the Bible.”

We need to be realistic: When real persecution comes, many people give in to pressure.

The mission was shut down and local authorities were getting ready to confiscate the property, but the Lutheran Church in Siberia appealed to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which overturned the decision of the local Khakassia court. The Supreme Court thus demonstrated to the local Khakassian officials that it was no longer the time of the Soviet Union.

As I recall, those events of more than 15 years ago, the most painful blow came from some people within the Lutheran church. The behavior of local Soviet style authorities was perfectly normal given their anti-Christian convictions. But some fellow Lutherans from the other Lutheran church in the western part of Russia said the following: “Let Zayakin shut his mission down and keep silent. What will he lose after all? Now he can create a problem for us and our relationship with the authorities in the European part of Russia.” These sentiments are infinitely far from the spirit of the apostle Paul who stated that, “If one member suffers, all suffer together.”13 13

1 Cor. 12:26.

Take the sufferings of your brothers and sisters as your own, pray for them, assist them in what way you can and through their courage, learn how to act when these trials and persecutions come to your backyard.

The Church survives only through that one who is “true life.”

The last literary work of the Russian Christian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, “War, Progress, and the End of History: Three Conversations, including a Short Story of the Anti-Christ,” which he produced at the turn of the twentieth century, reads in 2014 as a prophetic peace — at least in a significant portion (and surely, it is a different story from the Left Behind novels!). There is an Antichrist working at first in disguise making sure the globalization (involving, among other things, “the United States of Europe”) will go its course for the benefit of all humanity.

After some major initial advances, he decides to unite all religious confessions under his own personal umbrella.

He offers to major Christian confessions what each may consider to be their most valuable asset. He proposes the full restoration of temporal power of the papacy to the Roman Catholics. To the Eastern Orthodox enamored of Holy Tradition he grants a major donation to establish a world museum of Christian archeology in Constantinople and facilitate their study of antiquity. To the Protestants he promises major support of the Biblical studies and scholarship. Most religious Christian religious leaders happily agree, and only a small part is reluctant to receive such generous donations. When asked what the problem was, the leader of the Orthodox remnant, who at this time came close to the similar tiny parts of the Roman Catholic and Protestant communions, says the following: “Great ruler! Christ himself is the most precious one for us in the Christianity.… for we know that in Him all fullness of the deity dwells bodily.” Then he asks the emperor publicly to confess Christ according to the creed in the assembly.

And it is here, according to the plot that the Antichrist reveals himself, religious persecution of the Christians breaks out in the open and the story continues in its own way.

What is important to us is that Christ — and Christ only — establishes that “red line” beyond which the Church may not recede under any circumstances. For if “another gospel”14 is preached from the pulpits instead of the one of Christ or if the sacraments are not given

14

Gal. 1:8.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

41

according to the Gospel,15 then salvation of people who are entrusted to the care of the pastors becomes chronically uncertain.

We are to listen to Luther, who despite all his loyalty to the princes in the temporal matters, was firm in asserting the impossibility of the church compromising in the matters of faith: If your prince or temporal ruler commands you to side with the pope, to believe thus and so, or to get rid of certain books, you should say: “It is not fitting that Lucifer should sit at the side of God. Gracious sir, I owe you obedience in body and property; command me within the limits of your authority on earth, and I will obey. But if you command me to believe or to get rid of certain books, I will not obey; for then you are a tyrant and overreach yourself, commanding where you have neither the right nor the authority,” etc. Should he seize your property on account of this and punish such disobedience, then blessed are you; thank God that you are worthy to suffer for the sake of the divine word. Let him rage, fool that he is; he will meet his judge. For I will tell you, if you fail to withstand him, if you give in to him and let him take away your faith and your books, you have truly denied God.16

Ministry and mission in the hostile world The modern world is fascinated with large numbers. Size does matter. Bigger is better. Such are the typical clichés people work with. Numerical church growth is something every Christian would be happy about, but one can always ask, at what cost? Tennent justly observes that the megachurch movement “unwittingly became just another illustration of popular culture.”17 For example, the world today may view the priests serving in their liturgical garments as hobbyists similar to the fans of J. R. R. Tolkien saga or costumed history reconstructors. If we think that traditional vestments serve as a hindrance to the wider acceptance of the church by the outsiders, then (given priority of the numbers in our self-perception) we’d probably do better by getting rid of them and serving in business suits or any other typical 15

Cf. Confessio Augustana 7.

Luther, Temporary Authority: To What Extent it Should Be Obeyed, (Luther’s Works 45,), 111–112.

clothing that people are used to and are comfortable with.

In a world fascinated by numbers and statistics, the sociological concepts of the church come to the foreground. Philip Jenkins’ concept of the move of Christianity to the “global south” is well-known. As far as marginalization of Christianity in most of Europe and now increasingly in North America is concerned, there is nothing to argue about. The former center of the Christian world has once again become a mission field in the same way it was in the days of the early church, and the sooner local Christians realize it, the better their situation will be in the future.

There are questions, though, as to where this center of Christian gravity moves and what it consists of. Tennent marks the emergence of a Fourth Branch of Christianity as his Megatrend 5. He calls this branch by the tentative term “independent,” saying that it cannot be included in the “Protestant” camp “when they clearly have no link whatsoever to any European “protest” movement,”18 while at the same time assuming no connection to either the Roman pope or to any of the Eastern Orthodox churches.

There is clearly a problem here. We cannot construct some new and artificial form of Christianity that has no connection to the historic Church. Church is not a system of ideas or a “platonic republic.” Just as the Church would not get by without both Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures (and so Christianity by necessity involves Hebrew and Greek elements), so she would not and cannot bypass the councils, the creeds and the historic confessions of the Church. I come from Siberia, but I cannot think of myself as a Christian apart from the Nicene Creed, which was formulated 1,700 years ago quite far from the place where I reside, and I cannot think of myself as a Lutheran apart from events that took place in Germany in the sixteenth century.

If Christianity springs up suddenly at some place, then all the more it ought to be connected to one of the historic churches. Christianity is different from the eastern religions in that in Christ, God incarnate truly acted in history, which is epitomized by the creedal reference to Pontius Pilate. Just as the church may be destroyed locally, which does not mean that the whole church thereby is destroyed, so likewise when the church is created though the mission work in a particular place, it does not mean

16Martin

17 Timothy Tennent, Invitation to World Missions: A Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-first Century (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic and Professional, 2010), 29.

42

18

Ibid., 39.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

that it must be created anew every time.19 The church is already present on earth, it is historic and this historic “faith that was once for all delivered to the saints”20 moves to other parts of the earth.

When our mission spread in Siberia 20–25 years ago, there was always an understanding that we could not operate without a viable connection to the historic Lutheran centers of ministry, which for us were in the area of the Baltic. For our people in Siberia, it was and still is extremely important to know that there are Lutherans in the other parts of the world, there are large churches, venerated traditions and so on; they do not want to feel isolated.

There may be no mission without accompanying ministry. It is not random that ministry is selected as a target when the persecution comes. Pastors of the Lutheran church in Russia became first to experience hostility from the atheistic authorities. None of the pastors remained. Satan attacked the holy ministry because he considers this institution to be most harmful for his plans, as the ministry of preaching the word and administrating of the sacraments destroys the kingdom of Satan and establishes God’s kingdom. And so when the church is restored — or when she comes to a new place where she was not before—establishment of the regular local ministry must be viewed as the major task of the mission work. In turn, the established centers of ministry are to assist in the mission of the work.

And it should not necessarily depend on numbers.

Some of the churches which are relatively modest in numbers, such as the ones in the Baltic or even our tiny church in Siberia, have expertise and skills to contribute to the world Lutheranism by way of demonstrating how to make sure that what we plant is not a new and previously unknown Christianity but that very Church that was founded by Christ. I cannot overemphasize that Christ must be in the core of everything Church is and does. If you have Christ, then you have everything. If you lose Christ, then no matter how you look in the public and in the mass media at current time, you’ve lost. Christ is more pleased with two or three gathered in His name than with the whole multitude gathered in the name of the world

peace and solidarity or any social issues (although I must be very clear that a multitude of faithful Christians is what we pray about and hope for).

This is not the end.

The final note on which I would like to conclude my chaotic but sincere presentation is a humble recognition that we as Christians ought to be grateful to God and His Son, Jesus Christ, for what we have in the matters of public confession. Don’t take things for granted. If you have an opportunity to come to the church Sunday morning and hear a faithful pastor preach and receive the Lord’s body and blood, this is marvelous. That means your church is able to maintain or rent some place for worship.

It probably means you have a place where a pastor was trained in how to preach and conduct liturgy. It means that you are allowed to freely praise God for forgiveness bestowed on us in Christ.

There may be darker times ahead for some of us. And although history does repeat itself, it is not a mechanical repetition. It may well be that those Christians who enjoyed religious freedoms for generations will become subject of persecution that neither they nor their recent ancestors have ever experienced. And so it will be a new experience to them. I truly hope that you will be spared from this turn of event, but nobody can be fully sure.

Therefore, use every opportunity to strengthen your faith: Be faithful in church attendance, support the work of your church and mission department, the work of your seminaries. You must invest now in your spiritual future and the future of your children, and there may come a time (perhaps even quicker than we tend to think) when you will have to reap the fruit of your investment.

What we have on this earth is not the end. The end has already come on the cross, and when we are able to preserve the cross, that is Christ and Him crucified, in our preaching and teaching, in our approach to the ministry and mission, then we have fundamentally nothing to be afraid of. Thank you.

The Rev. Alexey Streltsov is a pastor of the Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church and rector of the Theological Seminary of Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church.

19 Part of the struggle of Lutheran Orthodox theologians with the concept of mission in the late seventeenth to eighteenth centuries was that they thought of the missionaries as “new apostles.” Sadly, in some cases missionaries today act as though they do create something radically new, ignoring historical aspects of Christianity.

20

Jude 1:3.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

43

The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, which was officially

Factors That Contributed to the Growth of the EECMY in General and Central Ethiopian Synod in Particular

established 55 years ago as a national Lutheran church, has flourished by the grace of God, and according to the 2013 statistics, it has grown to 6.7 million baptized members and 3.5 million communicant members, organized in 7,823 congregations and 3,403 preaching places.

by Abraham Mengesha Mitku

Introduction

T

Five years after discovering the Bible, in 1988, I started his presentation is founded not only on historical facts, but also on my personal working in the church as a volunteer and served for six experience and reflections both as a member and years. In 1994, I was called for fulltime ministry in the church and eventually was sent to the Mekane Yesus ordained servant of the Church.

Seminary (MYS) in Addis Ababa.

I came to know Christ at the age Since my graduation in June 1999, I of nineteen through reading the Bible.

The experience of have been serving as a fulltime minThough I was a strict traditional the early apostolic ister of the Ethiopian Evangelical Orthodox Christian (the Ethiopian 1 church showed Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY).4 Orthodox Tewahedo Church) , I The years of my fulltime ministry as could hardly differentiate between that persecution of 2 an ordained Lutheran pastor include the Ethiopian Saint Täklä Haymanot Christians had a great my service as a theological college (whose monastery is close to my significance to the teacher, as associate executive secrehometown) and Christ Jesus before growth of the Church. tary and for the last seven years, as the I found that amazing book known as 3 president of the Ethiopian Evangelical the Bible.

Church Mekane Yesus—Central Ethiopia Synod (EEC1 Editor’s Note: The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church was MY-CES). Thus, some parts of my presentation inevitably administratively a part of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria reflect my field experience among the EECMY-CES units until 1959. The Ge’ez word Tewahedo means “unified” and refers to the belief that the divine and human natures of Christ are unified into one and my personal life journey. nature. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church does not subscribe to the Chalcedonian Creed which confesses two natures of Christ.

Editor’s Note: Saint Täklä Haymanot of Ethiopia (c. 1215–c. 1313 A.D.) founded a monastery in the province of Shewa. Mariam, Tesfaye Gabre. “A Structural Analysis of Gädlä Täklä Haymanot.” African Languages and Cultures 10, no. 2 (1997), 181–198. http://www.jstor. org/stable/1771714, 5. He is “one of Ethiopia’s acclaimed indigenous saints, Täklä Haymanot, who lived in the 13th century. He remains the only native Ethiopian saint popular both domestically as well as outside Ethiopia; he is the only Ethiopian saint celebrated officially in foreign churches such as Rome and Egypt. Täklä Haymanot is said to have lived for 99 years and led a religious life, remaining throughout his life a model of humility, ignoring and defeating worldly temptation in all its forms. He was once appointed as the first native bishop during the time when the Egyptian Church suspended the sending of bishops to Ethiopia. However, when the relationship with Egypt resumed, he relinquished his position without hesitation and returned to his monastery.”

