Say it ain't so! Yes you read that correctly. Today it was announced that Concordia College New York will not reopen in 2021. You can see the article here.
That's three (3) schools in four (4) years that have closed in the LCMS Concordia University system.
Is the ship sinking? Not yet but how is it possible that so many are closing so quickly? There are many factors, but two stand out in my mind at this exact moment. Who founded them? What was the purpose of the Concordia Colleges? Who attended them? I believe all that has been lost upon us. These colleges have lost their (1.) identity and (2.) purpose.
(1.) Our identity is wrapped in who these colleges are. They are part of the Concordia College system, they are LCMS. When our synod began she recognized two things. We have Lutherans and they need to be taught. That was the reality. Our Lutheran families had many children. The average number of children in America per family was between 6-9 up until around 1920, it then dropped off precipitously with a small upswing after WWII, but since 1970ish it's gotten bad. It's ugly now, with the average house hold size being around 2.5 and for those who have children the average is around 1.8 children (I fear what it looks like just among those of European descent).
These of course are averages but it is obvious in our churches. It should be a "no duh" moment especially if you were to look at just one sampling: the size of confirmation classes. How often I hear complaints of why aren't our confirmation classes sizes bigger? Well if you look at class after class it's the same families just kids from different ages! It was families of 6-9 kids who continuously kept these large classes going. And such is not the case any more!
Our synod has not been shy in saying we have dropped the ball in teaching about the joys of family and children. Yes, we have been much more agressive in our LCMS church preaching and teach not just about abortion of which the U.S. just surpassed 62 million (not including the plan B pill which kills countless more children!), but also about the Church hating liberal left push for the use of "birth control," and "family planning" but it will take a full generation to undo such problems. We have finally begun much to our shame to recognize that this is not just a private decision but that the Church has a voice in this, but it will take another decade at best to see our children start to have many children again and that's if they don't give into the pressure of the culture to have few children or simply to fall away altogether.
So when our synod was in her "heyday" with so many children we recognized the need for higher education schools to continue to train our children up in the way of the Lord after they finished in our parochial schools. This was one of the fundamental parts of the LCMS was to raise up our children in Lutheran Schools. We have dropped the ball. First we stopped hearing the admonitions of the Lord. Be fruitful and multiply and remain faithful until death. The members of the LCMS used to be highly educated in Scripture and the Confessions of this there is no doubt because the Laity are credited with saving our synod during the time of the Walk Out, (that's another story), but not so much any more.
It is difficult to get people to want to belong, to study, to dig. Too many have embraced the ecumenical movement. It's easier to find the lowest common denominator, setting the bar so low, that as long as someone says I believe in Jesus well we must all be Christian. The point of our Concordia System was to help students dig. But this superficiality towards Lutheranism was made clear to me when I was going to one of our Concordia Colleges and only one other student joined with me to say, for example, women's ordination was against the Word of God during a seminar for teachers preparing to go out for their student teaching.
(2.) Which brings me to my other point, The Concordia Colleges were developed for the purpose of preparing students to be teachers and pastors in our LCMS churches. If one were to look at the closing of these now three Concordia's you will notice a significant problem. In 2019 (I couldn't find my 2020 state of the union information on the Concordias) There were 28,483 full time students. Now if you were to suppose that the primary goal of these schools is to teach students to prepare for full-time church work (Pastor, Teacher, Musician, Deaconess, DCE and others) how many of these students would you expect to be for this purpose? Hopefully the vast majority.
But (you knew there was "but" right?) such is not the case. We have three big problems. The first is shocking, only 3,409 identified as LCMS (and likely many fewer actually believe LCMS doctrine and practice), the second is the obvious and scary statistic, only 1,047 were preparing for Church work vocations (which was down 300 from the previous year! Only 42 students from the 2018-19 class graduated from one of our Concordias) And finally the staff is the last big problem. A couple years ago our Wyoming District requested to know from all the Concordia Colleges and Universities how many full-time staff are LCMS, only one responded to our official request and that was Concordia Chicago. (Their report was not good, which they admit, and their current President is seeking to remedy that problem.) Our Colleges are not being taught by members of the LCMS and that is a problem.
So I want to point out the obvious problem. Of the three schools that have closed, Selma had zero (0) students going for any type of church work when it closed. Last year, Portland reported five (5) students and New York reported thirteen (13).
The identity of these colleges were lost. Of some 6,800 students studying at these three school, 18 were there for Church work vocations, only 175 "identified" as LCMS.
There are other factors at large here but the purpose of these schools has been forsaken, it was to raise up children in the way they should go. Our Concordia's have forgotten their way. Our Colleges need to be for Lutheran students to raise in the Lutheran faith.
Is it time to abandon ship? No. Definitely not. Is the ship listing? Yes and we need to admit it. It is time to fix the holes. It is time to get back on track. Developing new majors and programs is not the key. Developing new gimmicks does not fix the problem (Hey Concordia Nebraska--a farming major does not help!). Hiring recruitment agencies definitely doesn't fix the problem (See Concordia Portland for that debacle.) We need to be experts at our field, and that is preaching and teaching. Being diverse is a complete problem (see all the Concordia's flirting with this sin.)
Let's get real LCMS. If we want to fix this problem, it begins in our churches amongst the people of God. It is time for the priesthood of all believers embrace its most fundamental God-given responsibility: being an active part of the church and then having children and raising them up in the pure Word of God and giving them the means of grace. This is done through regular attendance (defined as rarely missing, not half time church attenders!) Dear parents, when you choose to take your children to sports or clubs activities or you choose work as more important than being in Church and hearing the Word of God, you can bet that will filter down. It is time to make your holy family, the church, the most important. It is time to be in the Word of God with fellow believers more than just one or two hours on a Sunday. Ask your pastor to study the Bible with you and a group of others during the week! Because when your house is in order, than the Word of God easily goes out to others.
All is not lost. Here's the good news, we still have the pure Word of God. We still have the privilege to hear it preached with little fear of persecution. We are also a rich nation which plentiful resources to help get this word out. Now is the time, support and encourage your pastors not to be gimmicky but to rely on the Word, trust this Word to do its work.
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