Declining membership

An interesting aricle at One News Now. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's decision of August 2009 to ordain non-celibate homosexuals and bless homosexual marriages has not yielded the fruits the leadership was hoping for. Membership is shrinking; not growing.

Key quote:

[Mark] Tooley, whose organization monitors mainline denominations in the U.S., contends there is a direct connection between membership loss and a denomination's position on same-sex "marriage."

"[That amounts to] direct rejection of biblical and historic Christian teachings," he explains. "And so theologically orthodox church members and theologically orthodox congregations have a hard time ignoring that new stance in the same way that they ignored for many decades a whole host of liberal political positions by their church hierarchy."

For many Lutherans, the ELCA's decisions about homosexuality was the final straw that broke the camel's back. But by no means was it the only one. The rejection of the Gospel in favor of radical secular politics has been causing the ELCA to hemorrhage members for years. The North American Lutheran Church (NALC) is an effort to give a home for faithful Lutherans who have been displaced by the ELCA's actions.

This is a terrible thing that the ELCA's leadership has done. All Christians should pray for the repentance of the ELCA and for it's return to the true Church.

And repentance is always possible. Even now there is still time to turn back. Please pray with me for a renewal of the Spirit with in the ELCA.