WELS Church Extension Fund

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Pictured above: In 2022, Living Shepherd, Laramie, Wyo., bought the facility it had been worshiping in for a year with the help of WELS CEF.

WELS Church Extension Fund, Inc.

WELS Church Extension Fund, Inc., (WELS CEF) provides financing through loans and grants to mission congregations so they can acquire land and ministry facilities to be used for gospel outreach in coordination with WELS Home Missions. WELS CEF also provides loans to mission-minded self-supporting WELS congregations and schools for land and facility projects. The money to carry out WELS CEF’s mission comes from investments and gifts from WELS members, congregations, and affiliated organizations.

In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, $24.1 million of new loans and $2.4 million of new grants were approved to mission and mission-minded self-supporting congregations. In addition, WELS CEF provided grants of $1.13 million and $0.5 million to the Board for Home Missions from its annual endowment distribution and its annual unrestricted net asset grant program.

Pictured are members of Good News, Mt. Horeb, Wis at the site of their future church building. As a Home Missions qualified congregation, WELS Church Extension Fund provided $747,914 in land and facility grants to Good News, along with a low-interest loan for the remainder of the cost of the land and construction of its new church.

For more information, visit wels.net/cef.

Northwestern Publishing House

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Northwestern Publishing House (NPH) provides Christ-centered, biblically sound resources to the members of WELS and beyond. NPH publishes Forward in Christ and Meditations: Daily Devotional, elementary and Sunday school curricula, Bible studies, worship materials, music, and faith-strengthening books. In 2022, NPH released more than 725 Christian resources in print and digital formats:

  • Musicians Resource (found online at nph.net) released more than 700 various digital resources that support, enhance, and add variety to congregational singing.
  • Deep as the Sea uses doctrinal expertise to address trauma through a Christian lens.
  • God Loves Nobodies offers gospel-centered hope for average believers in a world that recognizes and praises only the most exceptional people.
  • From Egypt to Sinai is a devotional commentary exploring the relationship between the events recorded in Exodus and the Christian’s daily struggle to trust in God alone.
  • Wauwatosa Theology IV is a comprehensive offering of the literary work of three significant Wisconsin Synod theologians during the first 30 years of the 20th century—J. P. Koehler, August Pieper, and John Schaller.
  • Inashood tells the love story of dedicated Lutheran missionaries and the Apache people on eastern Arizona’s Fort Apache and San Carlos Reservations.

In addition, NPH released Christian Worship: Service Builder a custom-designed software application that allows planners to manage the complexity of worship planning and service folder creation. Christian Worship: Service Builder combines all the best features of a calendar, a word processor, and a database to unify the work of planning and preparing for worship. To learn more, visit christianworship.com/products/service-builder.

NPH continues to increase and grow audiobook offerings. In 2022 NPH released The Narrow Lutheran Middle: Following the Scriptural Road; God Loves Nobodies: Good News for Somebody Like Me; and Who Am I? Understanding Your Identity in Christ Through Facts Not Feelings to audiobook format via audible.com.

Visit nph.net or call 800-662-6022 to learn more about the ministry of NPH.

Financial Services

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Financial Services provides finance and accounting services that support WELS ministries and safeguard the assets that God has provided. These services include financial planning and analysis, financial statement preparation and audit coordination, transaction processing, payroll services, insurance and risk management, cash and investment management, and legal-related services.

“WELS is financially strong,” notes Mr. Kyle Egan, WELS’ chief financial officer, “as God continues to provide the financial gifts needed to grow funding levels, which allows for expanded mission and ministry initiatives.”

Congregation Mission Offerings (CMO) are critical to WELS’ financial position as they fund approximately 70 percent of WELS’ operating budget every year. WELS finished fiscal year 2022 (year ended June 30, 2022) with CMO of $23.1 million, which was $0.5 million higher than the previous year and the first time CMO exceeded $23.0 million. WELS is thankful for the continued generosity of its people in supporting ministry efforts.

Other critical components to WELS’ financial position are strong reserves, including the Financial Stabilization Fund, which is utilized every year to support approximately 30 percent of WELS’ operating budget. The balance of the Financial Stabilization Fund increased during fiscal year 2022 due to higher than planned levels of CMO and overall operating expense underspending. The Financial Stabilization Fund is not an emergency or contingency fund. Rather, it holds all undesignated non-CMO funding sources (gifts, grants, bequests, investment income, and other support) to assist in supporting the annual operating expenses of the synod. WELS is blessed to have this stability in managing the operating budget year to year while allowing for the regular expansion of mission and ministry.

During the summer of 2022, the collaborative process of developing the synod’s ministry financial plan (budget) for the next two fiscal years began among the areas of ministry, ministerial education schools, synod leadership, and the Synodical Council. The ministry financial plan will be finalized at the July 2023 synod convention.

WELS Benefit Plans

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The WELS Benefit Plans Office (BPO) serves WELS and Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) workers and organizations through administration of the WELS Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (VEBA) Health Plan, the WELS Pension Plan, and the WELS Shepherd Plan.

The WELS VEBA Health Plan provides benefits for church and school workers in accordance with God’s Word while remaining compliant with the federal health care reform law. The plan provides comprehensive, nationwide coverage. More than 80 percent of WELS workers and calling bodies participate in WELS VEBA.

