One only need compare the recent actions of two LCMS Districts, South Wisconsin and Michigan for example, to see that the LCMS is moving in two opposite directions and confessions. It appears that the only solution will be the division of the Synod.

The South Wisconsin District endorsed 6 theses on traditional worship that may be the finest theses on worship since the Reformation. At the same time, the Michigan District "committed" itself to a revolutionary 8 Core Values that signal the abandonment of Lutheranism.

To exacerbate the problem, neither of the LCMS Seminaries endorses any particular polity for LCMS congregations, thus divorcing themselves from the concept or existence of the Synod that created them. They are sending out a generation of theologically trained pastors, not committed to the Synod Walther founded.

One faction seeks to preserve the teaching and the practice of the Lutheran Reformation in its worship and the other encourages a fundamentalist, non-denominational, Reformed brand of "consumer driven religion."

The South Wisconsin District endorses worship, first as God's service to us with Word and Sacrament, followed by our worship response. They confess that the primary purpose of worship is repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

They reject the concept of worship as a human invention, which makes it a marketing tool used to manipulate the emotions and attitudes of the worshipers. They promote the use of Creeds, Luther's Small Catechism and traditional liturgy and hymnody.

At the other end of the spectrum, no District has made a greater to effort to promote the teaching and practice of the Church Growth Movement than Michigan. Over a period of three days, only one pastor raised any objection to the Michigan Core Values by telling the Convention, "These are not my Core Values."

By majority vote, the Michigan District Convention "committed" itself to the Core Values of "encouragement of culturally relevant congregations," "congregational performance," "process consulting," "healthy congregational systems," and "affinity-based learning clusters." In other words, the standards of "human culture" instead of Law and Gospel will be tested by statistical performance, instead of the Bible, to determine the relevance of a congregation.

The conflict between God-ordained worship and cultural relevance has no middle ground. Either a thing comes from God or, we invented it.

These two districts typify a division going on throughout the Synod. A house divided cannot stand. Either the Synod must tear itself apart or give up its faith in order to preserve earthly unity. At this writing we are expecting the Board for Higher Education's endorsement of Dr. Norbert Oesch's Pastoral Leadership Institute and a formal Synod wide acceptance of Church Growth/Leadership Practice.

In addition to the confusion over what is supposed to happen on Sunday morning, the abandonment of polity by the Synod's District Offices, teachers colleges, and Seminaries is laying the groundwork for the break-up of the LCMS.

The financial glue of the Synod's Foundation, Church Extension Fund, and Pension Funds was recently weakened by the inexplicable loss of 40 million dollars that may soon prove to be 80 million dollars.

The Synod's highly touted conservative investment policies proved to be nothing more than gambling on what amounts to home loan futures. At least two laws suits will make the facts public. The Synod is proving to be as ineffective in managing its Funds as it has become in maintaining doctrinal unity and practice.

A current shortage of new church workers was the inevitable result of declining confidence in the Synod to practice what it preaches.

As depressing as these facts may be, we have the hope of intensifying the polarization of the Synod over theology versus secularism. God will always preserve His elect with or without the LCMS.

The 2001 Convention may not only be the final election of AL Barry but also the last opportunity to preserve the LCMS as it was founded.

The Evangelical Lutheran Synod left in 1955. The Wisconsin Synod left in 1962. The AELC left in the 70's with another 100,000 members. The Synod has shrunk to less than 2,600,000 and lost 18,000 baptized members in 1998. The ELCA has made a public agreement with Rome on Justification and an alliance with the Episcopal Church. The LCMS is going to change again.

Since 1995, this writer has predicted the collapse of the Church Growth Movement by 2005. Church Growth will simply reach market saturation, disillusionment, and abandonment. This will not signal a return to Lutheran orthodoxy but a loss of hundreds of thousands of members who became bored with consumer religion and simply dropped out of Lutheranism they actually never understood.

If congregations are not given an absolute guarantee of Voter Supremacy at the 2001 Convention as the official polity of the LCMS, the laity must inevitably loose control of their church property. This is as certain as the erosion of doctrinal practice and fiscal malfeasance they have already witnessed.

The preservation of the Synod as it was founded is worth preserving, but only as Walther structured it. The lay people are advised to hang on to their Bibles, Catechisms, Hymnbooks, and Church Constitutions.