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3-Step Plan Article #7 the Full Plan !1 of !71 File Name: "3-Step Plan Article #7 The Full 3-Step Plan"' PART ONE, 22 pages. PART TWO, 49 pages. AN ANCIENT TRIED AND TESTED THREE-STEP PLAN FOR INCREASING THE SPIRITUAL (INWARD) AND NUMERICAL (OUTWARD) GROWTH OF LUTHERAN CONGREGATIONS BY PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL VERBALLY AND NONVERBALLY 24 HOURS A DAY Most evangelism programs do not work, and as a result many Christians feel guilty for not having personally witnessed to more people. This plan is an ancient plan because it was used by Israel of old and by the Christian Church from the day of its inception, and works because it communicates Law and Gospel nonverbally as well as verbally, and does it 24 hours a day year around. Face to face witness is not required, but the Plan enables even small children to do it easily and naturally. There are two parts to the Plan PART ONE is a description of the Three-Steps of the Plan, written by Philip James Secker. 22 pages. PART TWO is a monograph written by Arthur Carl Piepkorn about the architectural requirements of Lutheran worship, and edited by Philip James Secker. 49 pages. The page and footnote numbers run consecutively through both of Parts without starting over so the user can computer search the entire document and easily move from PART ONE to PART TWO and back. Copyright © 2019 by Philip James Secker, but may be reproduced as long as it is reproduced in its entirety except for the quiz and its answers. TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY !2 of !71 PART ONE An Ancient Tried and Tested Three-Step Plan for Increasing the Spiritual (Inward) and Numerical (Outward) Growth of Lutheran Congregations by Proclaiming the Gospel Verbally and Nonverbally 24 Hours a Day Year Around By Philip James Secker, ThD (1937–) PART TWO The Architectural Requirements Of the Lutheran Cultus1 For architects and their staffs, parish building programs, vestries, altar guilds, musicians, elders, and pastors. By Arthur Carl Piepkorn, (1907-1973+) 1962 1"Cultus" refers to external ceremonies, observances and traditions neither commanded nor forbidden by God. Often called adiaphora. For a detailed definition, see footnote 29.## !3 of !71 Edited by Philip James Secker, ThD (1937–) Copyright information is on the next page. Arthur Carl Piepkorn's 1962 monograph The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus bears no copyright and lacks the subtitle above. I added the one you see because it describes its uses. This edition of the monograph is Copyright © 2018, Philip James Secker, but may be reproduced as long as it is reproduced in its entirety, including the cover page, the Editor's Introduction, the Index and the Bibliography. The quiz and Piepkorn’s answers may be omitted or reproduced separately. Philip James Secker was the last student to receive the a Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) degree — the same one Blessed Martin Luther had — under Arthur Carl Piepkorn, and is the founder and director of the Arthur Carl Piepkorn Center for Evangelical Catholicity, 35 Sherwood Street, Mansfield, CT 06268. www.piepkorn.org CONTENTS "An Ancient Tried and Tested Three-Step Plan for Increasing the Spiritual (Inward) and Numerical (Outward) Growth of Lutheran Congregations by Proclaiming the Gospel Verbally and Nonverbally 24 Hours A Day Year Around." By Philip James Secker Provenance and Credits of The ARLC. By Philip James Secker. The Editor’s Outline of The ARLC. By Philip James Secker. The Architectural Requirements of the Lutheran Cultus.2 (ARLC) By Arthur Carl Piepkorn. INDEX. Compiled by Paul Schulz. A Way to Reduce Post-Confirmation Dropout. By Philip James Secker Note on “Pulpit/Altars.” By Philip James Secker. BIBLIOGRAPHY How Well Do You Know the Architectural Requirements Of Confessional Lutheran Worship? A quiz linked to The ARLC. With the Answers. 2 See footnote 1 for a definition of "cultus." !4 of !71 PART ONE The Tried and Tested Three-Step Plan for Increasing the Spiritual (Inward) and Numerical (Outward) Growth of Lutheran Congregations by Proclaiming the Gospel Verbally and Nonverbally 24 Hours a Day By Philip James Secker (This is at the Plan itself, which was originally completed on St. Titus, Pastor and Confessor Day in A.D. 2018) The Need for a Simple Plan that is Understood and Approved by the Voters In the Epiphany season of A.D. 2018 Christianity is flourishing in China despite increased persecution and renewed efforts to subject religion to the control of the Communist Party, and there are more Lutherans in Kenya than in the United States. At the same time many Christian congregations in the United States are getting older, grayer, and smaller. And an increasing number of them are joining together as dual congregations or closing