Delegates of the 2021 synod convention authorized significant changes to the WELS retirement program. Beginning January 1, 2022, WELS called workers earn retirement benefits through defined contributions made to their accounts in the WELS Shepherd Plan, which is the name of WELS’ retirement savings plan for synod workers. In addition to the defined contributions, workers can save and invest a portion of their earnings in the Shepherd Plan to provide income during their retirement years. The WELS Pension Plan was frozen on December 31, 2021, which means that all Pension benefits earned through the freeze date will be paid to participants but no new Pension benefits can be earned for service performed after the freeze date.

“There are three main advantages to the change,” notes Mr. Joshua Peterman, director of WELS Benefit Plans. “First, workers will receive meaningful contributions for retirement benefits. Second, workers will have more flexibility to provide for their retirement income needs and to share savings with their survivors. Finally, sponsoring organization costs are expected to be more stable over time.”

Coverage and benefits provided through WELS Benefit Plans are uniform throughout all 50 states. This supports the WELS ministry and call process because worker call decisions are not influenced by health insurance and retirement benefit decisions.

Visit welsbpo.net for more information.

WELS Foundation

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Over the last three years, WELS Foundation has been privileged to distribute $37.5 million in donor-directed gifts to various WELS ministries. We praise God for his blessings and are so grateful to God’s people for continuing to support gospel work.

One of the more popular charitable giving plans is the charitable gift annuity. In addition to quarterly income payments for life, the donor can also receive significant tax benefits from the gift. Then when the Lord calls the donor home, the remainder of the gift will be distributed to the ministry or ministries that the donor has chosen.

Pictured are WELS members Carol and Arnie Nommensen, who have set up multiple charitable gift annuities to support the ministries they love. Visit wels.net/charitable-gift-annuity to watch Arnie and Carol’s story and to learn more about charitable gift annuities.

WELS Investment Funds

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Despite the uncertainty of the last year, God continues to bless WELS Investment Funds. We are especially blessed through the WELS ministries that have chosen to invest in the WELS Funds. As of Sept. 30, 2022, WELS Investment Funds managed $250 million in assets for more than 245 WELS ministries.

Grace, Yorba Linda, Calif., is an example of how a congregation can use the services of WELS Investment Funds. After the congregation received a generous gift from a member, Grace’s leadership wanted to explore different options for investing the gift. Grace’s church council and its pastor, Phillip Sievert, met via video with Jim Holm, executive director of WELS Investment Funds, to discuss their investment options.

Sievert was grateful for the meeting and the direction it provided: “It gave our council confidence in WELS Investment Funds and a sense of relief knowing that we can leave the gift in good hands without having to worry about constant decision-making,” he says. “What I was really pleased with is the mission-mindedness that came out of our discussion.”

Sievert concludes, “WELS Investment Funds uses its time and talents and expertise in making the most of our congregation’s gifts and investments. This frees us up to focus on what Jesus has called us to do, to ‘go and make disciples of all nations.’ ”

Learn if WELS Investment Funds can be a blessing to your ministry at wels.net/welsfunds.

WELS Congregational Services

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Pictured above: More than 2,220 teens and youth leaders traveled to Knoxville, Tenn., for the WELS 2022 International Youth Rally June 28–July 1 at the University of Tennessee. Participants joined together for worship, service, recreation, workshops, fellowship, and music under the theme “Here and now,” based on Esther 4:14. The rally was coordinated by WELS Discipleship.

 

Did you know?

The 2024 WELS International Youth Rally will celebrate 50 years of WELS youth rallies. Mark your calendars for June 25–28, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.

 

Congregational Services

WELS Congregational Services exists to serve congregations and schools and their leaders by providing resources, training, and personal assistance so that they may carry out gospel ministry in the most faithful way on the local level. Congregational Services consists of six commissions—Congregational Counseling, Discipleship, Evangelism, Lutheran Schools, Worship, and Special Ministries—that give focused attention to specific areas of congregational life.

Congregational Services shares its resources, including all the pieces of The Foundation, at welscongregationalservices.net. The Foundation focuses on a specific theme for each season of the church year and then a sub-theme each week. These themes are reflected in the Bible readings, sermons, and music in church and can be customized to fit each congregation’s needs. The Foundation includes images, videos, and bulletin blurbs to help congregations spread the word about each week’s theme and to invite people to worship.

 

Women’s ministry conference

The WELS Women’s Ministry Conference was held July 21–23, 2022, at Luther Preparatory School, Watertown, Wis. More than 330 women attended. The theme of the conference, Won to be One, really dug deep into the book of Ephesians and God’s grace that gives believers their identity in Christ.

“As a woman, I constantly ask what my role is in the church and in the ministry. I cannot be a pastor and I am not a teacher, so how can I be an asset to my congregation and to the church of Christ as a whole? This conference put the Great Commission in the forefront of everything and refocused my place and identity as an ambassador of Christ. We minister in everything we say and in all we do,” says Janet Block, member at New Hope, West Melbourne, Fla.

To learn more about all the resources that WELS Women’s Ministry offers, visit wels.net/women.

Pictured are members of the WELS Women’s Ministry executive team at the group’s 2022 conference.

 

Military contact pastor workshop

WELS Military Services, a part of WELS Special Ministries, held its annual workshop for military contact pastors in April 2022 at Risen Savior, Pooler, Ga., near Army Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. Part of the workshop included visiting Fort Stewart, which also sponsored a meeting between attendees and more than a dozen of the post’s military chaplains. WELS has 125 congregations and their pastors near military installations providing care to men and women who serve in the United States Armed Forces and their families. Learn more at wels.net/military.

 

Did you know?

Free resources for service members are available at wels.net/refer.

