has Lutheranism failed?

This is the question we're going to answer for.

This is going to be our first episode of 2026.

So we're going to come out with a heater here and ask,

has Lutheranism failed?

The reason we are asking this question is,

I see this question, plus

sort of adjacent issues to it, like Lutheranism is failing or Lutheranism is collapsing.

Basically all the time, there's various videos saying that the future of Lutheranism is

collapse if X, Y, and Z doesn't change.

And so I want to ask you guys this question today and give you a little more to work with what I think people mean by failed.

And then we'll go sort of question by question.

I'll ask a general question and then we'll take turns having each of you

answer it at least for the first couple. So we get a baseline of some definitions that everybody's

working with and then we'll go from there. So my name is Caleb Keith. Today, I'm joined by

Scott Keith, Bruce Hillman, and Adam Francisco for our very first episode of 2026 of the Thank You

You Fellows podcast. All right, guys. So what I think people mean when they say Lutheranism

failed or failing or is going to fail is essentially referencing the general decline of attendance

in Lutheran churches as well as the closure of churches

across the U.S., that there's a declining number of Lutheran churches, and that there's

been a declining number of people who self-identify as Lutheran or going to Lutheran churches on Sunday. This isn't

totally unique in Christianity or in Protestantism in the United States. There's been

...