their doors. Jesus commissioned the apostles to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all" that He had commanded them and promising to be with them in that task. (Matthew 28:19-20) Most Lutheran congregations have evangelism committees, and tracts in the narthex, and pastors who encourage the members of their congregations to witness in person to others about Christ. Some do door to door canvassing, and have evangelism training classes. But many do not have a simple plan for using the Gospel and the Sacraments to help their congregations grow both spiritually and numerically and that is understood and approved by the voters. I emphasize the last six words because, if the voters do not understand and whole-heartedly approve of the plan, they won't support it with their prayers, time, talents and treasures. !5 of !71 A. The Least Religious States in the United States There is undoubtedly no single plan that will work for all congregations in all settings, especially in these difficult times in which our country has become less religious than it was. According to a 2017 article based on a 2014 Pew Research survey "the percentage of adults who are religiously unaffiliated adults grew in every state except for one, and it was the fastest growing ideology in almost every state for which there was data." Fortunately, this trend has slowed down in recent years, but according to that 2014 survey the least religious states, starting with the one that is the least religious, are: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Washington, Alaska, Wisconsin, New York and Colorado. The most religious are: Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia, Oklahoma, and North Carolina. I will never forget what C. Peter Wagner said to a New England District Pastoral Convention that I attended in the late 1970s. Wagner was a professor at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA, and a much-published authority on church growth. After being introduced, Wagner stood at the podium and looked over he hundred or so pastor as if to make eye contact with all of them and then said: "You guys really have it tough here." (http://247wallst.com/special-report/2017/10/26/ americas-most-and-least-religious-states/3/) He then went on to say that church growth is more difficult in New England than in any other part of the country. Historical Note: Arthur Carl Piepkorn's Experience in Full-time Ministry Arthur Carl Piepkorn, who was born in Milwaukee, WI, in 1907, wanted to be a missionary to China when he graduated from Concordia Seminary in Clayton, a suburb of St Louis, in 1928, but he had skipped an elementary grade and eighth grade, and so was too young to be ordained. Therefore his professors encouraged him to get a doctorate. He considered doing it in either New Testament or Old Testament studies and decided on the latter, with a specialty in 6th century B.C. Assyriology, doing most of his course work and dissertation at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. In the fall of 1930 he helped Seminary professor Walther A. Maier begin the Lutheran Hour on KFUO by serving as the program's corresponding secretary, writing hundreds of letters in reply to listeners who sent questions to the program. He had to be ordained for that position so he was ordained into the office of the Holy Ministry on the First Sunday in Advent in 1930 making him "the first person in thirteen generations in any direction" to be ordained. For a while in 1930-31 he was the interim pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in St. Louis. ("About," p. 300) After completing his doctorate and a post-doctoral fellowship that took him to Germany, Iraq, Palestine and Egypt in 1933, the Great Depression was well under way and universities were not hiring specialists in his field, so he listed his "name with the proper authorities for assignment to foreign missions or some domestic appointment." ("About," p. 301) Because of the Depression, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod was not assigning missionaries overseas, so he was assigned to be missionary-at-large in Chisholm, an economically depressed town on the Mesabi Iron Range five miles north of Hibbing, MN. !6 of !71 Chisholm had declined from a population of 8,500 to 6,000 since 1923. Nearly two-thirds of its citizens was composed of "the first and second generation of immigrants from Jugo-Slavia, Czecho-Slovakia, and Italy with the remainder constituted mainly of Finns, with trailing Scandinavian, Irish, French, and German elements." (Ibid.) Grace Lutheran Church in Chisholm had no basement or kitchen or office or plumbing. It was covered with asphalt paper ("tar paper") on the outside, common on buildings and even homes during the Great Depression, and was heated by a wood stove.
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