 

Telling the next generation

Enrollment in WELS schools was up 9.8 percent during the 2021–22 school year, with 26,586 students in 282 Lutheran elementary schools and 11,672 students in 363 early childhood ministries.

This is the highest ever recorded enrollment for WELS early childhood ministries and the highest number for Lutheran elementary schools since the 2004–05 school year, according to Jim Rademan, director of WELS Lutheran Schools.

Nearly 70 percent of WELS schools increased their enrollment in 2021-22, while 25 percent decreased and about 5 percent stayed the same.

More and more students attending WELS schools are mission prospects, with nearly 33 percent of families in early childhood ministries and 16 percent in Lutheran elementary schools identifying either as non-Christian or no church home.

“Enrollment is up in our schools,” says Rademan. “Now how can we take advantage of the opportunity? Conditions have been favorable for having more students sit at the feet of Jesus in our classrooms. But how long will that window be open and how well are we going to take advantage of that open window and be as urgent and resolute as we possibly can about sharing the gospel with those children and their families?”

Telling the Next Generation is one tool to help congregations with planning, assistance, and resources for outreach strategies in Lutheran elementary schools and/or early childhood ministries. Visit welscongregationalservices.net/telling-the-next-generation to learn more.

Pictured is Blythe, a student at Cross of Glory, Peoria, Ariz., who was baptized at one of the school’s outdoor chapel services, with her parents. Cross of Glory has seen steady growth over the past five years, growing from 80 students in 2016 to 125 in 2021.

 

Connecting your devotional life to Sunday worship

Devotions prepared by WELS Congregational Services follow the theme that is set for each week’s worship in The Foundation’s resources. That means that the message that you hear on Sunday can be reinforced and expanded on in the devotions you read or hear. Here are the three devotions that offer this connection.

  1. Daily Devotions: Published every day for general use by individuals and groups. Available as text and audio.
  2. Family Devotions: Published Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for families. Available as text and audio.
  3. Teen Devotions(titled “Transformed”): Published on Sunday to connect teens to Christ. Available as text.

Subscribe for free to any of these devotions at wels.net/subscribe.

 

Hymnal introduction resources

WELS Commission on Worship is sharing resources to help people gain an understanding of key features of the new Christian Worship hymnal and to help pastors orient people when the books are first used.

Visit welscongregationalservices.net/hymnal-introduction-resources to find the resources that are right for your congregation.

 

 

 

 

WELS Youth Night

In fall 2022 almost 30 congregations hosted WELS Youth Nights, offering area-congregation teens and youth leaders opportunities to grow in God’s Word and build relationships with one another.

Introduced at the 2022 International Youth Rally, WELS Youth Night is a series of three youth-focused events to bring teens and youth leaders together in between large rallies. WELS Discipleship provides all the resources to help congregations plan and run the events, which include games, food, music, prayer, a keynote address, and small group discussion.

King of Kings, Garden Grove, Calif., invited youth from 16 congregations in southern California to its WELS Youth Night in October. More than 50 6th- through 12th-graders from 8 different congregations attended.

“I had this dream of pulling [area youth groups] together out here just because when we get together it’s so special. But I was intimidated by all the work to make it happen,” says Josh Robertson, a teacher at King of Kings and the congregation’s youth and family elder. “At the youth rally, as I sat in on the WELS Youth Night presentation, I was floored by God and his goodness because literally my entire dream was already being planned by the synod.”

Learn more about WELS Youth Night at welscongregationalservices.net/wels-youth-night.

 

Everyone Outreach

WELS Commission on Evangelism designed the Everyone Outreach program to help congregations build a culture of outreach among their members. In August 2021, the commission trained 21 pastors to facilitate these workshops. In January 2022, 20 more were trained (pictured). More than 2,400 WELS members have participated in 59 Everyone Outreach workshops as of December 2022.

When a congregation makes the commitment to participate in Everyone Outreach, a facilitator visits the congregation for a two-day workshop. During the workshop, the facilitator uses group exercises and reflection, grounded in God’s Word, to help members focus on outreach. After the workshop, the facilitator continues to encourage and support the congregation in maintaining its outreach mindset.

One participant noted, “It helped me realize that if we each do our part to reach out it can have a huge impact on the lost souls in our community.”

Learn more at everyoneoutreach.com.

 

Grants available to help more people hear the Word

WELS Mission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, part of WELS Commission on Special Ministries, is offering $500 grants toward the installation of a hearing loop to WELS congregations that apply for it. A hearing loop works with people’s hearing aids to provide a clearer sound directly into their ears. The Mission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing can point congregations toward additional research, contacts, and other resources around hearing loops.

Tom Schultz, a member at St. Luke, Watertown, Wis., which has a hearing loop installed, explains, “I think one of the key factors is the clarity. Without the hearing loop, I pick up a lot of it, but with the hearing loop, I pick up everything; it’s crystal clear.”

If your congregation is interested, contact mdhh@wels.net for more information. Learn more about the Mission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at wels.net/mdhh.

 

 

WELS Christian Aid and Relief

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Community Care and Compassion grants

In 2020, Bethlehem, Richland Center, Wis., an exploratory mission, was looking for a ministry space to call home. After one option fell through, God provided a perfect fit—a former elementary school that had just come on the market. The building was more than just a former school. It was also home to a crucial community service—a county-run program that provides hot meals each week to senior adults. Daniel Lewig, pastor at Bethlehem, said it wasn’t even a question as to whether the congregation would continue to house the meal program.

“We didn’t just purchase a facility,” says Lewig. “We got a ministry right along with it—and an open door to see where God leads.”

