I'm not kidding. And you didn't answer the question. I'm not asking you to rank denominations from more- to less- liberal.
My claim was: Like the PCUSA, the RCA is at the liberal end of the spectrum. Like the PCUSA, it contrasts with smaller, more conservative, denominations at the other end.
I stand by that claim.
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
In 1965, the LCMS had 2,692,889 members. In 2012, the membership was 2,163,698, a decline of 20 percent.
Source: FactChecker: Are All Christian Denominations in Decline?
Pure speculation on my part, no research behind this thought, but I would venture to guess a sizable portion of the decline for LCMS had to do with conservative Lutherans leaving due to liberalizing going on in from the inside of upper management. Just a hunch tho.
LCMS and liberal are two words I don't often see going together. Frankly I would be dubious of that narrative. LCMS are an inwardly focused church, and their version of Lutheranism has a higher barrier to entry, I think that would explain the decline better than the bogieman of liberalism.
The LCMS's big weakness if anything, is their turn to fundamentalism. Fundamentalist Bible churches grow on trees, and if you gravitate towards biblical inerrancy as the sine qua none, as the LCMS has for decades, then there's not much reason to be in the LCMS aside from German-American heritage. Jaroslav Pelikan was right when he said that the LCMS had become too much like baptists, one reason among many he left the church.
After reading your post I realized LCMS is the conservative branch of Lutheranism. Thank you for the correction, and you're probably right, liberal Lutherans leaving LCMS for the liberal mainstream Lutheran sect is more likely the situation.
I think you should take a look into the Episcopal Church USA, one of the most traditional in terms of worship style with one of the most liberal theologies out there today.
It's not really just conservative-vs-liberal like the differences between PCA and PC-USA. There are also differences that have nothing to do with the responses to contemporary culture.
The general trend is for both churches to be losing people due to the growth of "religious nones", specifically problems retaining young people, especially after confirmation. And also because of uncertainties about mission in a post-Christian world. As Hedrick has pointed out in the past, all the traditional Protestant churches have had trouble articulating why involvement in a church is important in the modern world.
A few rogues aside, the preponderance of TEC is traditional both in worship and theology. Perhaps you confuse social issues with theology? True, we tend to run socially liberal on the national church level, but I think you'll find our theology very traditional. Oh, and my own parish has grown each of the last three years in members, pledges, and giving.
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