Totally agree about the need to sample and obtain survey data from a much, much wider net. We need our congregants to get better engaged so that they the data will help the synod guide decision making and priorities. I’ve always said that we need better emphasis on apologetics in that year leading up to confirmation because so many of our confirmands go out into the world and immediately fall away due to poor apologetics preparation against a world that’s been honing their anti-biblical worldview forever, but most potently the last two centuries since an anti-biblical worldview became fashionable and trendy alongside the ascendance of “THE SCIENCE, Registered Trademark”.

Out of my confirmation class in 2000 of 15, maybe 3 of us are still actively members of LCMS. That conversion ratio of long-term membership seems pitiful and is certain to contribute to demographic death spiral.