Supported by offerings and a pandemic relief grant from WELS Christian Aid and Relief, Bethlehem members went to work upgrading the former classroom in which the meals are served. The revitalized dining area is so much more than a place to provide a hot meal. It also serves as Bethlehem’s fellowship hall, and seniors from the community are invited to all church activities. In addition, Lewig visits with guests each week and leads them in prayer. Bethlehem members help serve the meals or simply spend time getting to know their neighbors.

“It’s not the food that brings them together,” Lewig says. “It’s the connection. Our members help with that connection and connect it to a higher purpose. We created an environment where you’re not just eating a meal for a day but a meal for eternity.”

Once seniors are in the building, it’s a natural progression to introduce them to the renovated worship space in the gym. Several of the seniors have attended worship, and some have taken Bible information classes and become members.

WELS Christian Aid and Relief is offering matching grants to congregations that want to reach out in their community through a compassion ministry. Grants are available up to $2,500.

“When we act with compassion and love, it gains us opportunities to talk about our Savior,” says Daniel Sims, director of WELS Christian Aid and Relief. “I encourage congregations to find the people who are hurting in your community, formulate a plan to help them, and get in touch with us. Let us help you to reach out to them in love.”

Learn more at wels.net/relief.

 

Did you know?

In 2022, WELS Christian Aid and Relief distributed Community Care and Compassion grants to 25 congregations for a total of $45,975.

Disaster relief

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida on Sept. 28, 2022, as a powerful Category 4 storm. Thirteen WELS congregations were in the vicinity of the storm. Although they had no loss of life, each congregation had varied degrees of damage to their church building and in their community. WELS Christian Aid and Relief responded with monetary relief and also helped coordinate manpower for cleanup and rebuilding.

 

 

 

 

Support Services

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Ministry of Christian Giving

WELS Ministry of Christian Giving encourages congregations and individuals to offer gifts of thanks to our Savior because of his love for us. These offerings support Christ’s gospel ministry through WELS. God has blessed WELS with two years of record-breaking Congregation Mission Offerings in 2020 and 2021, and, as of this writing, 2022 is also looking to finish with strong congregational offerings. We praise our Lord and thank his people for such generosity!

The Ministry of Christian Giving partnered with Martin Luther College to present the “Equipping Christian Witnesses” campaign, which received $9.6 million to fund tuition assistance and build the Betty Kohn Fieldhouse (pictured the day of its dedication, Oct. 8, 2022). This 36,000 square foot indoor turfed facility includes batting cages, golf simulators, indoor practice fields, and more.

The Ministry of Christian Giving is currently working with Home Missions to share the 100 missions in 10 years initiative with members. This initiative seeks to plant 100 new home mission churches and enhance 75 existing ministries from 2023–2033.

In fiscal year 2022 Christian giving counselors made thousands of contacts with WELS donors and helped them arrange 190 major gifts and expectancies totaling $36.9 million. Visit wels.net/givingcounselors to find your giving counselor and receive free, confidential assistance with offering a gift to WELS.

Did you know?

WELS Technology maintains a “Contact us” tool for the WELS website through which more than 1,000 questions or comments are submitted per year. The tool tracks and routes questions to those who can respond to the inquiry and provides reminders throughout the process. Have a question? Visit wels.net/contact-us.

World Missions

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WELS World Missions conducts gospel outreach in 44 countries and is exploring outreach opportunities in 18 prospective new mission fields. World Missions brings the light of God’s Word to the world through evangelism efforts, church planting, training national workers for ministry, and providing religious materials in foreign languages through Multi-Language Productions (MLP).

World Missions supports mission work:

  • on Native American reservations, where the gospel has been shared on the Apache reservations in Arizona for more than 125 years and exploratory mission work is beginning on other reservations throughout North America;
  • in Africa, where missionaries partner with national church bodies in six countries and are exploring outreach in at least seven more countries throughout the continent;
  • in Asia, where the two missionary teams have joined together to equip, encourage, and empower others to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to 1.8 billion unreached souls;
  • in Latin America, where hundreds of thousands of people are being reached through Academia Cristo online courses and more than 40 individuals are being trained to plant a church;
  • in Europe, where missionaries partner with national churches to train the next generation of church leaders and bring the true gospel to countries without a strong Lutheran presence;
  • and through Multi-Language Productions, which has produced materials in more than 56 languages and reaches tens of thousands of English-speakers in more than 30 different countries through the TELL online training platform.

For more information, visit wels.net/missions.

 

Did you know?

Forty-nine world missionaries partner with almost 500 national pastors to conduct outreach and train more than 380 students for service in Christ’s kingdom.

Academia Cristo

Meet Marli (front row, second from right) in Cuernavaca, Mexico. After intensive study with Academia Cristo, Marli now participates in the advanced classes of the program and is personally guided by a missionary as she shares the Word of God with the small group in her community (pictured). Her group meets regularly, digging into the Word of God, sharing Sunday school lessons with youth, and even doing periodic humanitarian services in the area.

As Academia Cristo has grown, many of those studying God’s Word are women. Elise Gross is now serving as the dean of women for Academia Cristo to encourage these women to carry out the Great Commission in their homes and respective communities while embracing biblical principles and Christian freedom.

Gross’s primary focus is the same as that of the rest of the Academia Cristo mission team:

Make disciples in Latin America by sharing the message of God’s grace with as many people as possible.

  1. Identify and train potential leaders.
  2. Encourage those leaders to make disciples who plant churches.

For more information, wels.net/academia-cristo.

