The Nihil Rule

  Much like our Lutheran grade schools , our ECM's are overrun with heterodox, heathen and demon-worshippers, outnumbering our children three to one. Recall from that discussion: there were five different reasons for inviting the heathen and heterodox, and four of them revolved around money. The fifth was evangelism. As it turns out while our ECM's might have a higher per-student return on adult confirmation than our grade schools, it accounts for less than ten percent of adult conversions. The futility of ECM's as a mission strategy is borne out in Plot KK: When the distribution is so skewed that 5% of your ECM's account for nearly 50% of your conversion output, this would seem to indicate that the ECM conversions are not due to strategy but are due to a different environmental factor, and that the placement of the ECM was coincidental. Perhaps studying the environment they operate in would be worthwhile to expose a common thread. As I explained in an article relating

Berthold von Schenk “We have preached a Cross without a dare, a Cross without a sacrifice, an empty Cross, for it is the least disturbing. And what happened because of this sickly sentimental verbiage which has gone under the name of Lenten preaching? This is what has happened: to satisfy the masses, to satisfy those whose highest expression of Christian service is to run a card party, we have lost men and women who were groping for faith. Something more has happened. We have lost our young men and our young women, because we have taken the dare out of religion, the romance, the adventure, the attack, the sacrifice. We have taken the one thing which makes for Christian manhood: Sacrifice and struggle, and have substituted rites and popular preaching which, at best, can satisfy only the typical church worker of middle age. Our young people will not have that kind of religion at any price, because they know it is not true. It is less than life, for life is intense, thrilling, challenging

Continuing our examination of the WELS 2023 statistical report, Rev. Jon Hein enumerates four categories of students using secular categories.  I have kindly fixed his list and placed them into Biblical categories of heathen, heterodox and demon-worshippers. It's not very winsome, but it is biblical... So why do we admit heterodox, heathen and demon-worshippers? ...it's all about the Bemjamins, what?... WELS enrollments continue to decline, and as of 2023 we have more heterodox, heathen and demon-worshippers in our WELS schools than we have WELS/ELS students. 2023 was a tipping point: WELS/ELS students are now a minority at their own educational institutions.  Hein pays brief lip-service to the Wauwatosa theologians in a footnote "Prof. John Schaller, in a paper titled The Need of Christian Education by Means of Parochial Schools, shared his belief that Lutheran parochial schools were simply a tool to aid parents in discipling their children. “We are at once confronted b

[  Leaders' Guide  |  Video 1  |  Video 2  |  Video 3  |  Video 4  |  Video 5  ] for the love of God, make it stop! Seriously, you guys, I thought I was done with this thing. But apparently feedback has made its way to synod because there is now revised verbiage on the landing page and an edited leader's guide. In addition, there is a brief summary of the COP statement on sexuality.  The videos are unedited as of this writing; so, any massaging of the landing page and leaders' guide is just to try and assuage the reader. The substance of this Bible study has not changed . Every criticism levied at the five videos remains in play. Revised Landing Page Let's take a closer look at the five "Approach" bullets. An Honest Conversation is a glimpse into a conversation that is not happening, but should be happening with our youth. It’s not meant to be the final word, nor the only word, but to prompt further dialogue on this matter. These conversations are happening, t

    [ Leaders' Guide | Video 1 | Video 2 | Video 3 | Video 4 | Video 5 ] We complete the series with Video Five , which kicks off with a discussion on choosing "choosing a lifestyle over Jesus... because they felt like they had to choose." Yes, if you want to live a lifestyle that is condemned by the Bible then yes, you have to choose. Am I going to deny myself and reject a LGBTQ+ lifestyle, or am I going to deny my Savior? This is a 1 Corinthians 10 thing - you can't commune with the Lord and with demons, you have to choose. Now certainly (as I've reiterated several times) one can struggle with an LGBTQ+ desire, but in struggling with that desire you are denying yourself and following Christ.  There is a common thread about singleness laced throughout the video. First, we have the same young lady quoted above reminding us that "relationships aren't a thing in heaven" so apparently, they shouldn't be a big deal here on earth - except, of co