2

Editor’s Note: The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has not undergone a Reformation like that which occurred in the Western Church. Rev. Abraham Mengesha Mitku describes as a conversion experience something akin to Martin Luther’s “Tower Experience” where the Gospel came clear for him. Rev. Miku was baptized in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and grew up learning its teachings. He learned more about Ethiopian saints than about Christ.

3

44

Until he read the Bible, the Gospel had not come clear: that Jesus Christ died and rose again for the forgiveness of sins.

4 Editor’s Note: Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus is the name of the Lutheran church in Ethiopia and was founded in 1959. It was the result of a merger of various churches primarily founded by Lutherans from Scandinavia, Germany and the United States. Its name “Mekane Yesus” means the “Place of Jesus” or the “dwelling of Jesus.”

The EECMY’s Constitution in Article II says, “The Church (EECMY) believes and professes the Holy Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments are the Holy Word of God and the only source and infallible norm of all Church doctrine and practice. The Church adheres to the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, which were formulated by the early Fathers and accepted by the ancient church. The Church sees in the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, which was worded by the Church Reformers, as well as in Luther’s Catechisms, as a pure exposition of the Word of God.” At the time of publication, the EECMY reported 7.2 million members, making it the largest Lutheran church in the world.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

General background

tion of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Roman Catholic Church, the Portuguese attempt to The seedbed for the birth of the convert the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church to EECMY Roman Catholicism ended up in civil war and eventually Traditionally, Christianity is thought to have been intro- led to their expulsion from Ethiopia in 1632 A.D.7 duced in Ethiopia during the apostolic period.5 However, About the same time a learned German, Peter Heyit was about the year 300 A.D. that Christianity was ling, went via Egypt to Ethiopia with the intention of spread through the two Syrian brothers Edesius and Fru- renewing the old church. His method was translating mentius among the people of the Axumite kingdom. After parts of the New Testament into Amharic and teachsome time, Frumentius went to Egypt to report about the ing Evangelical Christianity for children from the upper spread of Christianity and eventually ask for a shepherd classes.8 Later, he was captured and martyred for refusing for the new flock. Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria, to convert to Islam. Heyling’s influence on Ethiopia at ordained him and sent him back to serve as bishop of first glance might seem relatively insignificant; however, Abyssinia.6 On his return to Axum, “There is apparently a direct line from he succeeded in converting the great Peter Heyling to the founders of the Our challenge in the king of Ezana of Axum to ChristianEvangelical Church Mekane Yesus.”9 West today is twofold. ity. Eventually the king decreed that Two centuries later, the On the one hand, we all the people of his kingdom accept missionary Samuel Gobat, engaged Christianity. With this, the Ethiopian by the Church Missionary Society in are striving not to lose Orthodox Tewahedo Church was England, travelled from Switzerland the basic tenets of our founded and has existed ever since. to Alexandria. After three years Christian faith and The first three centuries of the Ethistudying the Amharic language, he values; on the other opian Orthodox Tewahedo Church departed for Gonder, which was hand, we are facing were times of flourishing. However, the capital of Abyssinia. Gobat also Islam then spread rapidly and surtranslated parts of the New Testament new challenges both rounded Abyssinia. Then the stagnant into Amharic and taught Evangelical within and life of the Church and a political Christianity without being polemic from outside. decline resulted in isolation of the concerning Orthodox Church dogma.

Church from the rest of the ChrisHe also attempted to improve the tian world. In the middle of fifteenth century, the great training of pastors, aiming to bring evangelical renewal king Zera Yacob restored the political conditions but within the Orthodox Church rather than founding a introduced several strange teachings that had no biblical new church. Gobat’s health declined, and he suffered a foundation that have been having an impact to the present days.

7 Gustav Arén. Evangelical Pioneers In Ethiopia: Origins of the The Europeans were aware of the difficult condition Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (Addis Ababa: The Evangelical that the Abyssinian Church underwent. When Ethio- Church Mekane Yesus, 1978), 20. “This formidable attack had been with Portuguese assistance. The victory therefore gave Portugal pia was subjected to vehement attacks by Muslims in repelled a favoured position and led to close relations between Ethiopia and the the 1520s, the Portuguese came to help the Church con- Church of Rome for about a century, when Jesuit missionaries laboured cerning the Muslim invasion and eventually to revive its for the subjecting of the Ethiopian Church to the Papal Chair. The period has been described in detail by several authors, so their story spiritual life. Although the victory enhanced the rela- need not be retold here. Suffice it to say that the aims and methods (p.

5 Editor’s Note: See the account of the Ethiopian eunuch found in Acts 8:26–40. Frumentius became the first bishop in Axum, Ethiopia, in 331 A.D. Frumentius, along with his brother, was taken captive by the king of Axum after the ship he was on was captured on the Red Sea. After the king of Axum’s death, he released Frumentius from slavery.

Frumentius desired for Ethiopia to know Christ, so he traveled to Alexandria, Egypt, and met with Bishop Athanasius, who later sent Frumentius back to Ethiopia as a missionary and bishop.

6

Abyssinia is an ancient name for Ethiopia.

34) of the Jesuit missionaries provoked repeated revolts. The Orthodox refused to renounce their faith. After a bloody battle in 1632, in which the nationalist party suffered defeat, things took an unexpected turn: wearied by this bitter and unceasing dissension, the Emperor Susneyos (1607- 1632) abdicated in favour of his son Fasil, who suppressed the Roman faith and banished the Jesuits.”

8

Ibid., 22. “Heyling’s influence must have been considerable. His teaching is said to have been a leaven which compelled the Ethiopian Church to issue a doctrinal statement in Amarinya to vindicate her own position in face of Lutheran views.”

9

Ibid.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

45

year and a half of bed rest. He decided to return home.10 Central Africa will be ours,”16 which became significant Although the missionaries’ work of bringing the Scripture importance for the coming of evangelical mission and to the people in a language they could understand was evangelical churches in Ethiopia. highly appreciated by the masses, some of the rulers in Ethiopia and many of the clergy disapproved of his work The birth of the EECMY and eventually forced the missionaries to leave various Since the early 19th century, there were various regions of Ethiopia. A particularly contentious doctrine evangelical mission societies that had been sending misinvolved the role of the Virgin Mary. One missionary sionaries to Ethiopia hoping and attempting to revitalize was accused of “having blasphemed God and the saints the Ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Church that has existed and of being ‘a thief in stealing the Faith.’ He was said to for 1,600 years mainly in the central and northern part of have disturbed the country by false doctrine and strange the country. None of them had intended to establish a difreligious practices.”11 One of his successors, the German ferent church beside the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo missionary J. L. Krapf, also failed in his attempt to bring Church. Even Gebre Estatios and his group, who were revival in Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. But the first successful native missionaries that were trained and sent by Swedish Evangelical Misduring his travel in the central part sion (SEM) in 1898, just began their of the country, the Shewa and Welo Persecution work at Boji Saint Merry Church regions, he became aware of the invigorates of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo numerous pagan Oromos, and he Christian witness.

Church. However, the Ethiopian eventually developed a concern for Quantitatively it has Orthodox Tewahedo Church clergies mission to them. His experience furiously resisted and fought for their made a tremendous among the Oromo people drew his traditional faith rather than accomwhole attention to focus on them, contribution to the modating the biblical teaching of the even to the extent of predicting that numerical growth of missionaries and eventually begun to they “in time might become for the church. As the expel and marginalize those who had Africa, what Germany became for ancient saying goes, been enlightened and accepted the Europe.”12 In fact, his reports about the biblical teaching. Then it was evident “The blood of martyrs Oromo and the phrase “the Germany there was a need to establish evangelof Africa”13 became a catchword that is the seed of the ical fellowship side by side. inspired many in Europe to support Gospel.”

A turning point in Sweden evanthe mission work in Ethiopia. He had gelical mission occurred in 1903 a strong conviction that winning this 17 large ethnic group for Christ would have an important when Karl Cederqvist, who had been working in Jubaimpact in evangelizing the Horn of Africa, which land, finally got permission from Emperor Menelik II to eventually would tackle the expansion of Islam.14 He begin missionary work in the new capital of Ethiopia, remarked his conviction saying, “Give us the Gallas15 and Addis Ababa. He received strong resistance from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. In fact, “People were warned against having anything to do with him.

Many clerics and monks considered him a dangerous her10 Ibid., 38. “His own health was utterly impaired after a year and a half in bed and he resolved to depart. In September 1836 he left with etic, ‘worse than any Catholic.’ Those who let a house to his wife and the faithful Hadera who helped to carry Gobat on a litter him would be jailed, denied church burial and risk eternal to the coast. The CMS pioneer was forced to give up the thought of a missionary career in Ethiopia. Ten years later he was consecrated Anglican bishop of Jerusalem.”

11

Ibid., 40.

16

12

Ibid., 44.

13

Ibid.

14

Ibid., 45.

Gustav Arén. Envoys of the Gospel: In the Steps of the Evangelical Pioneers, 1898–1936 (Addis Ababa: The Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, 1999), 105. “In 1892 Onesimos suggested that Cederqvist should be recruited for an endeavour to penetrate from the Indian Ocean via Somali territory into the homeland of Oromo in Borena. On receiving the call Cederqvist took a course in medicine at Livingstone College at Leyton in Great Britain to be better qualified for missionary work in Africa.”

Editor’s Note: “Galla” is another term for the Oromo people, predominately used by Westerns during the 19th century. Today the term is considered offensive and derogatory toward the Oromo and should not be used.

15

46

Arén, 45.

17

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

damnation, they menaced.”18 Nevertheless, he contin- manent base of operations in 1912.22 Cederqvist was a ued his work in Addis Ababa. Cederqvist taught classes tireless worker for the Gospel. He rarely slept more than in English, provided medical care and assisted in Bible 3–4 hours a day.23 He remained there working until his translation. He also conducted worship on Sundays. The death in 1919.24 On Oct. 3, 1919, five weeks before Cedchurch order followed that of the Lutheran Church of erqvist died, he wrote a letter to his supporters in Sweden Sweden.19 Although he conducted services, per the policy explaining why he had not established a Lutheran congreof the Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM), Cederqvist gation in Addis Ababa.25 He outlined three reasons: did not establish a Lutheran congregation in Addis Ababa First, an evangelical congregation required members for the Ethiopians. When people came to ask for Baptism who lived by the Gospel and were committed to or for Holy Communion, he would turn them away and further it. It was no secret that missions in Africa send them to the Orthodox priests.20 had followed the example of political agents and had The Ethiopians who were attracted to Cederqvist’s tried to attract adherents by offering them material teaching were in some cases the spiritual descendants of benefits. It was a practice he deplored and would Peter Heyling’s work in the 17th century. have nothing to do with.26 They and Heyling’s later followers Secondly, youths from different formed a brotherhood of devout parts of the country who attended It is quite evident churchmen who, each at his own his school were not yet mature place, strove to inspire true faith that the center of enough spiritually to form by translating readings in Ge’ez gravity of the Christian the nucleus of an evangelical from Holy Scripture into the congregation.

There were world has shifted from vernacular, both in church and at gladdening signs of the work of the North and West to the public gatherings. Initially they Holy Spirit in their lives, but they Southern hemisphere. met with a certain opposition but had not led to conversion or to a this soon calmed down and they radical change of life and character. were allowed to labour in peace for Besides, many regular worshippers at his place were almost two centuries.21 very afraid of Abune Mateos and ‘feared his curse as It is quite amazing that the work of Peter Heyling two much as the torments of hell.’ These persons were by centuries earlier played some role in the formation of the no means prepared to form any congregation. They Lutheran church in Ethiopia in the 20th century. could not see the value of it.27 Cederqvist received permission to cooperate with the Thirdly, the Bible readers in the west included followers of Peter Heyling and established a more permany individual persons who wholeheartedly were committed to the Gospel, and Cederqvist believed that the time had come for them to establish 18 Ibid., 115–116. evangelical congregations proper. But the leaders 19 Ibid., 133. “The church calendar and the ritual might well have been among them were not convinced that this was the in agreement with the order of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, to judge by relevant entries in extant copies of Cederqvist’s diaries. When the main worship service was over on Sundays, Cederqvist welcomed children and youths from the neighbourhood to roam his compound.

He was happy to find them eager to learn stories from the Bible which he illustrated by means of pictures in colour which he put on display. A special attraction for the children was his harmonium whose ‘singing’ was a source of their constant wonder and thrill.”

20 Ibid., 134. “Cederqvist did not found any evangelical congregation.

Among the clergy whom he got to know in the capital there were six priests and one debtera who shared his interest in Bible study and were eager to foster spiritual maturity within their congregations through a conscientious exposition of the biblical message of salvation.