 

TELL

Over a year ago Joseph stumbled across a Facebook ad for TELL and had to see what it was all about. After completing the three self-study courses he began live group classes with a pastor, studying the Bible and Lutheran catechism on Zoom. He formed friendships with students thousands of miles away. His best friend is from Trinidad. They make TELL T-shirts and share what they’re learning with others.

In October Dan Laitinen, a TELL missionary, visited Joseph’s home in Nairobi, Kenya. The two (pictured) finally had a Bible study together in person. Sitting knee to knee Joseph told Laitinen his story. He is the eighth of eight children, raised by his oldest sister. His parents passed away before he knew them. As a child, he learned how to work and paid for his own schooling through grade twelve.

Joseph could identify that sin was the problem and God’s grace was the solution. He has learned how to read the Bible and express his faith to others. Throughout the visit, Laitinen encouraged Joseph in his studies; introduced him to the local church affiliated with WELS’ sister church body, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ–Kenya; and presented the next steps for him to gather in a Bible study group.

“Did you go to church as a child?” Laitienen asked. “No,” Joseph said, “We did not go to church.”

“Are you going to church now?” Laitinen asked. “I am,” Joseph replied, “with you and the teachers at TELL Network.”

To learn more, visit tellnetwork.org.

 

Ukraine

WELS is supporting the Ukrainian Lutheran Church, our sister church body, by providing aid for clothing, food, medicine, and other supplies. Before Russia invaded Ukraine, the Ukrainian Lutheran Church had 700 baptized members in 17 congregations served by 11 national pastors.

 

 

 

 

 

Africa

Mission work in Africa is changing. Missionaries working with WELS’ established missions—Cameroon, Malawi, Nigeria, and Zambia—focus on assisting the national synods and their churches as they mature, while also helping with their pre-seminary and seminary programs. Two synods in Ethiopia and Kenya reached out for assistance and are now in full fellowship with WELS and partner in outreach initiatives.

The new work before WELS missionaries is outreach, as individuals and church groups in seven additional African countries have reached out to WELS and the Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA) for fellowship and theological training. Visits have been made to Liberia, Mozambique, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

Pictured are participants of an evangelism workshop held for members of the Lutheran Church of Central Africa–Zambia in November 2022. The workshop was a joint effort of WELS’ One Africa Team and Pastoral Studies Institute.

 

Indonesia

WELS Friendly Counselor Greg Bey visited WELS’ sister church in Indonesia, Gereja Lutheran Indonesia, to attend its synod convention, visit with leadership and discuss ministry ideas, and teach courses at the seminary there. Bey also visited Hosiana congregation to celebrate its 31st anniversary. Pictured is Bey with two of the founding members of Hosiana, who opened their home as a meeting place when the congregation first formed. Their son is now a pastor serving Gereja Lutheran Indonesia, which has 29 congregations.

Home Missions

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Pictured above: Foundation, Folsom, Calif. Clark Woods was in the right place at the perfect time to hear the message of free grace, forgiveness, and peace in Jesus when he most desperately needed it. Watch a video to learn more about Clark and how God used Foundation, Folsom, Calif., a home mission congregation, to deliver that message. Visit wels100in10.net to watch God’s plan unfold for Clark (pictured here with David Koelpin, pastor at Foundation).

In 2022, the Board for Home Missions approved 12 new home mission starts and enhancements.

New missions

  • Windsor, Colo.: WELS congregations in Ft. Collins, Loveland, and Greeley are supporting this new mission start in a rapidly expanding area in northern Colorado. Currently 20 WELS families are located in the target area, which has no Lutheran churches. Stephen Koelpin has accepted the call to serve this new mission.
  • Wichita, Kan.: Messiah is looking to start a second site on the east side of the city to better serve the 650,000 people in the greater metropolitan area. The area population is expected to grow by 10 percent over the next 10 years. Jacob Jenswold has accepted the call to start this new mission.
  • Canton, Ga.: Members and leadership from Beautiful Savior, Marietta, Ga., have identified Canton, a quickly growing suburb of Metro-Atlanta, as a prime location to plant a new mission church. Population has doubled in the past twenty years, and that growth is expected to continue. Cale Mead has accepted the call to start this new mission.
  • Conroe, Texas: Conroe, the northernmost suburb of Houston, is the fifth fastest-growing city in the United States. Abiding Word in Houston, Texas, is helping this new mission get off the ground. Jeremy Mattek has accepted the call to start this new mission.
  • Lodi, Wis. (unsubsidized): Zion, Leeds, Wis., is establishing a second site in Lodi. They leased a ministry center where the 17-person ministry team helped launch worship on Oct. 16, 2022.

Enhancements

  • St. John, St. Paul, Minn.
  • Cross of Glory, Baton Rouge, La.
  • Divine Savior, Delray Beach, Fla.
  • Abiding Savior, Killeen, Texas
  • Our Savior, Burlington, Iowa

 Unsubsidized mission status

  • Mt. Calvary, Redding/Anderson, Calif.
  • Living Faith, Midlothian, Texas

What does it mean to be an unsubsidized mission?

Home Missions provides assistance to unsubsidized mission congregations through its district mission boards, mission counselors, synodical support staff, and special project funds, but does not provide direct financial support.

 

Did you know?

In 2022, Home Missions supported 134 congregations.

 

Carbon Valley, Firestone, Colo.

Jesse Jensen had recently moved to Firestone with his folks. He had just graduated from nursing school and was working full-time, but he knew something was missing. He grew up “Christian” in the sense that he knew of Christ and knew of church, but he had never actively practiced or been a member anywhere. What he did have was a grandfather who was a believer and had an interest in knowing more, so he picked up a phone and called me.

