ASHLAND THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY DISCOVERY PROJECT OF HOW LUTHERAN CHURCHES EFFECTIVELY FOSTER A SENSE OF CHURCH BELONGING AMONG MILLENNIALS A PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ASHLAND THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY ASHLAND THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY RUSSEL THOMAS YOAK ASHLAND, OHIO MARCH 9, 2021 Copywrite © 2021, Russel Thomas Yoak All rights reserved. To my wife Kristie who has always supported all my dreams APPROVAL PAGE Accepted by the faculty and the final demonstration examining committee of Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Ministry degree. ________________________________________ ____________ Academic Advisor Date ________________________________________ ____________ Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program Date ABSTRACT The purpose of this discovery project was to determine how to best foster a sense of belonging among Lutheran Millennials. This was accomplished through the application of a survey to a cross section of Lutheran Millennials including ELCA, NALC, LCMC, LCMS, and non-affiliated Lutheran Millennials. In doing so it was discovered that Millennials desire to be invited to participate in church via deep interpersonal connection and direct interaction. This participation includes a strong emphasis on engaging the contemporary culture. However, two distinct population that share millennial characteristics and thought processes were discovered with opposing perspectives on engagement. CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES . .. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. ix Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION AND FOUNDATIONS . 1 2. BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL, AND HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS . 23 3. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . .. 67 4. DESIGN, PROCEDURE, AND ASSESSMENT . .107 5. REPORTING THE RESULTS . 121 6. SUMMARY AND REFLECTIONS . .145 Appendix 1. PROPOSAL. .172 2. ASSESSMENT TOOL. ..190 3. PERMISSION PAGE AND COVER LETTER . .195 REFERENCES. 198 vi TABLES Table Page 1. Table 1. Goal #4- To discover millennials’ attitudes toward belonging outside of congregational membership.. 121 2. Table 1a. Goal #4 Belonging Outside of Church . 122 3. Table 2. Goal #7- To discover how open the participants are to ongoing discipleship training. .123 4. Table 2a. Goal #7 Classes, Retreats, and Trainings.. 124 5. Table 3. Goal #5- To discover millennials’ attitude toward belonging as it pertains to Lutheran identity. .. .125 6. Table 3a. Goal #5 Lutheran Self-Identification. 126 7. Table 4. Goal #9- To discover what would motivate millennial Lutherans to engage in deepening commitment to a congregation. 127 8. Table 4a. Goal #9 Motivation. .128 9. Table 5. Goal #1- To discover how millennials value the concept of belonging. .. 129 10. Table 5a. Goal #1 Motivation. .131 11. Table 6. Goal #2- To discover millennials’ attitudes toward traditional congregational membership. 132 12. Table 6a. Goal #2 Traditional Membership. 134 vii 13. Table 7. Goal #8- To discover what methods for building a sense of belonging the participants would be most open to . .. 134 14. Table 7a. Goal #2 Congregations Building Belonging. .136 15. Table 8. Goal #6- To discover how millennials perceive how traditional catechism classes affected individual’s long-term sense of belonging . 138 16. Table 8a. Goal #2 Catechism. .139 17. Table 9. Goal #3- To discover millennials’ attitudes toward informal congregational membership.. 140 18. Table 9a. Goal #3 Informal Membership. 142 viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This paper has been made possible by the generosity of the kind people in my life. I would like to thank the following: To my wife and children who have nurtured and supported me. To all the campus ministry groups, youth groups, campus ministry administrators, youth pastors, and camp administrators who made the survey possible in the midst of COVID-19. To the faculty at the ATS, especially Dr. Russell Morton and Dr. Jeffery Stevenson. Your guidance was instrumental in writing this paper. Thank you sticking with me through this long process. To JoAnne Shade for all your directions and corrections. To Dr. Matt Bevere whose words of advice have rung in my ears the whole trip. To Dr. Dawn Morton who was willing to flex with my journey. To all those who have taken the survey, online and in person. To my congregation who have been willing to allow me whatever time I need to do this, in particular council president Mark McKown. To Doug Pretorious for copious amounts of reading. Finally, and most importantly to my God and Savior, whose kingdom I work for in all that I do. ix CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION AND PROJECT OVERVIEW When I was eighteen years old, I did something I had always wanted to do: I spoke at my church’s annual meeting. While this may not be a highly sought-after experience, there was a problem being considered