Their common interest led to close friendship. When parents came to Cederqvist and asked him to baptize their children or people desired Holy Communion, he sent them to these priests to avoid unnecessary attention and spare them the risk of persecution.”

21

Ibid.

22

Ibid., 139.

23

Ibid., 146. “The last few hours of daylight he might work in the garden or saw and chip firewood for cooking and heating. Burning the midnight oil, he spent his evenings writing letters, studying theology and trying to keep up with contemporary missionary thinking. At about 2 a.m. he went out to inspect the entire fence accompanied by the night-watchman and two big watch-dogs. This scrutiny was necessary.

There occurred many attempts to break into the compound to steal.

Cederqvist’s schedule was gruelling. He seldom allowed himself more than three to four hours of sleep per night, Onesimos affirmed.”

24

Ibid., 140. “Cederqvist laboured at this place till his death in 1919.”

25

Ibid., 172.

26

Ibid.

27

Ibid.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

47

right thing to do.28

on Oct. 16, 1921, Erikson established a Lutheran con“For those three reasons no evangelical congregation gregation in Addis Ababa, marking the early roots of the 35 had been formed.”29 “In Addis Ababa, Cederqvist advised EECMY. “23 March 1922 constituted a milestone in the persons who desired Baptism or Holy Communion to history of Evangelical Christianity in Ethiopia. On that 36 turn to a group of priests in whom he had great confi- Sunday, Qes Gebre-Sillassé Tesfa-Gaber was installed as dence as shepherds of souls because they strove to bring the first indigenous pastor of the newly formed evangelical congregation.”37 about a spiritual renewal in their congregations.”30 In 1935, when the Italian force invaded Ethiopia for On May 25, 1920, Cederqvist’s successor, the Rev. Olof five years, all the missionaries had to leave the country.38 31 Eriksson, arrived. He was intent on modifying Cederqvist’s missionary policy of not establishing a Lutheran Although there were no trained pastors or leaders, in church. Erickson was convinced that “they witnessed the many places the Ethiopians succeeded in continuing the dawn of a new era. The time had come, they all agreed, evangelical work. Thus, in spite of the Italians’ persecuto modify Cederqvist’s missionary policy. They resolved tion and hostility toward the evangelical leaders of the to form the first autonomous evangelical congregation in young congregations, the number of evangelical Christians (including other Baptist and Mennonites) grew Addis Ababa.”32 from 1,000 to 20,000 during and On Christmas Day of 1920 after the war.

We certainly know that Eriksson had begun to chant After the expulsion of Italians parts of the liturgy in Amharic throughout the history of in 1941, the Lutheran congregain the same manner as he used Christianity, the Church tion in Addis Ababa became an to do in Tigrinya while he was has never been without a independent church under the in Eritrea. The overwhelming leadership of Qes Badime Yalew challenge. Overcoming all majority of the evangelical its challenges, the Church of as its pastor. Eventually, this newly community in Addis Ababa had an Orthodox background Christ has come thus far and established church became an important place of gathering for and appreciated an intonation will continue leaning on His all evangelical Lutheran groups of prayers and other liturgical mighty arm and grace. from all parts of the country that texts. For this reason liturgical created a fellowship of people chant henceforth constituted from different ethnic groups and tribes in Ethiopia. This a regular feature of the main evangelical worship inspired a desire to form a united evangelical church of service on Sundays in Addis Ababa.33 Ethiopia.39 Thus, he introduced Sunday service corresponding to the liturgy of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. It was church to capacity and followed the act with intense attention. For conducted in Amharic. On Saturday, Oct. 8, 1921, Erik- several of them the whole ceremony was an entirely new experience. son baptized three Muslims who had studied the Bible 35 Ibid., 195. “The following Sunday a resolution was passed which and professed the Christian faith.34 The following Sunday formally established the congregation proposed. The new body elected a council of elders. There is, regrettably, no mention of either names, or members, or statutes. Only the date is definite–Sunday, 16 October 1921. Three months later thirty-three persons had registered as members, according to Eriksson’s report.”

28

Ibid.

29

Ibid., 173.

30

Ibid.

31

Ibid., 187.

32

Ibid., 192.

37 Arén, Envoys of the Gospel: In the Steps of the Evangelical Pioneers, 197.

33

Ibid., 193.

38

34

Ibid., 194. “At about the same time the merchant himself began to study the Bible instead of the Quran and attended the special service on Saturday, 8 October 1921, when the three youths — Abraham, Yohannes, and Joseph — professed their new faith and were baptized into Christ. Immediately after this part of the service Eriksson turned to the four adults whom he had prepared for confirmation. He questioned them at length about their Christian faith before he solemnly declared them entitled to share in the Lord’s Supper. The audience filled the

48

36 Editor’s Note: “Qes” is the Amharic word for “priest” and is used by the Lutherans in Ethiopia to designate the pastor.

Ibid., 474ff.

39

Ibid., 532ff. In a 1944 decree, Haile Selassie I issued a regulation for the establishment of foreign mission work. According to the decree, foreign missionaries are not to work in a “church area,” which belongs to EOC, attempting to convert Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, but allowed to work in an “open area,” where Muslims and traditional believers reside. This regulation not only provided legal ground for the missionaries and indigenous evangelist, but also fostered the growth of evangelical churches in those open area, particularly among the

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

After meetings and consultations over years, the delegates of all Lutheran congregations in different parts of the country met April 1958 under the leadership of the Addis Ababa evangelical Lutheran congregation with the help of Lutheran mission societies. Just in two decades, the number of baptized Lutheran grew with 20,000. In January 1959, the Lutheran congregations came together and officially established a national Lutheran church known as Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY).40 Mekane Yesus,41 which was officially established 55 years ago as a national Lutheran church, has flourished by the grace of our Lord and Savior who promised to be with His people whom He sent, and according to the 2013 statistics, it has grown to 6.7 million baptized members and 3.5 million communicant members that are organized in 7,823 congregations and 3,403 preaching places.42 There are 2,938 pastors; 4,601 fulltime evangelists and 483,123 voluntary evangelists involved in the ministry of these congregations and preaching places.

Indeed, the number of members would have been double if most of our members had not been snatched by Pentecostals and the Baptist denomination. It is always EECMY believers who are pioneers and who pay the cost of evangelizing a new area. After the persecution calms and the community begins to accept us, then others show up to snatch and confuse the community.

In the midst of this rapid growth, the Central Ethiopian Synod (CES) that was established 41 years ago (just at the same time as the Communist military took power) in metropolitan Addis Ababa, having only 8 congregations, has the lion’s portion. For the last seven years, its average annual growth has been 35 new congregations and 25,000 new baptized members. (CES has 489 congregations and 31 parishes as well as 704 preaching places). traditional believers.

40

The term “Mekane Yesus” means the “dwelling place of Jesus.”

41The

EECMY is the product of a century labor of five western evangelical missions and the endeavor of notable international and national individuals. Thus it is essential to provide a brief account of these notable individuals and missions to enable the readers to grasp the general overview of the formation of the church. The five founding missions were: (a) Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM), (b) German Hermansburg Mission (GHM), (c) Norwegian Lutheran Mission (NLM), (d) Danish Lutheran Mission (DLM), and (d) American Lutheran Mission (ALM). Before providing a brief account of these five mission organizations, I would like bring up the contributions of notable international figures God had used as roadmakers for the missions.

42 Editor’s Note: The EECMY’s 2015 statistics report 7.2 million members.

Recognizing that the Lord of the harvest has caused the growth of the EECMY, it is still quite worthwhile to ask what the dynamics are behind this growth. What is the main reason for such rapid growth?

In this presentation, among several factors that contributed to the rapid growth of the EECMY, I will focus on the seven major ones that propelled the explosive growth of the EECMY. (1) The impact of theological training on the growth of the church, (2) The impact of the outreach plan of the EECMY on the growth of the church, (3) The impact of literature work and the translation of the Bible into vernacular on growth of the church, (4) The impacts of the rediscovery of holistic ministry on the growth of the church, (5) Manifestations attributed to the Holy Spirit (particularly in the 1970s to 1990s) are one of the factors for the rapid numerical growth of the EECMY, (6) The impacts of the experience of persecution on the growth of the church and (7) The impacts of the rediscovery of the priesthood of all believers on the growth of the church (i.e., the impact of lay ministry).

The seven major factors that propelled the explosive growth of the EECMY during the last 55 years

The impacts of the theological training on the growth of the Church EECMY has been a pioneer in many aspects of its ministry. Mekane Yesus Seminary (MYS) was the first theological seminary that was founded few months after its establishment as a national church! The vision of establishing a theological seminary was present from the missionary era. However, after so many negotiations and planning, this vision was actualized on June 4, 1959. On Oct. 3, 1960, the Mekane Yesus Seminary (MYS) started with ten students.43 For the last 55 years, MYS has gradu43 Johannes Launhardt. Evangelicals in Addis Ababa (1919–1991): With Special Reference to the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus and the Addis Ababa Synod (Münster: LIT Verlag, 2005), 136–138.

Launhardt states that the Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM) and the American United Presbyterian Mission (AUPM) came up with a vision of establishing a joint theological training program in 1947. But the actualization of this vision was delayed. In the meantime, the AUPM started its own pastoral training center in Dambi Dollo in 1948, while

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

49

ated many students (about 3,000)44 who are now serving as ordained pastors and leaders. Theological education is a spectacular contribution to the growth of the EECMY.45 Currently, the Mekane Yesus Seminary (MYS) awards masters of theology (M.Th) degrees with the help of the LCMS, as well as a first degree: the bachelors of theology (BA.Th). The EECMY’s four regional seminaries award a BA.Th. degree, while the remaining 34 theological colleges and Bible schools award a diploma and a higher education certificate. Dr. Debela Birri, in his presentation, “The role Played by MYS and Its Graduates in the EECMY Growth and Development and in the Ethiopian Multicultural Society,” during the celebration of the Mekane Yesus Seminary’s 50th year golden jubilee, stated that the graduates of the seminary have rendered significant contribution in the growth of the EECMY.46 Several of the past and existing leaders of EECMY have been the graduates of MYS. In addition, currently, the presidents of all 26 synods of EECMY are graduates of this seminary.47 Beside the residential school, there is a theological education by extension (TEE) program run under the seminary. The TEE program is classified into two parts, certificate and diploma programs. These training programs have trained thousands of ministers for the congregations of the church.

Many of the ordained pastors of the urban and rural congregations of EECMY are graduates of the MYS and regional seminaries. In addition to the above higher levels of training, there are 34 synod Bible schools. These Bible schools train congregational ministers on diploma and higher certificate levels. Many of the fulltime and voluntary evangelists involved in the congregational service are the graduates of these schools.

The rapid growth of the EECMY demands that we work harder to address the need of trained pastors in some 4,000 congregations. This reality makes the need of leadership development so crucial and a priority in our ministry. the SEM also started its own pastoral training school at Nadjo in 1949.

44 Magarsaa Gutta. From a Humble Beginning to Advanced Standing: A History of Mekane Yesus Seminary 1960–2010 (Addis Ababa: Mekane Yesus Seminary, 2010), 10.

45 Since the MYS was the only theological seminary in the country, Mennonites and Evangelical denominations were sending their ministers to the MYS for pastoral and leadership training, who are now serving at various levels of ministry.

46 Debela Birri, The Role Played by MYS and Its Graduates in the EECMY Growth and Development and in the Ethiopian Multicultural Society (Addis Ababa: Mekane Yesus Seminary, 2011), 11.

47

Ibid., 11–14.

50

The impacts of the national outreach plan of the EECMY on the growth of the church Regardless of the impeding influence of the Communist regime, the EECMY had devised a comprehensive national outreach plan and launched its implementation in the 1970s and 80s to reach out to unreached parts of the nation through her few synods and congregations.

This outreach plan, indeed, made a great contribution to the explosive membership growth of the church.

