By Paula Schlueter Ross

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod started 84 congregations in 2002 — a "dramatic" increase over the average of 52 per year during the past decade, according to Dr. Robert Scudieri, associate executive director for North America with LCMS World Mission.

Scudieri, who, along with dozens of other Synod mission leaders, has been working — and praying — for a church-planting movement to take root, calls the 84 new missions "an answer to prayer" and "a turning point in the Synod — it's dramatic."

Even though the number of new church plants is up, it still falls short of the 180 needed each year for the Missouri Synod to grow, according to Scudieri.

But it's a start, he says, and certainly good news.

"Our prayers, our fasting, our work has been blessed by God," Scudieri said in a recent e-mail to the Synod's North America mission leaders.

It's not unusual that most of those new starts were among non-white, non-English-speaking groups — only 21 were among white "Anglos" — a trend that began some five years ago, he said.

What is unusual is that, for the first time, a single non-white group represents the largest number of new missions. In the past year, 23 Asian missions were started, along with 20 Hispanic and a handful of African American, African immigrant, Arabic and "Caribbean" churches. The "Asian" figure includes Asian Indian, Chinese, Hmong and Korean communities.

The Texas District reported the largest number of mission starts — 11 — and 10 of them are among non-Anglo groups. The story's the same in the Southeastern District, where eight of the nine missions are described as African immigrant, Asian or multi-cultural.

"The greatest mission opportunities that God has given the congregations in North America are opportunities among new immigrant groups," says Scudieri. "And the LCMS ought to know how to [reach them] because we were born out of an immigrant movement — God has prepared us for this time."

The best way to start a mission is at the "local, congregational level," according to Scudieri, and he attributes the growth of the Synod's mission starts to several factors, including prayer and the fact that LCMS congregations are "under the influence of the spirit of Jesus" and are, by their very nature, "missional — the Gospel impels people to share the Good News."

The Synod's "Pentecost 2000" and "Pentecost 2000+" emphases also have "built awareness of cross-cultural ministries" among congregations and their members, he said. And the Center for U.S. Missions, located on the campus of Concordia University, Irvine, Calif., has trained dozens of congregational representatives at its church-planting seminars.

Although the Synod's North America mission numbers are up, Lutheran churches are still 96 percent white — the "most white" of 21 U.S. religious groups according to a 2001 survey by the Graduate Center of City University, New York. (All U.S. Lutheran denominations were lumped together for the survey.)

That means Lutheran congregations have a long way to go, and need to keep taking the Gospel to others — and praying, says Scudieri.

"Heaven is not going to be a room full of white people," he said. "God wants all people there."

 

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