by church leadership that I felt passionately about. I was certain that my voice was the only one that could properly speak to it. The issue at hand was whether or not to install air conditioning in the sanctuary. While the topic I was interested in barely touched on the issue of air conditioning I took the opportunity to speak in order to segue to my concern none the less. I remember rising to speak in opposition to the issue, not because I was opposed to air conditioning, but because I felt that there was a bigger issue at hand that needed our attention. I remember the tension, the nervousness, the passion, and mostly the sense of urgency I felt. Thirty three years later I can recall the exact words I said: “If we continue to focus on our building, our organ, and our ‘stuff’ instead of the fact that we are absolutely failing to address the problem of my generation leaving the faith, we will only have a museum of church equipment in twenty years, but no church.” I also remember getting a lot of sympathetic nods…and a new air conditioning system. Five years later I went to seminary with one goal: to figure out how to stem the flow of my generation who are leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (hereafter referred to as the ELCA). Over the last twenty-three years I have started college campus ministries, served as president of the synodical 1 youth ministries, sat on college campus ministry boards, helped create the Emerging Leaders Network in the ELCA, worked for the national body of the ELCA as a mission re-developer in charge of restarting dead congregations, became a certified Natural Church Development coach, and worked as a church planter for the ELCA tasked with starting young adult congregations. Almost every step of my life since that one congregational meeting in 1987 has been pointed at the same goals: to understand why young people have left the church and to stem the tide of their exodus. The journey culminated this year when, after finishing my long research and study, I reached the shocking conclusion that I no longer belonged in the denomination that gave birth to my faith. I no longer belonged in the denomination I had grown up in, the denomination I was ordained into two decades ago, the denomination I had labored for all those years. As a direct result of my conclusions, in March of 2020 my congregation and I left the ELCA to join another denomination. Even for our congregation, which includes fewer millennials than elderly, the issue of belonging was paramount. After all this time and thought, all my labors boiled down to a single word: belonging. Purpose Statement and Research Question The purpose of this project was to discover the effective foundations of the sense of Christian belonging amongst millennial participants in the Lutheran church. The research question was: “what are the effective foundations of a sense of Christian belonging amongst millennial participants in the Lutheran church?” 2 Overview The focus of this discovery project was to assess what the effective foundations of a sense of Christian belonging are among millennial participants which they use to form their Christian identity. The plan had been to use a survey utilizing both an online as well as in-person assessment tool to discover, over a period of six months, the elements that form a millennial’s sense of belonging in the Lutheran church which help individuals form their sense of Christian identity. This plan had to be modified significantly due to environmental issues which inhibited in-person contact. Instead, the data had to be compiled using an online tool which was distributed around the ELCA, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (hereafter referred to as the LCMC), Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (hereafter referred to as the LCMS), and North American Lutheran Church (hereafter referred to as the NALC). These on-line responses were supplemented by two in-person interview sessions with groups. The Lutheran tradition in America is struggling with many factors that affect its success with millennials. The historic means by which Lutherans build a Christian identity has been intentional catechesis, which is to say, formal religious instruction. This intentional catechesis paired with membership and cultural identity no longer are sufficient to build a sense of identity for young Lutherans. The data from this assessment points to a need to reconfigure the focus of young adult-oriented disciple making. 3 Foundations I began at my current congregation in Shelby, Ohio on January 3rd, 2011. In the nine and a half years that I have been pastor at this church, I have performed sixteen baptisms, nine weddings, welcomed seventeen new adult members, and confirmed thirty-nine teens who have completed the catechesis process. I have also performed one hundred and eighty-nine funerals. During the period that I have been writing this chapter I have had to modify that number up three times as a result of additional deaths. In one year alone, I performed forty- two funerals.