This program was supported by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) department for mission and development. The purpose of this program is to empower the congregational outreach to the unreached areas by training, equipping and sending out ministers. Through such mission endeavors, thousands of ministers have been trained, equipped and sent out. As a result, thousands of people came to faith, resulting in many congregations and mission posts being established. In spite of the imposition and persecution of the communist government, the church increased numerically. The assessment of this plan was stated in the Rev. Gudina Tumsa’s48 “Report on Church Growth in Ethiopia” at the LWF meeting in Tokyo May 1971: As outlined in the first five years, alarmed at the high growth rate, the central Assembly decided in 1969 that a plan, whereby the church could be able to know where she stands, be worked out. During 48 Editor’s Note: Gudina Tumsa served at the general secretary of the EECMY and was captured by Deng soldiers and martyred on July 28, 1979. He developed the EECMY’s “holistic theology” of caring for the entire person, both body and soul. This theology was outlined in a letter published by Tumsa and the EECMY in 1972 titled, “On the Interrelation Between Proclamation of the Gospel and Human Development.” The letter can be found in The Ministry of the Whole Person: Documents of the Rev. Gudina Tumsa and the Mekane Yesus Church from the Pre-Revolutionary Period 1971–1973, II:38–45 (Addis Ababa: Gudina Tumsa Foundation, n.d.). Tumsa noted (pg. 42) that the mission paradigm of the 19th century followed this pattern: “The old emphasis in the mission of the Church had been on the verbal proclamation of the Gospel. All other activities in the educational, medical or technical fields were regarded as being of secondary importance or even a ‘means to an end’ namely, avenues by which the message would reach people [Sic: emphasis original].” He noted that the goal of mission work was reversed in the 20th century: “The new emphasis is on social action, community development, liberation from dehumanizing structures and involvement in nation-building.

Proclamation of the Gospel has become a side issue, which should be referred to those who have a special concern for the spiritual welfare of people. The two should be kept apart.” Tumsa’s “holistic theology” was offered as a corrective. “The division between witness and service or between proclamation and development, which has been imposed on us, is, in our view, harmful to the Church and will ultimately result in a distorted Christianity” (pg. 44).

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

two years period from 1969 to 1970, the necessary data were collected for assessment. In the process of working out the plan, it became clear that in the past three years, from 1968 to 1970, the average growth was calculated to be about 15 percent. Membership growth for 1970 was 27 percent.49 As the above stated assessment indicates, the national outreach plan of the EECMY increased membership growth of the church by 27 percent, which is a very high rate.50 Presently, one of the main area of focus in the EECMY’s five-year strategic plan is outreach, aiming in five years to reach 30,000,000 people and have at least onethird join congregations.

The impact of literature work and Bible translation into vernacular languages on the growth of the church Literature work

Literature work and Bible translation were part of effective outreach strategies since the mission era. The issue of preparation and distribution of Christian literature was raised in the early 1950s by the Lutheran mission committee. In those early days, 5,000 copies of Luther’s Small Catechism with Amharic commentaries were prepared and distributed. The Joint Literature Program (JLP) that traces its history of formation back to the early 1950s is one of such services.51 This program dealt with not only the preparation and distribution of Christian literatures, but also teaching the community how to read and write. It eventually opened a door for several who did not get a chance to join school.

Later, it was taken as a model by the Communist government who were high school graduates who had been engaged in teaching in the rural and urban areas. Indeed, the program has played a very significant role in provid49 Gudina Tumsa. Gudina Tumsa Foundation, ed. “Report on Church Growth in Ethiopia” in Witness and Discipleship (Addis Ababa, 2007), 138.

50 Editor’s Note: Gudina Tumsa. “Report on Church Growth in Ethiopia to Commission on Church Cooperation Consultation” in The Ministry of the Whole Person: Documents of the Rev. Gudina Tumsa and the Mekane Yesus Church from the Pre-Revolutionary Period 1971–1973, II:1–8 (Addis Ababa: Gudina Tumsa Foundation, n.d.), 7. According to Tumsa’s report to the LWF, the EECMY in 1970 had 137 pastors and 143,000 members. At that time, the EECMY also worked with 159 expatriate missionaries in Ethiopia. Tumsa’s report indicated that the EECMY desired more missionaries to work in Ethiopia to help them implement their plan.

51 Launhardt, 130. It was officially constituted on April 18, 1959, by five mission societies: ALM, GHM, NLM, SEM and MBV.

ing spiritual literature that led new converts to maturity.

Later, this program continued after the formation of the EECMY under the name “Yemisrach Dimts” on Sept. 29, 1962. The following entities were included in “Yemisrach Dimts:” the literature program, the literacy campaign and the radio program.52 The term Yemisrach Dimts means the voice of the Good News. It had a significant contribution to the promotion of the Gospel. This ministry has reached several millions with the Gospel of Christ. To mention a few examples, the conversion of my own mother, brother and a monk whom I know personally are some examples of people reached by Yemisrach Dimts. Indeed, the radio voice of the Gospel played a significant role through the oral propagation of the Good News, while the literature program served by communicating the Good News in writing. These two services continued up to March 12, 1977, when the Communist government confiscated the radio voice of the Gospel.53 However, for the last 39 years, Yemisrach Dimts has been transmitting the same program from South Africa, via Trans World Radio and continues to reach people with the Gospel.

Bible translation The translation and distribution of the Scriptures were effective instruments of the promotion of the Gospel in Ethiopia. The first evangelical missionary Peter Heyling who arrived in Ethiopia in 1633, started with the translation of John’s Gospel from Ge’ez54 into the Amharic language. Subsequently, the entire Bible was translated into Amharic for the first time in 1840, through the initiative of the Church Missionary Society (CMS)55 of England by an Orthodox monk.56 Gustav Arén states that 52

Ibid., 129–130.

53

Launhardt, 243. “‘The Ethiopian Herald’ stated the next day on its front page: ‘Government Takes Over RVOG.’ The government gazette continued reporting that ‘Radio Voice of the Gospel (RVOG) and all its affiliates within the country, their studios and equipment as well as buildings and entire property have, as of yesterday, been wholly taken over by the Ethiopian government.’ … The Yemisrach Dimts Cente at Asmara Road with the local Radio Studio, the Literature program, and the Literacy Campaign was confiscated a few days later.”

54

Ge’ez is an ancient Ethiopian language no longer spoken.

Editor’s Note: F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 372. “The ‘Church Mission Society’, originally called the ‘Society for Missions in Africa and the East’, was founded in 1799 with Thomas *Scott (q.v.) as its first secretary. Though later in date than the *SPCK and the *SPG, it became the first C of E society to send missionaries to the indigenous populations of Africa and Asia.”

55

56

Gurmesa, 81.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

51

the Scriptures that were distributed in those early years of the missionary era laid a good foundation for the later formation the EECMY.57 Then the translation of the Bible into Oromo language for the first time, which took place in the 1880s, was a golden opportunity for Oromo evangelism. It has paved the way for the communication of the Gospel to that particular ethnic group, enhancing and encouraging the communication and the receptivity of the Good News. As a result, today more than half of the synods of the church are in Oromia Regional State. Theologizing in the vernacular played a great role in helping the various ethnic groups in the country to claim their God-given rights and dignity, which were denied them before.58 Still the EECMY has continued the translation of the Bible and Christian literature into various local languages.

So far, the New Testament has been translated into 24 languages indigenous to Ethiopia, while the Old Testament is in various stages of translation for 18 languages. According to the report of the Ethiopian Bible Society, the entire Bible, so far, has been translated into only 8 of the 85 indigenous Ethiopian languages. The translations of the Bible into various languages and the literature programs are some of the major factors that propelled the explosive growth of the church over the last 55 years.

The impacts of the rediscovery of holistic ministry in the growth of the church The holistic ministry of the EECMY goes back to the early days of the formation of the apostolic church (Acts 6). For the EECMY, holistic ministry is a rediscovery. It was not a new invention of EECMY. The fact that human beings are composed of spirit, body and soul is a biblical truth (1 Thess. 5:23). “The preaching and teaching of the missionaries from the start was holistic, involving both the spiritual and the material aspects of life, evangelism and development.”59 This missiological innovation has been 57

Ibid., 83.

58

This makes Mekane Yesus a pioneer in reaching every people in their own mother tongues, which was quite different from Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church that used Ge’ez, a liturgical language that was foreign to the masses.

59 G. Decke. “The Role of Gudina Tumsa in a Critical Dialogue Between Marxism/Socialism and Christianity” in The Life and Ministry of Rev. Gudina Tumsa, General Secretary of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY): Report Volume & Lectures of the Missiological Seminar Sponsored by the Gudina Tumsa Foundation at Mekane Yesus Theological Seminary: 101–128 (Addis Ababa: Gudina Tumsa Foundation, 2003), 110.

52

articulated in the famous historic paper of the EECMY to the global community to the Lutheran World Federation: “The Interrelation between the Proclamation of the Gospel and Human Development.”60 This historic paper deals with the redefinition of human beings and their needs both from biblical and cultural point of views. This thesis challenged the traditional understanding of human beings in the Western worldview, especially in the area of development. This thesis begins with an analysis of the old and new emphasis on the assistance for development and social work from the West.61 According to this analysis, the old emphasis on mission focuses on the vertical proclamation of the Gospel, where all other activities in education, material, medical and developmental fields are regarded as secondary importance. The physical need was understood as a means to the end whereas the new emphasis was on social and developmental work as well as on liberation from dehumanizing structures and involvement in nation-building.

In the new approach, evangelism was disregarded.

As these two approaches dichotomized human needs, the rationale for a holistic ministry was developed from a critical reflection on these two extreme positions. It was in the midst of these realities that the EECMY rediscovered her new ministry motto: “a holistic ministry.”

According to the EECMY view, development service is neither the means to the end nor the end in itself. It is part and parcel of the integral human need. It has been, therefore, the firm conviction of the EECMY to the present day that “an integral human development is the only pertinent approach to the development question in the society”62 because it incorporates the needs of the whole human person, spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23).

This rationale also takes into account the African worldview. According to the African worldview, things are holistic rather than segmented. Consequently, the church’s ministry has been addressing the holistic needs of humanity without creating any dichotomy between the physical and the spiritual needs of a person. The Rev. Gudina Tumsa affirmed this fact in defense of holistic ministry: The division that you have made between what you call body and soul is unfair to man. On Sunday you confess that you believe in the resurrection of the 60

Launhardt, 269.

61

See the editor’s note in footnote 48.

62

“Document of EECMY Church Officers” (Addis Ababa, 1972), 3–4.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

body; during the rest of the week, you tell the world that the body is of secondary importance, what matters is the soul. Therefore, preach the Gospel, the most important thing in the world. For us it is very difficult to dissect human life into various parts, ministering to one aspect while neglecting the other.

Man is created by God as a totality.63 As a result of this conviction, the church has been conducting development and social work programs and proclamation of the Gospel side-by-side since the rediscovery of this basic missiological fact. The Rev. Gudina Tumsa remarked on the ministry of the church, “The two dimensions of its service go hand in hand. The church contributed to the nation-building in Ethiopia through its both spiritual and social services.”64 Subsequently, the church has been conducting various developmental activities — medical, educational, social and agricultural projects — since the beginning.

These development and social work services have played a significant role in the explosive growth of the church.

Many of the hospitals and health stations have served as a forum for the promotion of the Gospel. Patients coming to these medical institutions have access to the Good News as there are forums sharing the Word of God both when they are waiting and during pastoral visits. These developmental projects have contributed to the purpose of evangelism, not only in establishing good points of contact for witnessing to the Gospel, but also by serving as practical demonstrations of the love of Christ.

Indeed, they made significant impact on the life of the beneficiaries. Youth hostels have served as the center of great spiritual revival for the young generation. Many of the chapels at the youth hostels have served as centers of revivals.

Another development program of special significance for mission has been educational institutions. Educational institutions of the church have a tremendous contribution for evangelistic outreach. The EECMY literacy program, which was mentioned earlier, was one of educational programs of the church that is worthy of mentioning in this regard. It has a far-reaching effect on the numerical 63 Gerd Deck, “The Role of Gudina Tumsa in Critical Dialogue Between Marxism/ Socialism and Christianity” in The Life and Ministry of Gudina Tumsa (Addis Ababa: Gudina Tumsa Foundation, 2007), 111.

64

Tasgara Hirpo, “Rev. Gudina Tumsa’s Contribution to the understanding of the national church” in The Life and Ministry of Gudina Tumsa, second edition (Addis Ababa: Gudina Tumsa Foundation, 2007), 87.

growth of the church. This program launched during the early stage of the formation of the church in September 1962.65 This program has great missiological significance.

It served for the growth of the church in two aspects.

First, it enabled the people to read and write. This in turn provided access to the Good News, enabling people to read the Scriptures and Christian literature. Second, it provided good opportunity for students at the literacy schools to hear the Good News, as the Bible is taught as one of the subjects. Thus, the numerical growth of the literacy schools and students has direct contribution to evangelism. As a result, “Congregations and synods were encouraged to form local literacy committees, find literate persons who were willing to teach and begin literacy classes in churches, schools or private houses.”66 The EECMY literacy campaign has been conducted for three rounds of each five-year plans from 1962 to 1980.

