I haven’t been a Lutheran long enough to be able to make the statement you have. I will say that failure usually occurs not because of polity as much as it does due to minor in fractions or twisting of the rules, or violation of the spirit of the rule, the greatest cause of failure of any policy is a lack of regular accountability. In my estimation, even the highest levels of the Church leadership should be accountable to a Laymans board of review! Accountability with finances, accountability with policy, accountability for long-term planning and succession, just the name a few! Leadership becoming insular creates most of the problems