I told Jesse, “We aren’t actually worshiping in person, and we don’t actually have a building . . . but I’ll buy you a coffee.” He said yes, and his journey to Christ and Carbon Valley began.

Over the next year and a half, we systematically walked through the Bible. Jesse couldn’t get enough, which meant our classes went long and we added about four or five “bonus” lessons. It was incredible to talk through the Ten Commandments with someone who had never read them before.

Jesse stuck with us. He learned what worship looks like, built relationships, and watched how our members treated one another and modeled Christian living. But most of all, he heard about his Savior over and over again, and that Savior worked in his heart. So much so that when Jesse’s grandfather died, his family asked Jesse to say something and lead the memorial. I gave him some prayers and thoughts, and he took them and led his family to give thanks for his grandfather’s life but also to see Jesus. And after all that, Jesse was the first adult baptism and new member in our new building.

Tim Spiegelberg, home missionary at Carbon Valley Lutheran Church, Firestone, Colo.

 

Campus ministry in Reno, Nev.

When Light of the Valleys, Reno, Nev., discovered it was going to have a vicar for the first time in 2021, it decided to embark on a new ministry opportunity—a campus ministry. The congregation—along with its two sister congregations in the Reno area—gathered resources from WELS Campus Ministry and started putting together a core group of students to determine how to minister to and reach college-age adults.

Enter Sam Schulz. Sam, a student at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., was assigned as a vicar to Light of the Valleys in May 2021. When he and his wife, Maddie, arrived a few months later, the campus ministry was just getting started. Sam and Maddie got to work making contacts and planning events.

Besides studying the Bible, the group always did some sort of activity—things like playing games, bowling, rock painting. “We were solidifying friendships first, so they were comfortable talking about uncomfortable things,” says Sam. The group started small but grew to about a dozen who regularly attended the twice-monthly gatherings. Members of the group started bringing their friends and even began getting together socially outside of the scheduled meetings.

But the group wasn’t only about fun and games. “Members were so dedicated and so excited to get into God’s Word,” says Sam. “They really wanted to study it and they really cared about each other too.”

April (pictured on her confirmation day) is a prime example of the students that are being reached through the group. April’s parents already had joined Light of the Valleys, but she only had been attending sporadically. The campus ministry group made her feel more comfortable, so she started attending Bible information classes and worship and was then baptized and confirmed.

Visit wels.net/college to learn more about WELS Campus Ministry.

 

 

Joint Missions

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WELS Joint Missions supports mission opportunities that are the responsibility of Home Missions, World Missions, and Ministerial Education. Much of this work centers around people-group ministries, where immigrants who have joined our fellowship in the United States and Canada are able to take the gospel back to friends and family in their country of origin.

Hmong National Conference

From July 29–31, 170 Hmong members from 5 different congregations across the United States gathered at Manitowoc Lutheran High School, Manitowoc, Wis., for the Hmong National Conference. The theme of the conference was “One Faith, One Family.” Learn more about Hmong ministry in the United States at wels.net/hmong.

 

 

Chinese ministry in Canada

Abiding Love, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada (pictured above), launched public worship on Nov. 27, 2022. The congregation will also continue to offer Chinese worship twice a month in Vancouver, which is central to many members of Abiding Love. Qiang Wang, a graduate of the Pastoral Studies Institute, serves Abiding Love, which began as an outreach ministry of Saviour of the Nations, Vancouver. Saviour of the Nations is also currently reaching out to the South Sudanese Nuer population in nearby Surrey.

Taste of Missions

(From left) Benjamin Foxen and Keegan Dowling were commissioned as missionaries to Africa at Taste of Mis­sions on June 11, 2022, at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Taste of Missions offers WELS members an opportunity to connect with brothers and sisters in Christ from around the globe. Those who can’t attend in person can participate online at tasteofmissions.com. The 2023 event will be held on June 10.

Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary

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Pictured above: “Here am I, send me!” On May 27, 2022, 26 men graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (WLS), Mequon, Wis., and began their pastoral ministries.

WLS prepares men to begin pastoral ministry by providing them with spiritual, theological, and professional training. Students attend classes for two years, serve as full-time vicars during their third year, and then attend classes and write a thesis in their fourth year. Throughout their time at the seminary, students receive opportunities to serve in a variety of ministries and to experience other cultures to help prepare them for their future calls.

The seminary also provides pastors with opportunities for continued growth in all their callings through its institute, Grow in Grace. Grow in Grace offers continuing education courses, a mentoring initiative for new graduates, a clearinghouse of resources for pastors, and an annual retreat for pastors who are celebrating milestones in their ministries.

For more information, visit wls.wels.net.

 

Vicaring in Toronto

Jeremiah Wallander spent his vicar year serving Hope, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Here he’s pictured with a student at Hope’s summer music camp. Each seminary student spends an internship year as a “vicar,” learning and serving under experienced pastors in mission-minded congregations. In 2022–23, 28 students were assigned as vicars.

 

Studying in San Diego

When Mark Jiang (pictured middle) first came to Reformation, San Diego, Calif., he was interested in the congregation’s school. But soon, he joined the congregation and thought about becoming a pastor himself. That’s when he met David Choi, an Evangelical Lutheran Synod seminary student who served as a vicar at Reformation. Choi, who also grew up in China, encouraged Mark to pursue the public ministry.

Mark began taking courses in 2020 through WELS’ Pastoral Studies Institute, which provides seminary training to students from a variety of countries and cultures. He and Choi studied together throughout the year.