As Johannes Launhardt stated: “During the 1962–1965 period, the number of schools or literacy centers rose to five hundred and nineteen, located in eight of Ethiopian’s fourteen regions. The number of students who completed the course was eighty-three thousand eight hundred and four (83,804).”67 This campaign, in its three sets of five-year plans, has demonstrated spectacular contribution to church growth.

Launhardt stated, “The churches and synods participating in the YD Literacy Campaign had during the Five-Year Plan of the program experienced a rapid growth. The number of members in the Mekane Yesus Church had more than doubled.”68 In addition to this, the church has been running many elementary schools, junior secondary schools and high schools. As the Bible has been taught regularly as one of the subjects and they are currently conducting devotions every morning, these schools have great missiological significance. Since every student of these educational institutions has access to the Good News, these educational firms have also been serving as forums impacting young people.

65

Launhardt, 134.

66

Ibid.

67

Ibid.

68

Ibid., 135.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

53

Manifestations attributed to the Holy Spirit (particularly in the 1970s to 1990s) is one of the factors for the rapid numerical growth of the EECMY Editor’s Note: The Rev. Abraham Mengesha Mitku presented on how the growth of the EECMY was affected by manifestations attributed to the Holy Spirit. These manifestations happened first in areas that were where traditional African religion was the predominant religion, then in heavily Muslim areas and finally during the time when the church was persecuted. The Rev. Gudina Tumsa in his address to the LWF describes the following: The following striking example indicates what the religious factors play in the mass movements as they have been seen in Ethiopia. In certain areas of Gamu Gofa (a Southern province), a big tree played an important role in the primitive cult. At a certain time of the year, the people come together there from a wide area to make sacrifices to the spirit in the tree. Just before one of the annual festivals, two schoolboys who had accepted the Gospel of Christ went to the village and started to witness to the people. The people laughed at the boys and scorned them, saying that the spirit residing in the tree was the most powerful god and that they believed in it.

The boys said that they would pray to their God that He would reveal His power. On the day of the festival, while several hundred people were gathered for the sacrifice, the tree suddenly fell down. The whole crowd said that this was the hand of the new God. From that day on, they said they would believe in the new God. Similar things have happened in many other places. A sick person was healed, a demonpossessed person was made free, etc., and the crowds took these as divine signs and decided to become Christians.69 The Rev. Abraham also presented on how these events, interpreted as manifestations of the Spirit, led some people into Pentecostalism. The Mekane Yesus Church rejects Pentecostal worship and manifestations as being non-Lutheran. Nevertheless, when looking at the history of the EECMY, events interpreted as manifestations of the 69 Gudina Tumsa. “Report on Church Growth in Ethiopia to Commission on Church Cooperation Consultation” in The Ministry of the Whole Person: Documents of the Rev. Gudina Tumsa and the Mekane Yesus Church from the Pre-Revolutionary Period 1971–1973, II:1–8 (Addis Ababa: Gudina Tumsa Foundation, n.d.), 5.

54

Spirit contributed to the growth of the Church, particularly when these manifestations occurred in deeply pagan or Muslim areas.

The impacts of the experience of persecution on church growth The experience of the early apostolic church showed that persecution of Christians had a great significance to the growth of the Church.70 When the early Christians were severely persecuted following the stoning of Stephen, they were scattered out to Samaria and other Gentile world. According to Luke, “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (Acts 8:4). As this experience of the apostolic church suggests, persecution enhances the spread of the Good News. In similar way, persecution of Christians under the Ethiopian Communist government in the past and by the communities of other faith in the present has been making incredible contributions to the qualitative and quantitative growth of the church.

The experience of intense persecution of the EECMY under the Ethiopian communist government, on the one hand, was very devastating and destructive. This horrible experience had caused great damage to the church, resulting in various sorts of sufferings: closing down of churches, banning of worship services, detention, severe trials and the death of many leaders. However, on the other hand, it had great contribution toward the qualitative and quantitative growth of the church. Qualitatively, it had great contribution to the spiritual formation of believers, enhancing the purity of faith.

Just to give one practical example: When the Addis Ababa Synod was established with only eight congregations in 1974, the Communist government took power.

Soon persecution, torture and confiscation of property followed. However, after 17 years of severe persecution, the number of congregations grew from 8 to 180. Then, following its expansion and growth, it was necessary to change the name of the synod from Addis Ababa Synod to Central Ethiopia Synod; the Synod had grown by such an amount that it extended well beyond Addis Ababa.

The Rev. Hirpo states the situation in the western parts 70 Editor’s Note: Tertullian (155–240 A.D.) who lived in Carthage, North Africa, wrote how the suffering of believers increases the church.

Tertullian, “The Apology,” in Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. S. Thelwall, vol. 3 of The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 55. “The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.”

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

of the country as follows: “At the General Assembly at Najjo, in Wollega, in April 1976, with Bethel Synods that joined it, members were over 400,000.”71 After 17 years, at the downfall of the Ethiopian Marxist regime, there were 1.2 million members. We can show that the numerical growth of the church increased by 800,000 members during the years of persecution. If the church was closed and public worship was banned, where did the growth take place?

Due to the closing down of churches and prohibition of public worship, a new venue of ministry called small group ministry or home cell group, which was an underground operation, was started.72 Following this new development, church members were structured into small groups and continued their services. Small group or cell group ministry was a new experience the church had explored during this horrible time. The formation of small group ministries contributed tremendously to the growth and multiplication of members. It enhanced the growth of the church in two aspects.

First, it enhanced the numerical growth of the church as it provided better access to reach out to family members and the community at large. It brought the church close to the community, as these small groups were among the community and they were so close to individuals interested in the program.

Second, it enhanced the qualitative growth of the church, as it was the best forum for edification and nurturing of faith through group Bible studies and reflections on sharing of personal life testimony. It also enhanced detachment from the things of this world and attachment to the heavenly. It led to the experience of losing things of this world in order to gain Christ. Such a journey of faith draws believers to the life of the cross, which is absolute dependence on God, as Paul depicts such life experience to the Philippi believers: “But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ’s sake. Not only those things, I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, that the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it as mere refuse, 71

Hirpo, 87.

Editor’s Note: When persecution limits or stops public worship, Christians worship underground in homes or in small groups. What is described here as the result of persecution is not the same as the technics advocated by the church growth movement. In some cases, the church growth movement studied what occurred during times of persecution and attempted to emulate it as a technic to help the church grow in the West.

72

so that I may gain Christ and be completely united with him” (Phil. 3:7–9).

The above experience of Paul suggests that persecution of faith enhances transformation of life. It purifies faith like gold. The apostle Peter also encourage those who were under persecution: “These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than Gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus is revealed” (1 Peter 1: 7).

Indeed, persecution invigorates Christian witness.

Quantitatively it has made a tremendous contribution to the numerical growth of the church. As the ancient saying goes, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Gospel.”

In similar way, the seed sown during this horrible experience the church has undergone, and still undergoes in some places, has led to a blooming result in the growth of the church. The testimony of heroes of faith during their trials has been a moving and powerful experience that empowers the witness of the Gospel. The words of the Rev. Tumsa, the General Secretary of the EECMY, are worthy of mentioning. He states: “We as Christians cannot simply tolerate a bad situation and keep quiet. It is our duty to act, to speak and even risk our life. The power of the resurrection is experienced only through death.”73 Such bold and powerful witness has impacted many people and has drawn many cadres to Christ. There were instances where the cadres sent to congregational services for spying and closing churches ended up joining the church, touched by God’s power.74 If we take CES alone, there are 24 martyrs who stood firm for Christ, whose living testimony has been inspiring and exemplary for us today. In addition, many were tortured, and thousands of farmers lost their farms and properties just for being followers of Christ.

Because of their firm stand, the victims of that atrocity didn’t retreat from sharing their faith to others even when they were under tragic trials and extended detentions.

They boldly witnessed for Christ and won many converts in those hostile circumstances. As a result of their witness and life testimony in the prison, the prison stations have become fields of mission. Through such mission endeavor, 73

Laundhart, 248.

74

Ibid., 266. “The security agent called three times, but Belina did not act. Finally the man came himself with the intention to get the keys of the church. Since the church was packed with people, the agent had to wait in the church for the end of the gathering. In the end of the service, however, he decided to join the congregation.”

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

55

converts have been won from many political and legal prisoners, and many Bible study groups have been formed in order to strengthen and discipline these new converts.

As a result of this work today, Mekane Yesus has many congregations right in the prison stations of different regions of the country where Sunday worship is regularly conducted. In CES, we have two prison congregations.

in water.”76 Dr. George Wollenburg also states, “With the exception of the biblical doctrine of justification, perhaps, no biblical teaching is more dear to the hearts of the Lutherans than the priesthood of all believers.”77 Thus, the concept of priesthood of all believers is both biblical and Lutheran.

The impact of rediscovery of the priesthood of all believers on the growth of the church

The inception and development of this concept

The concept of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers

As we showed in the preceding presentation, the movement of the laity is a backbone for the evangelistic work of the EECMY. The laity are instruments of mission.

The laity are active mission agents. They actively witness about Jesus. They pray and support mission financially.

Most of the leaders of the congregations of the church are lay people. In such context, every member of the church is encouraged to share the experience of his or her conversion to the community around them. Indeed, everybody has something to share from the story of his or her life.

The concept of the priesthood of all believers is biblical. By virtue of Baptism, every believer is called to priesthood. Peter says to the community of faith: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). According to this text, the believers’ call to a royal priesthood includes a call to witness to the Good News. The phrase “declare the praises of him who has called you out of darkness” implies witness.

It means to tell the goodness of God. The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers is also central to the Lutheran doctrine. The Lutheran tradition promotes the universal priesthood of all believers, joined through Baptism. However, “This doesn’t mean that just anyone can step forth into the office of the ministry of the Word and Sacraments. That will [lead] to anarchy.” 75According to Lutheran theology, ministers are those who have been delegated to be the representatives of the people. According to Luther, ordination is for order. If everyone speaks, it will cause chaos. He states, “If many hands perform baptism they will drown the baby 75 Carl E. Braaten, Principles of Lutheran Theology (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1973), 44.

56

The concept of priesthood of all believers was a rediscovery for EECMY, because as it has been stated above, it had already existed in the Bible and in Luther’s teaching. The rediscovery of the role of the priesthood of all believers in the EECMY started quietly from the very time of its formation, where the first two presidents of the EECMY were laymen.

The role of the laity in the EECMY As Donald McGavran, the founder and proponent of the Modern Church Growth Movement, pointed out, “If a church is serious about the Great Commission, the involvement of the laity is of utmost importance.”78 He states: “Laymen have many more gifts than are needed to maintain the existing body. Recognize and use gifts for outreach. This is an essential ingredient to a healthy growing church.”79 In a similar way, the role of the laity has an incredible contribution in the mission of the EECMY. Launhardt in his assessment of the essence and formation of the EECMY stated, “The Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus is a church with strong laity involvement.

This holds true not only for tasks on the congregational level, but also for the church as a whole.”80 He further noted, “This trend of lay involvement continued, and was strengthened when many young people found their way into the church. During the time of the Derg [the Communist military government] it was the young sector of the society which joined the Christian church more than any other age group.”81 Indeed, the ministry of the lay youth in high school and universities has been exerting significant contribution 76 Martin Luther. “To Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520)” in Christian in Society I, vol. 44 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1966), 175.

77

http://www.lcms.org/pages/intena.asp?NavID=841, 1.

Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth (New York: Harper & Row, 1977), 108.

78 79

Ibid., 108.

80

Laundhart, 297.

81

Ibid., 298.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

to the explosive growth of the church.82 Thus, the church has been wisely mobilizing and using these youngsters, conducting various trainings to empower them for better services. Launhardt stated: To discover the God-given gifts of an individual and to equip him for an effective service, training is needed. On synod level courses for youth leaders were organized, but the main training of the youth took place within the congregations. At some places it was obligatory for young people to attend a oneyear lay-training program [discipleship] after the confirmation course. The training was given on Saturdays or on Sundays after the worship service.

Some congregations in town trained their volunteers in evening Bibles schools or arranged for special courses and seminars.83

The role of every believer in mission

These trainings were given to equip and mature the young people to enable them make use of their gifts rightly in witnessing to the Good News. After training, the lay ministers are mobilized for service. Some are assigned for specific purpose by their respective elders.

Some of such duties, as Laundhart explains, are:

Every healthy congregation of the church is aware of its responsibility to bring the Gospel to people within its congregation boundary. The congregations mobilize their members to support outreach ministry with their entire God-given resources. The outreach first grows to be a preaching place and then becomes a congregation. Therefore, in such context, congregational ministry will never be like a football game in a stadium where a few players play the game while the rest of the crowd is just mere spectators (1 Cor. 12:13–25). Every member is in one way or another actively engaged in the mission.

