What's Wrong With The ELCA

The ELCA will continue to face many challenges as it moves through the new decade. Most of these challenges are quite negative, like the decline number in the membership, the small number of minorities, and many others. For example, there are too many seminaries for our current need. The ELCA needs to do what the AMA does with medical school applicants. There needs to be an artificial cap in the entrance of students to the office of Word and Sacrament; this cap must be much lower. At least, four of the seminaries need to be closed or at least combined into one. More money needs to be spent on national campaign to present the ELCA to the general public. The cost of training pastor is too high for students so more money needs to allocated to support seminarians. The cost also needs to be shared by all the churches in the ELCA. All churches must be responsible to the cost of seminarian training. Also, all churches, particularly very large one, must be more involved on the first-call process. They also needs to provide internship opportunities so as to train for growth. Some form of guarantee job for first-call must be available like the United Methodist does for their first-call candidates. More funds and training are needed in the development of leaders. Less administrative bishops and more bishops doing evangelism. Bishops must be the first person doing and showing how evangelism is done. Too many bishops are merely the administrative and speaker type. Also, not being 10% in the minority representation is simply not acceptable. The ELCA is about 97% white, which is absolutely unacceptable for being the second or third largest mainline church. We are so white that White Supremacist should be proud of us. And the number is even worse when it comes to minorities in leadership position at the local parish level. Honestly, it is time to wake up. The ELCA needs to change. But these changes can't be merely vocal or promises to change, but it must be blunt and decisive changes. We must force and push these changes. It is simply unacceptable that some of the largest church in the ELCA has no minority leaders. We can't attract by not having some representation in our leadership team, particularly in the office of Word and Sacrament. Now is the time to change.