“It was a very good chance for me to learn with Vicar Choi,” says Mark. “He helped teach me the Foundations 101 class in Mandarin, then we went through again and reviewed it in English. It was good for us to look into the English verse or Greek verse and use different languages to help us gather the meaning of the Bible.”

Mark appreciates that he is able to complete some of his seminary training in person with the pastors at Reformation, in addition to taking courses with Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary professors via Zoom.

“It is a pleasure for me to learn God’s Word,” Mark says. “I am very thankful to my teachers for giving me the right teaching from God, and I am happy I can put what I learn into practice and share the good news with other brothers and sisters. I hope to have many chances to serve and help people, and I hope God gives me the strength to do this.”

Also pictured are (left) Neil Birkholz, WELS’ North American Asian ministry consultant; and David Choi.

What is the Pastoral Studies Institute?

The Pastoral Studies Institute (PSI) guides and assists spiritual leaders around the world through preseminary and seminary training. Team members spend much of their time visiting and teaching PSI students. Harland Goetzinger accepted the call to be the director of the PSI in fall 2022.

 

Teaching catechism

Nathaniel Wranovsky, a second-year student at WLS, is helping teach catechism at Crown of Life, Hubertus, Wis. Students participate in a number of hands-on ministry experiences throughout their time at the seminary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martin Luther College

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Pictured above: Richard Gurgel, president of Martin Luther College, installs Nathan Savage as a tutor for the college. Savage graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in May 2022.

 

Parker Brown, a senior preseminary student from Conroe, Texas, preaching at MLC’s evening chapel.

Martin Luther College (MLC), New Ulm, Minn.:

  • prepares men for pastoral training at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary;
  • prepares men and women for service as teachers and staff ministers in the synod’s churches, schools, and other institutions;
  • prepares men and women for other church ministries, both full- and part-time, responding to the needs of WELS;
  • prepares international students for ministry in partnership with WELS mission fields; and
  • provides programs of continuing education that meet the ministerial needs of WELS.

On July 1, 2022, Martin Luther College launched a new strategic plan to direct the college’s work for years to come. Richard Gurgel, president of MLC, explains that Pursuing Excellence Under the Cross has three foundational beliefs and four key initiatives.

Foundational beliefs:

  • We pursue excellence not as slaves but as loved children under Christ’s cross.
  • We pursue excellence by offering him our best with the unique talents given to each of us.
  • We pursue excellence under our cross by dying to mediocrity and rising with the courage to risk all for the gospel.

Key initiatives:

  • We embrace our family’s identity as a Lutheran college dedicated to preparing gospel ministers for our synod and its mission fields.
  • We empower our family’s formation as we help everyone grow spiritually and academically while also supporting emotional and physical health.
  • We expand our family’s reach as we reflect the multicultural reality of the Church before Christ in eternity.
  • We endow our family’s home as we make MLC more affordable while providing an excellent college experience.

For more information, visit mlc-wels.edu.

 

Did you know?

In 2022–23, Martin Luther College awarded a total of almost $1.25 million to its students through the Congregational Partner Grant Program. This program encourages congregations to support members who attend MLC. MLC then matches up to $1,200/student ($1,325 in 2023–24) in the form of a grant to offset tuition costs. For more information, visit mlc-wels.edu/cpgp.

 

Enrollment

In 2022–23, Martin Luther College is serving 629 undergraduates, representing 29 states and 5 countries as well as 897 continuing education students.

 

Evangelism Day

Nov. 9, 2022, was Evangelism Day at MLC. Twenty-six electives offered students the opportunity to learn more about evangelism strategies in the United States and around the world. Pictured is Jim Rademan, director of WELS Lutheran Schools, presenting on the topic “Blessings, opportunities, and challenges . . . a look at WELS schools in 2022 and beyond.”

 

 

 

 

Cultural Engagement Center

Paul Wang, a Chinese international student at MLC, reading books about the Mid-Autumn Festival to students at the MLC Early Childhood Learning Center in September 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Class of 2022

One hundred seventy students graduated from Martin Luther College on May 14, 2022. Pictured is Richard Gurgel, college president, presenting a diploma to Emily Flatau, who received an assignment to serve as an early childhood education teacher at Resurrection, Aurora, Ill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preparatory Schools

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Pictured above are four LPS students; ELFK president, Michael Herbst (third from left); and Phetsanghane (fourth from left).

Luther Preparatory School (LPS), Watertown, Wis., and Michigan Lutheran Seminary (MLS), Saginaw, Mich., prepare high school students for future service as pastors, teachers, and staff ministers. Both schools offer “Taste of Ministry” opportunities for students, which include shadowing called workers to learn more about their work. Students also are given firsthand gospel experiences on campus and during mission trips. Here are two examples of how the preparatory schools are offering students hands-on ministry experiences.

Michigan Lutheran Seminary

“When the Board for Home Missions announced the initiative to open 100 new missions in 10 years, at Michigan Lutheran Seminary we contemplated how we could play an even larger role in providing workers for those ripe harvest fields,” says Mark Luetzow, MLS president. “We quickly recognized that those future missionaries were already on our campus. That’s why we partnered with Home Missions to place this year’s senior boys who desired a pastor Taste of Ministry into mission settings.”

A total of 10 MLS seniors traveled to mission settings across the United States for a long weekend in October. Pictured are three of those young men and the home missionaries that they shadowed at the South Central District’s annual missionaries conference. From left: Andrew Nemmers, Hope in the Heights, Houston; Jason Hanania; Daron Lindemann, CrossLife, Pflugerville; Ryan Dabe; Hans Thomford, Amazing Grace, Amarillo; and Will Eubank.