Thus, the main role of effective EECMY pastors is nurturing, empowering, equipping and mobilizing the laity for mission. Within the EECMY, it is believed that if a congregation fails to have a minimum of one or two preaching places every year and eventually bring them up into congregation level within three to seven years, then that congregation is spiritually not healthy. Growth within and in the mission field is a sign of spiritual health.

Healthy congregations always move and grow both within and in outreach work.

Currently in CES, all 489 congregations are actively engaged in mission in 704 outreach areas. While each has at least one or two outreach locations, other large congregations are engaged in 7 to 15 outreach locations.

There are congregations who have been the instrument for the birth of more than fifty congregations (e.g., the Addis Ababa mother congregation, Ambo, Lemelem and Kachisie congregations). These congregations are responsible for equipping these outreaches with a trained minister and purchased land and eventually building a

Sunday school teaching for children, leading a Bible study or young group, arranging prayer members, singing in a choir, taking part in outreach programs, visiting sick members, counseling bereaved ones, keeping order during worship services, cleaning the church, preparing bazaars, handling funds and many other tasks.84 Laundhart noted about the role of these lay ministers: “There is no question that the lay people were and are the treasure of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. The rapid growth of the church is, among others, the result of their active involvement and their readiness to serve voluntarily.”85 This is one of the main reasons that, throughout the history of the EECMY, the number of youth in all congregations exceeds by far that of the middle aged and elderly members.

82 Currently universities and prisons are the major mission fields for the EECMY today!

83

Laundhart, 298.

84

Ibid., 299.

85

Ibid.

Every member of the church is aware of his or her missionary call as a priesthood, the call to declare the praise of God who has called him out of the darkness to His everlasting light (1 Peter 2:9). This is done through the discipleship course that each new confirmand takes for at least from six to twelve months after he or she is confirmed as a communicant member. Then each will understand his or her responsibilities of reaching others through sharing their own experiences. Subsequently, every believer actively participates in witnessing the Good News in season and out of season to his or her neighborhood, at the work place, in public busses, at market places or shopping centers. On top of that, every believer actively participates in praying for mission and raising funds.

Congregational participation

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

57

chapel. Then, when they are ready to be on their own, the mother congregation officially applies to the council of the synod to allow them grow to congregation level, and eventually hands them over to the nearest structure of their synod for better follow up.86 During your Council of Presidents meeting in 2012 held in St. Louis, I was given the privilege of conveying greetings and eventually shared with you that CES had 413 congregations. After two years, when I am standing before you today, I am representing 489 congregations; 76 were added in the last two years.

The current challenges of the EECMY in general and CES in particular Despite the religious freedom we are experiencing in Ethiopia today, the church is facing potential challenges both within and without. For us, persecution is an inevitable phenomenon as we step up for mission in new territories.

Challenges from outside, as it has been proven, are always strengthening the unity of believers and engages them for mission rather than destroying them.

One of the potent challenges we faced 20 years ago that took much of our resources, time and energy was the conflict among believers demanding to use their vernacular for worship instead of the official language that was in use in the city. Indeed, unlike the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Pentecostal Churches, EECMY was not totally new to using vernaculars of various ethnic groups. It long ago implemented this. However, the church was not ready for the socioeconomic and political changes that took place in the country 21 years ago.

After 14 years of turmoil that slowed our growth, by the grace of the Lord, we were able to resolve it in 2008 and the church has once again united.

Another challenge (a positive challenge) is to address the needs of all these emerging congregations and preaching places; purchasing land, building chapels and equipping them with trained pastors and evangelists has been a huge burden to CES and the church at large.

Another potential challenge (still positive) are the 86 Editor’s Note: Congregations engaged in mission coordinate their activities with the Central Office. The Central Office provides locations for mission work and preaching stations according to the church’s five-year strategic plan. The congregation will pay for an evangelist to establish a mission station or preaching station. Once that preaching station reaches the point of being a self-sustaining congregation, it will apply to be a member of the local synod (similar to a district in the Missouri Synod).

58

wide compounds owned by our congregations and parishes. These wide compounds are not yet well utilized and developed as per the master plan of the towns and cities.

As a result, they are exposed to outsiders and eventually in danger of becoming prey for investors, including my own office.

In CES alone, there are 12 big compounds that are in a critical situation and in danger of being taken from us and delivered to the investors. Some of these compounds range from 11,000–56,000 square meters wide. According to the land policy of the country, land belongs to the government. We have full rights to use and cultivate it.

However, our user rights will be respected if and only if we are able to develop it as per the urban development plan of the government. Otherwise, we will receive a little compensation from the government for what we have had on the land (but not a single coin for the land itself), and they will hand it over to the investors (developers).

Indeed, this is my potent challenge as the president of EECMY-CES. These compounds were given to us or we purchased them some 30 and 40 years ago. As a responsible leader, now it has become my priority just equivalent to the mission, not only to save these compounds, but also to transform and develop them into generating income and being resources for our evangelizing work in five regional states where we are currently operating. I take this opportunity to extend my request for you to keep lifting us before the Lord and your unreserved support.

Before I conclude my presentation, I would like to say few words about the trend of 21st century mission.

The trend of 21st century mission It is quite evident that the center of gravity of the Christian world has shifted from North and West to the Southern hemisphere. From the very time of its birth to the middle of the 20th century, Christianity had been flourishing for several centuries in the West and the Northern hemisphere, while most of the Southern Hemisphere and most parts of Asia were not open to Christianity. Thus, Christians in the Northern Hemisphere have been faithfully engaged in God’s mission to reach those who were in the darkness. As a result of their sacrificial labor, today churches are flourishing in the Southern Hemisphere.

It seems to me that the season has been gradually shifting to the Southern Hemisphere. Today, the ideology of modern and postmodernism has made its potent impact on the life and ministry of the church in the West as well as the community at large! Unknowingly or

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

uncritically, we have allowed it to shape and misshape our worldview, values and people’s relationship with God, even to the extent of affecting theological reflection, and eventually the missiological ground of some churches. Of course, we do not deny the numerous and significant positive impacts that it has brought to our lives. However, as Willam Barret remarked, “Every major step forward by mankind entails some loss, the sacrifice of an older security and the creation and heightening of new tensions.”87 Our challenge in the West today is twofold. On the one hand, we are striving not to lose the basic tenets of our Christian faith and values; on the other hand, we are facing new challenges both within and from outside. As William D. Taylor remarked: We stand at the start of this uncertain new century, this new millennium. New language and categories have entered our lives. We speak of globalization, and we witness the worldview transitions from premodernity to modernity to post- modernity with their respective blessings and curses. Regardless of our culture, our gender, our geography, and our ministry, the times have radically changed, requiring a serious re-evaluation of why we do the things we do in ministry—whether personal or organizational.88

come thus far and will continue leaning on His mighty arm and grace.

• It will continue shining His glory, witnessing to His crucifixion, resurrection and His second coming until He comes in glory.

Despite all the challenges we have, we still stand firm and affirm with Paul: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). We will never give up! We will keep on walking a walk of faith, carrying on God’s mission.

The Rev. Abraham Mengesha Mitku is president of Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus—Central Ethiopian Synod (EECMY-CES).

Indeed, we are in a critical moment when the tenets of our faith, our identity as well as our unity are challenged, having been put to a serious test. We need to have ways to the future. It is quite evident we cannot survive if we keep on thinking and doing the same as we did in the past.

• We need to pray for special wisdom that surpasses all our human limitations and shortcomings.

• We need to stand together helping one another. As the saying goes, “United we stand! Divided we fall.”

• The Lord, who has called us in this critical season, is with us!

• We will never give up fighting against the evident forces of anti-Christian secularism that seek to revive paganism and hedonism in our community.

• We never give up, for the Lord our God is on His throne!

• We certainly know that throughout the history of Christianity, the Church has never been without a challenge.

Overcoming all its challenges, the Church of Christ has 87 Willam Barret. Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy (New York: Anchor Books, 1990), 26.

88 William D. Taylor, ed., Missiology for the 21st Century, The Iguassu Dialogue (Ada: Baker Academic, 2001,) 8.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

59

History’s lesson is that Christianity’s growth and decline

Response to Abraham Mengeschahave always lain side by side and still do. How can Lutheran Mitku’s “Factors That Contributed churches bolster one another to the Growth of the EECMY in during both?

General and Central Ethiopian Synod in Particular” and Albert B. Collver III’s “Reflections on Seven Megatrends Shaping the 21st Century”

by Klaus Detlev Schulz

I

want to thank Rev. Abraham Mengesha Mitku mission starts among the Oromo people from a missionfor his inspiring presentation on “Factors that ary Hans Ludwig Krapf2 stationed outside Mombasa, in Contributed to the Growth of the Ethiopian 1853 the Lutheran mission society of Hermannsburg Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) in General sent a whole team to Mombasa on a boat named Canand Central Ethiopian Synod in Particular,” and also Dr. dace after the Ethiopian queen in Acts 8. Unfortunately, Collver for “Reflections on Seven Megatrends Shaping the local imam denied them access to the land of the the 21st Century.” Whereas the latter presentation gave Oromo people, saying that the Oromo were too fierce and us a panoramic view of what to look for when surveying rebellious, a people known for their excellent horsemanthe state of Christianity in the world, the former opened ship, and that no one could guarantee the safety of these for us a window into a particular church that struggles Lutheran colonists if they were to go inland. In 1857, the with some of those trends Hermannsburg missionaries listed. I’d like to transition launched a second attempt, EECMY has grown significantly into my two points on deeper only to be rejected again. This to become the largest Lutheran ecumenism and urbanization, time the sultan of Zanzibar church in Africa and second which I gained from these turned them down. It seems in the world with over thirty two presentations, with an that the Arab leaders’ concern dioceses. …To hear of this introductory note on mission for the safety of the missionhistory. aries was just a subterfuge phenomenal growth humbles us The Ethiopian situation contrived to hide their real all, knowing that our struggle had captured the Lutheran fear that these missionaries is the exact opposite, namely, imagination for well over would interfere with the slave a dwindling Christianity and a century. In a penetrating trade. For this reason, the denomination. description of Lutheran miscoastal belt of Arab Muslims sions to the Oromo, entitled, along northern Kenya and “Ihr Ziel war das Oromoland” (Their Goal Was the Land Ethiopia became for quite some time an impenetrable of the Oromo)1, a former missionary to that region, Ernst barrier for Christian missionaries.

Bauerochse, gives a stirring account of the initial attempts The first successful Lutheran attempts to reach the of the Swedish and Hermannsburg missionaries to reach Oromo fell to the Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM) the Oromo people. These initiatives began 160 years ago; known as Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stiftelse (founded in the first started in 1853. The story is compelling, to say 1856).3 Starting in Eritrea in 1877, north of Ethiopia, SEM the least. After hearing promising accounts of potential Ernst Bauerochse, Ihr Ziel was das Oromoland (Münster: Lit-Verlag, 2006).

1

60

2 A laudatory biography is offered by Rune Imberg, “Dr. Krapf—the (almost) forgotten missionary pioneer.” Svensk Missionstidskrift 98, no.

1 (January 1, 2010): 49–67.

3

Bauerochse, 106ff.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

missionaries made four futile attempts to advance into the church in Africa and second in the world with over thirty land of the Oromo before they succeeded the fifth time. dioceses. Some factors contributing to that growth are In 1898, they reached the area around the cities of Jimma worth noting: Theological training was provided on a and Neqemte in West and South West Ethiopia.4 Fortu- broader level; there was an ambitious national outreach nately, they were accompanied by a few former Oromo plan; the Bible and literature were translated into the verslaves from Eritrea, who they had bought and freed. nacular; holistic ministries cared for the people; people Among them was the man called Hikaa (ca. 1855–1831), consciously felt the reality of the Holy Spirit and God’s which means in Oromo “the translater.” This Hikaa was Word was widely shared though the witness of the priestbaptized and had his name changed to Onesimus Nesib hood of all believers. From Dr. Collver’s reflection on (1855–1931). He became the translator of the Bible into Timothy Tennent’s “Seven Megatrends Shaping 21st CenOromo using the Ethiopian alphabet. Through that sig- tury Mission,”6 the EECMY’s growth is one example of the nificant work of translating the Bible, Onesimus also major trend in which Christianity is shifting to multiple founded the Oromo written language. In 1927, the Her- centers around the world away from the West. mannsburg mission finally managed to reach Ethiopia, To hear of this phenomenal growth humbles us all, and so Lutheran mission was fully underway among the knowing that our struggle is the exact opposite, namely, Oromo people. a dwindling Christianity and The persistence and tenacity of denomination, as was so ably, yet The news of the Lutheran mission in Ethiopia was starkly, presented to us by Larry EECMY’s current growth truly admirable, and it bore fruit.

Vogel. However, history’s lesson is But then it became the “young” also that Christianity’s growth and and her interest in Christians’ turn to endure a series of decline have always lain side by side entering into a stronger significant ordeals: two world wars and still do. Martin Luther already relationship with The and hunger spells ravaged the popcommented on Christianity’s shift Lutheran Church— ulation in 1974 and 1984–85. Then with these prophetic words: Missouri Synod should came the Communist Dirg regime The movement of the Gospel is under Mengistu Haile Mariam, move us all. now among us, but our ungratewho in 1977 started a persecution fulness and scorning of the diof Ethiopian Lutherans and other vine Word, pettiness, and decadence make it so that Christians, resulting in martyrs and confiscated buildit will not remain for long. There shall then follow ings and properties.5 Finally, in 1991, Mengistu’s regime after it a large rabble, and great wars will come later. was deposed by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary In Africa, the Gospel was very powerfully present, Democratic Front (EPRDF). In spite of all these setbacks, but the liars corrupted it, and after it the Vandals Christians of the EECMY prevailed. In fact, the EECMY, and the wars came. It went likewise also in Egypt: which was founded in 1959, actually grew, reaching out to first lying then murder. It will also go exactly the the Amharic-speaking people. For some time there was same way in the German land. The pious preachers tension within the EECMY over whether the worshipping will first be taken away, and false prophets, enthulanguage in the Central Diocese should be only Amharic siasts, and demagogues will step into my place and or include Oromo as well. that of other preachers and divide the church and The news of the EECMY’s current growth and her tear it apart. 7 interest in entering into a stronger relationship with The This historic reality gives us no reason to resign from Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod should move us all. missionary activity in this country. The tenacity of former The good news we heard today from the presentation

by Rev. Abraham Mengesha Mitku is that the EECMY missionaries as they sought to reach the Oromo is inspihas grown significantly to become the largest Lutheran Timothy Tennent, Invitation to World Missions: A Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-first Century (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2010), 15–51.

6 4

Ibid., 113–114.

5 The high rise building serving now as the EECCMY central office in Addis Ababa was returned in 1991, and a plaque on the wall remembers that occasion.

7

Luther in a sermon on Matt. 24:8ff. preached in 1539. See Klaus Detlev Schulz, Mission from the Cross (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 52.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

61

rational. Our task here demands similar tenacity in the face of declining numbers and dwindling support for Christianity from society and government. It is in view of the vagaries of our time that our mission needs to remember the Lord’s assuring words: “And surely I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20).

Furthermore, Christianity’s shift to other parts of the world impacts also LCMS’s foreign policy of initiating and nurturing foreign partnerships. It is interesting that the EECMY’s growth occurred without LCMS missionaries being involved and contributing toward it. In the first decade of this century, the LCMS wanted to assume a leading role in the worldwide growth of Christianity, trying to inspire partner churches to multiply, when ironically these partner churches really needed no prodding, since they were already multiplying. Instead, it is really us who are to learn from others. Timothy Tennent’s observation on this is worth noting:

confessions… it will lead us to a deeper understanding of the depositum fidei, that ancient apostolic faith that forms our common confession.”9 It is good to hear such words from a voice outside the LCMS that reflects the current nature of LCMS ecumenical relations as she engages partner churches. Indeed, the LCMS is forging a deeper ecumenicism with others around the question, “What is a Lutheran identity?” That agenda is not self-chosen and imposed on others, but it was brought to the table precisely by churches such as the EECMY who are searching for a clearer definition of their own identity. We should be glad to assist. And such a partnership will not become a unilateral endeavor. By sharing we can also receive and learn. We may be the ones who can provide moral and theological guidance to a church that has severed ties with Lutheran partner churches in North America and Europe, that is struggling with Pentecostalism, as Mitku himself pointed out and that is influenced by what Tennent calls “the emerging fourth branch of Christianity.”10 But we We must learn to listen betalso receive a valuable moral boost ter to the perspectives and The LCMS is forging a and encouragement from her, that struggles of other Christians in spite of our own challenges with deeper ecumenicism with and to endeavor to see ourpostmodern relativism and sociothers around the question, selves as members of a global etal skepticism, the Gospel in this Christian movement. …We “What is a Lutheran country must go on, and our misin the West have been accusidentity?” That agenda is sionary zeal need not stop. And tomed to playing the melody. not self-chosen and imposed so, in a quest to forge a deeper We directed the orchestra and on others, but it was brought ecumenical relationship, both decided what pieces would churches can help each other to to the table precisely be played and where, and the understand their Lutheran identity players were mostly from the by churches such as the better, not only in terms of deepenWest. Now, the orchestra is EECMY who are searching ing her theology but also in sharing far more diverse, and we are for a clearer definition of it with missionary zeal. being asked to play harmony, Second, both denominations, their own identity. not melody.8 the LCMS and EECMY, seem to What does that mean for our LCMS relationship with face the second trend previously discussed, which is the EECMY and other denominations around the world? urbanization. To be sure, Ethiopia still has a strong rural What can we do together in terms of mutual support and population. However, the Central Ethiopian Diocese learning from one another? First, it has to do not just with with the city of Addis Ababa is, as we just heard from any type of ecumenical relationship, but rather one that, as Mitku, caught up in the trend of urbanization, and so are Tennent calls it, works on “deeper ecumenicism.” Deeper we. We heard from Abraham Mitku about the push and ecumenicism should not be “an uncritical accommoda- pull factors of urbanization that contributed also to the tion to modernity by sacrificing kerygmatic essential of growth of the EECMY in the metropolis. Predictions state the historic Christian proclamation.” “The kind of ecu- that future mega cities around the world of thirty million menicism I am referring to,” he says, “is the deeper, older ecumenicism that finds its roots in historic Christian 9 Ibid., 49.

8

Tennent, 51.

62

10 This fourth branch is noted for introducing many novelties such as certain legalistic taboos, strange liturgies, peculiar doctrines and new worship practices. Read more in Tennent, 41.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

or more citizens will all emerge in Africa and Asia. In this trend of urbanization, there is room for a mutual enrichment between the EECMY and LCMS. Both churches share a common tradition, namely, that in their past “most evangelistic and church-planting strategies were formulated for and implemented in rural settings because that was the dominant context of nineteenthcentury missions.” Today both must re-conceptualize the mission field and ask, “What does it mean for our missionaries to communicate and proclaim the gospel in a holistic way in order to address the complex challenges of urban life and experience?” For neither Ethiopia nor North America are spared the ill effects of urbanization “characterized by widespread corruption, poverty, disease, and oppression.”11 These are the two areas that I seem to catch from both previous presentations. First, offering an ecumenical depth that puts the theological conversation and missionary formation in the forefront, and then also working on a mutual solidarity in sparring together against challenges of urbanization. May the Lord bless our partnership with the EECMY and with all others around the world.

The Rev. Dr. Klaus Detlev Schulz is professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions, dean of Graduate Studies and director of the Ph.D. (Missiology) program at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.

11

Ibid., 45–46.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

63

A Letter from the Office of International Mission Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ,

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good”

(Ps. 107:1).

We are blessed with the gift of faith through Holy other skilled lay workers into their midst.

Baptism and the preaching of God’s Word in accordance Now is the moment for The Lutheran Church— with the Lutheran Confessions. We give thanks to our Missouri Synod to stand boldly and to vigorously make Lord for so many blessings, including the opportunity to known the love of the Lord Jesus Christ in word and deed, carry out our Lord’s mission in our respective vocations proclaiming the forgiveness of sins through Him alone to and with the talents God entrusts to us. the entire world!

In July 2013, the Synod in convention set before God is positioning the LCMS to serve our Lutheran the Office of International Mission (OIM) a challenge partner churches to help them enhance their own witness to double the number of career LCMS missionaries and mercy efforts, plant new communities of faith and (Resolution 1-11, “To Recruit and Place More Career nurture new partnerships so that every tongue confesses Missionaries”). By the Lord’s Jesus Christ as Lord. grace, we project that by By grace, God has Now is the moment for The September of this year, we will strengthened the internal Lutheran Church—Missouri have met and exceeded that capacity of the OIM for Synod to stand boldly and to bold challenge! effectively responding to these vigorously make known the In Jesus’ name, we give exciting opportunities, and thanks for those who have to do so with even greater love of the Lord Jesus Christ in accepted a call or solemn efficiency. Twelve full-time word and deed, proclaiming the appointment to serve as an employees at the Internaforgiveness of sins through Him LCMS missionary. We give tional Center in St. Louis, alone to the entire world! thanks to each person reading coupled with the regional this who is committed to administration teams, are supporting our missionaries through personal prayer, responding to the 2013 convention’s challenge. Not only words of spiritual encouragement and through each is this committed team recruiting more qualified missionsacrificial donation offered up for this purpose. aries and sending them into ripe harvest fields, the OIM is The Lord of the harvest is indeed gracious and ensuring pastoral (spiritual and emotional) care for each merciful, overcoming every doubt with the certainty of missionary by deploying them in teams, under a strategic His constant and enduring love and providing everything plan developed around the Synod’s six mission priorities that is truly needed to accomplish His will. He continues adopted in convention (Res. 3-06A). to call each of us through His Word to labor for His On the LCMS Mission Advancement side, four harvest. full-time specialists in St. Louis and eight staff members As our international career missionary team grows, He deployed around the county, including Gary Thies at continues to open doors of opportunity and possibility. Mission Central in Iowa, are working directly with (and Lutheran church bodies, including our 36 official partner caring for) faithful stewards in the Synod whom God churches around the world, plead for us to send teachers, empowers to financially support our missionaries. This pastors, theologians, church planters, medical teams and team also provides professional assistance to our mission-

64

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

aries as they grow personal networks of financial partners.

God has even blessed the Synod with dozens of lay volunteers who invest their precious energy in this effort!

Now is the most exciting time for LCMS international mission work in several decades! The current potential for a faithful Lutheran witness about Jesus all over the world is unprecedented. A seismic change is compelling many church bodies to seek out the LCMS because of the very treasure we steward, the Gospel, which they desire to teach in its truth and purity in their seminaries, their congregations and in the streets of their communities.

In East Africa alone, the countries of Ethiopia, Madagascar and Tanzania are home to almost 20 million Lutherans. These joyful Christians heard the Gospel proclaimed by missionaries sent from Europe and America. They are now journeying to speak God’s truth in the lands of those first missionaries, including the very birthplace of Lutheranism — Germany. We are being invited to partner with them. In the West African nation of Nigeria, opportunities to work alongside our partner church are opening up. Nigeria is home to more Muslims than those who live in Iraq.

The future strength of faithful Lutheranism is shifting to lands south of the equator and toward Asia. The call and challenge we have been handed is to share the theological treasures we steward with these partners so they are fully equipped to carry the biblical Gospel, as it is taught in the inerrant Scriptures, to all of the world.

Western Europe faces many of the same challenges of secularization we in North America are experiencing, perhaps in an even more intense way. Our partner churches are learning how to confess Christ as a minority in cultures and communities that do not have direct experience with or are indifferent and perhaps even hostile to the Christian church. People have forgotten even the most basic Christian narrative, and biblical literacy cannot be assumed. In some respects, a new Dark Age is descending on Europe.

Despite these daunting challenges, the Gospel is being proclaimed in what is a huge mission field! Our partners in Europe look to the LCMS for encouragement and help as they discover new opportunities to speak boldly and lovingly to their neighbors, especially to immigrant groups. Our mission strategy is intentionally designed to support their outreach efforts, and in some cases the LCMS provides workers to help plant new churches among those whose ears and hearts are open to the truth.

H. Mayer, the mission secretary of the Synod in 1956,

noted a strange paradox about Christian mission work: “And what shall we say when we look at the heathen world? During the past 40 years about 14 million heathen were baptized. But during that same span of time the heathen population increased by more than twenty times that number. Each year there are more Christians, but each year there are still more heathen. We face the strange paradox: The church grows, and yet it becomes relatively smaller.”

If this was true almost 60 years ago, it is true also today. It is precisely why the LCMS is active in mission in the 21st century — reaching out and proclaiming the Gospel to those who have not yet heard that Jesus died for their sins. It is why we purposefully nurture the faith of new Christians who hear and believe by gathering them around the Word and Sacraments so they may regularly receive God’s good and perfect gifts, a foretaste of the feast to come. It is why we establish Lutheran churches which shall exist into the future as faithful communities sharing the Gospel and themselves prepared to send missionaries.

Each generation of Christians is challenged by the devil, this broken world and our sinful flesh in ways that can hinder the spread of the Gospel. Yet in the midst of obvious challenges, the Lord of the harvest brings to light new, exciting opportunities. He promises hope and a future, and He delivers on every promise. In grace and love, He grants hope to carry on, courage to share the Gospel and an understanding that not even the gates of hell will prevail against His Church.

Thank you in the name of Jesus. Our earnest prayer is that you will continue this journey with us, joyfully carrying His Gospel to the four corners of the earth!

Rev. Tony Booker, Eurasia regional director Rev. Dr. David Erber, West Africa area director Rev. Theodore Krey, Latin America regional director Mr. Darin Storkson, Asia Senior regional director Rev. Shauen Trump, East Africa area director Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver III, director of Church Relations/Regional Operations Rev. Dr. Edward Grimenstein, associate executive director of the Office of International Mission Mr. Mark Hofman, executive director of LCMS Mission Advancement

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

65

Book Review

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Second Letter to the Corinthians by Mark A. Seifrid. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014.

Prof. John T. Pless unpacks Dr. Mark Seifrid’s focus on the theology of the cross in Second Corinthians.

by John T. Pless

S

econd Corinthians is a particularly rich claim to super-spirituality and seek to ground the success New Testament book when it comes to the mission of the mission in their own personalities rather than the that Christ Jesus has entrusted to the Church. crucified and risen Jesus. This theme of the theology of Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth has found the cross echoes throughout the commentary. For exama careful and articulate commentator in Dr. Mark A. ple, in his exposition of 2 Cor. 1:19, Seifrid says Paul’s Seifrid, the Ernest and Mildred Hogan Professor of reference to Jesus as God’s Son underscores the following: that God’s faithfulness and identity are bound up with New Testament Interpretation at the Southern Baptist the crucified Christ (I Cor 1:23). God savingly reveals Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kent. For the himself sub contario. The “word of the cross” (I Cor. purposes of this journal, I will accent Seifrid’s insights 1:18) remains foolishness to the into Paul’s understanding of mission world – and to the Corinthians…. as it is made manifest in Second Seifrid demonstrates All attention is deflected away from Corinthians. that Paul’s theology of the proclaimers to the One whom Paul’s second letter to the Cormission is a theology they proclaimed, whose message inthians is his pastoral theology of they bear in body and in life (61). the cross. His life and work, hence of the cross in contrast Seifrid’s reading of 2 Corinthians his apostolic mission, is carried out to those who would 3 is an exquisite exegetical treatment under the cross. Seifrid helpfully lay claim to superof the Pauline distinction of God’s observes: spirituality and seek to Law from His Gospel,” a distinction The issue between Paul and the ground the success of between demand and gift” (121). Paul Corinthians, then, is the difference between faith and appearance, the mission in their own is an “emissary” of this gift, the word the difference between faith personalities rather than of promise, but he knows that “Only where the Law has arrived is it possiand appearance, the difference the crucified and risen ble to hear the Gospel rightly” (1300). between what the eyes can see Jesus.

Here and in many other places and what the ears can hear in the throughout this commentary, Seifrid apostolic proclamation of the exhibits his indebtedness to Luther and Oswald Bayer, cross. The apostle bears “the word of the cross” (I Cor one of Luther’s foremost contemporary interpreters.

1:18), not merely in his proclamation, but in his body What is the apostolic mission? Seifrid describes it in and life. God’s saving work takes place sub contario view of justification by faith, righteousness accomplished in the crucified Jesus contrary to all human thought

by Christ for sinners: and expectations. The delivery of that work in the It is the apostolic mission that Paul here describes apostolic word takes the same form (xxxii). as the “mission of righteousness.” He subsequently The missionary life of the apostle is cruciform as can charges his opponents as being “false apostles” and be seen in his suffering on behalf of the Corinthians. in fact “emissaries of Satan” disguise themselves Seifrid demonstrates that Paul’s theology of mission is a as “emissaries of righteousness” (11:15). Outward theology of the cross in contrast to those who would lay

66

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

appearances, which are the basis of human judgment are always deceptive (cf. 5:12). God’s work in Christ overturns all such false estimations. Those who seem to be apostles are not. The one who seems not to be an apostle is the true apostle sent to the Corinthians.

The glory of the mission of righteousness, although it is transcendent, presently remains hidden (158).

Seifrid’s provides a robust treatment of justification in his commentary on 5:18–21, over and against the alternatives suggested by the so-called New Perspective on Paul.

Apostolic authority rests entirely on the word of reconciliation.

This apostolic mission is rooted in God’s mercy (1 Cor. 4:1). This mercy “provides ‘the space’ in which Paul exercises his calling as an apostle.’ Mercy cannot be attained by discipline, strength, virtue, or works” (191). This mercy separates Paul from “missionaries” who are peddlers of God’s Word enabling him to speak the truth of the crucified Jesus. God’s mercy in Christ enlivens hope so Seifrid notes that “The essence of apostolic ministry is speaking in faith, doing so out of situations that contain no earthly hope” (205).

Pastors who teach and preach on stewardship or “on funding the mission” will be well-served by Seifrid’s exposition of 8:1–9:15 as “The Collection as the Confession of the Gospel” (316–367). Here again we see the imprint of Oswald Bayer’s thinking on Seifrid’s understanding the theology (and ethics) of gift. The offering, Seifrid asserts is a way of sharing in “the koinonia of the mission” (323).

This section should be read in light of Seifrid’s illuminating discussion of koinonia in his commentary on 13:11–14 (cf. 499–500).

Mark Seifrid has provided us with an excellent commentary on Second Corinthians demonstrating how the apostle engages Witness, Mercy and Life Together. All three are evidenced in Second Corinthians, and Seifrid is a sure-footed guide to exploring their meaning and implication for the Church’s mission.

The Rev. John T. Pless is assistant professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions and director of Field Education at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

67

“The worst fault in modern preaching, my dear friends, is

Book Review

this, that the sermons lack point and purpose; and this fault can

A Lutheran Primer for Preaching: A Theological and Practical Approach to Sermon Writing by Edward O. Grimenstein. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2015.

be noticed particularly in the sermons of modern preachers who are believers.” — C. F. W. Walther, The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel.

by Albert B. Collver

P

reaching is both the primary activity that begins with a theology of the Word of God and how the defines the work of the ministers of the Gospel Lord’s Word is creative and life-giving. The Lord’s Word and one of the most difficult tasks to master. is something that has the power to do what it says. The Preaching goes beyond oratory skills and public speaking, Lord’s Word is more than symbolic or representational. requiring a proper distinction between the Law and the After all, the Lord spoke and creation came into existence.

Gospel to expound and unlock the Scriptures for the Likewise, when the Lord speaks forgiveness, sins are forhearers properly. A frequent observation on the mission given. This discussion is reminiscent of Martin Luther’s field is how poor the preaching can be. Of course, poor discussion of action-words that do what they say, “So his preaching is not limited to the mission field, but the word surely is not merely a word of imitation, but a word challenges of mission work can exacerbate the problem. of power which accomplishes what it expresses, Psalm The transmission of the skills necessary for preaching 33[:9], ‘He spoke, and it came to be,’ especially because and the fact that missionaries frequently are not experts it was first spoken here, and was meant to be an actionword.”1 in the field of homiletics contribute An intriguing insight from to the challenges new mission starts A Lutheran Primer Grimenstein was that the speaking of and new churches face in the training for Preaching is the the serpent in the Garden of Eden was of pastors to preach to indigenous churches. Another challenge is that an act of rebellion. He writes: first confessional indigenous churches rarely see good Lutheran model and The serpent’s first and greatest preaching modeled. The preaching sacrilege against his Creator, aside book produced in a that they see and perceive as effective from open rebellion, was deciding to generation. is modeled for them by TV evangelists take for himself what belongs alone to and practitioners of prosperity gospel God. This included not only wanting preaching. With these challenges in mind and a lack honor and glory for himself, but also choosing to of short and simple resources, the Rev. Dr. Edward corrupt for his own use the other great action of God: Grimenstein wrote A Lutheran Primer for Preaching with speaking. The very fact that the serpent was speaking the mission field particularly in mind. Although the was an act of rebellion. He took what was reserved book was composed with the mission field in mind, its for God, namely the creative act via speech, and application is not limited solely there. corrupted that for his own personal usage and gain.2 The book has 14 short chapters, each between 6 and 10 All of creation came into being by the Word of God. pages long. The last two pages of each chapter have ques- All of creation fell through the speaking of God’s Word tions for in-class activities or group discussion as well as in a corrupted way. Preaching brings life when it delivout-of-class activities and assignments. These are helpful ers the Word of God. Likewise, preaching can bring death both for the instructor as well as the class. The first seven chapters could be categorized as the theology of preach- 1 Martin Luther. “Confession Concerning Christ’s Supper” in Luther’s ing, while chapters 7–14 bring in the practical aspects of Works, American Edition, vol. 37. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1961), 181. preaching. The section of on the theology of preaching 2

68

Grimenstein, Kindle location 19.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

when the Word of God is distorted or replaced with the Page 1 — Law in the text; Page 2 — Law in our lives; Page doctrine of men. The section on the theology of preach- 3 — The Gospel in Christ; Page 4 — Gospel in the text; ing concludes with a chapter about the proper distinction Page 5 — Gospel in our world. From these “Five Pages,” between Law and Gospel. the sermon itself is to be written. The “Five Pages” model The “practical” section of the book discusses preaching is a helpful tool for the preacher that causes the preacher the Bible and how the sermon should begin and end with to construct his sermon using the distinction between the Scripture. After all, the sermon really should be noth- Law and Gospel. Considering how scarce Law and Gospel ing other than a delivery or exposition of the Scripture for preaching can be on the mission field, the “Five Pages” the hearers. This is not to say different styles of preaching model can be of great service for teaching preaching at cannot be employed, nor does the author suggest that the indigenous seminaries. sermon should be a lectio continua, verse by verse comChapter 14 discusses sermon delivery. Grimenstein mentary of the Scriptures. Rather, the sermon should notes that the goal of the book is to help in sermon be a preaching of the Bible for hearers today. One chap- preparation. The most important task for the preacher ter discusses how to prepare a sermon, where the author is to have prepared his sermon. The sermon itself can compares extemporaneous preaching to detailed note or be written out as a manuscript, prepared as an outline manuscript preaching. Grimenstein or even memorized based on sermon wrote that during the preparing of the preparation work. The sermon should Not since Richard sermon the preacher must remember bring people “to meet Jesus Christ Caemmerer has who he is: Himself in His Word.”4 The Gospel a Missouri Synod If that preacher fails to understand is “for you,” and the Gospel should that through the speaking of the predominate in a concrete, not an homiletician offered Word, God makes promises to us abstract, way. The book’s appendix a theological and and that through Christ we can contains sermon preparation practical approach trust and believe those promises worksheets to help the preacher to Law and Gospel not merely as intellectual fact but as construct his sermon. preaching that is matters of faith, then he will never A Lutheran Primer on Preaching is preach the type of spoken Word that the first confessional Lutheran model both textual and God has demanded His preachers and book produced in a generation.

Christological. to speak.3 Not since Richard Caemmerer has a Missouri Synod homiletician offered Indeed, it is an important point to remember that a theological and practical approach to Law and Gospel preaching delivers the Christian faith.

Chapters 11–13 present a sermon preparation preaching that is both textual and Christological. This worksheet along with a sermon preparation model called book is recommended for homiletics teachers and stu“Five Pages.” The worksheets help the preacher identify dents particularly in the mission field, yet it has value texts, keeping God as the actor of the sermon, focusing for any preacher wanting to refresh himself on the basics on Jesus as Redeemer and reminding the preacher that it of preaching. The book also could serve as a good Bible is the Holy Spirit who brings belief and creates faith. The study to help a congregation understand the goal and second worksheet helps the preacher develop one theme purpose of preaching. for a sermon that is a declarative statement that shapes the entire sermon. Drawing from the two sermon preparation worksheets, the preacher is encouraged to use the “Five Pages” model. The “Five Pages” are not necessarily a fivepage sermon, although in some cases it could become that. The “Five Pages” are the five parts or themes of a sermon that could be expanded or used as notes for preaching. The “Five Pages” are broken down as follows: 3

Grimenstein, Kindle location 1006.

The Rev. Dr. Albert Collver III is the LCMS director of Church Relations, assistant to President Matthew C. Harrison and executive secretary of the International Lutheran Council.

4

Grimenstein, Kindle location 1658.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

69