Jason commented, “This was an awesome experience. I was already thinking of being a pastor, but this experience settled it for me.”

For more information about MLS, visit mlsem.org.

 

Luther Preparatory School

Luther Preparatory School senior Ethan Schmidt giving chapel in fall 2022. Senior males are given this opportunity to work with a dean to prepare a message from God’s Word for the student body.

In June 2022, Souksamay Phetsanghane, a professor at LPS, took four students to visit WELS’ sister church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church—Germany (ELFK). Students worked with a congregation there to present a joint English/German worship service. They also attended and sang at the synod’s convention.

“Traveling to Germany with Pastor Souk and getting to know Pastor Drechsler and the members of his congregation showed me the importance of keeping in touch with our fellow synods,” says Sandra Toyoda-Bell, now studying at Martin Luther College to be a teacher. “This trip gave me the experience to practice my German in real-life settings and a teacher who encouraged us to engage in conversations with the people there and witness how God is working through the church in Germany.”

For more information about LPS, visit lps.wels.net.

Called To Support

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Northwestern Publishing House

Northwestern Publishing House (NPH) provides Christ-centered, biblically sound resources to the people of WELS and beyond. NPH publishes Forward in Christ and Meditations: Daily Devotional, elementary and Sunday school curricula, Bible studies, worship materials, music, and faith-strengthening books for laypeople. In 2021, NPH released more than 39 Christian resources in print and digital formats, including:

  • Christian Worship: God Gives His Gospel Gifts, the final volume in the People’s Bible Teachings series;
  • 364 Days of Devotion: A Devotional Book, a follow up to the popular
    364 Days of Thanksgiving;
  • The Story of God’s Love, an abridged Evangelical Heritage Version Bible;
  • An Evangelical Heritage Version Study Bible;
  • A Theology of the Cross audiobook narrated by sainted Prof. Daniel Deutschlander;
  • Here We Stand Bible study for the anniversary of Luther’s stand at the
    Diet of Worms;
  • 10 Lies About God Bible study, which confronts common misconceptions about who God is; and
  • 11 music offerings for organ, piano, choirs, and vocal solos, 7 of which draw from new hymns in the 2021 Christian Worship: Hymnal.

In addition, NPH released the majority of the new Christian Worship hymnal suite volumes. NPH will release Christian Worship: Service Builder in late 2021 or early 2022 followed by additional Christian Worship resources. Complimentary copies of the hymnal and psalter were sent to all WELS churches in September 2021. 

Visit nph.net or call 800-662-6022 to learn more about the ministry of NPH.

 

WELS Benefit Plans

The WELS Benefit Plans Office (BPO) serves WELS and Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) workers and organizations through administration of the WELS Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (VEBA) Health Plan, the WELS Pension Plan, and the WELS Shepherd Plan.

The WELS VEBA Health Plan provides benefits for church and school workers in accordance with God’s Word while remaining compliant with the federal health care reform law. The plan provides comprehensive, nationwide coverage. More than 80 percent of WELS workers and calling bodies participate in WELS VEBA.

Delegates of the 2021 synod convention voted to change WELS’ Pension Plan to a defined contribution plan for future worker retirement benefits. The Pension Plan was frozen on December 31, 2021, which means that no new benefits can be earned under the Pension Plan. Beginning January 1, 2022, eligible workers are being provided with contributions to be used for retirement benefits through a defined contribution plan that is administered through the WELS Shepherd Plan, which is the name of WELS’ retirement savings plan for synod workers. 

“There are three main advantages to the change,” notes Mr. Joshua Peterman, director of WELS Benefit Plans. “First, workers will receive meaningful contributions for retirement benefits. Then, workers will have more flexibility to provide for their retirement income needs and to share savings with their survivors. Finally, sponsoring organization costs will remain more stable over time.”

Coverage and benefits provided through WELS Benefit Plans are uniform throughout all 50 states. This supports the WELS ministry and call process because worker call decisions are not influenced by health insurance and retirement benefit decisions. 

Visit welsbpo.net for more information.

 

WELS Church Extension Fund

WELS Church Extension Fund, Inc. (WELS CEF), provides financing through loans and grants to mission congregations so they can acquire land and ministry facilities to be used for gospel outreach in coordination with WELS Home Missions. WELS CEF also provides loans to self-supporting WELS congregations and schools for land and facility projects. The money to carry out WELS CEF’s mission comes from investments and gifts from WELS members, congregations, and affiliated organizations.

In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, $15.4 million of new loans and $1.98 million of new grants were approved to mission and mission-minded self-supporting congregations. In addition, WELS CEF provided grants of $1.06 million and $.6 million to the Board for Home Missions from its annual endowment distribution and its newly created annual unrestricted net asset grant program. WELS CEF ended fiscal year 2021 with assets of $229.1 million and net assets of $117.5 million. Three thousand fifty-one WELS members invested more than $106.9 million. The loan portfolio held $184 million in 205 loans to congregations and affiliates.

For more information, visit wels.net/cef.

Pictured: Young members of Grace, Sahuarita, Ariz., watch in excitement as their new church undergoes the construction process. WELS Church Extension Fund provided more than $500,000 in home missions grants to Grace, along with a low-interest loan for the remainder of the cost of the land and construction of its new church.

 

WELS Foundation

WELS Foundation currently administers more than 1,200 donor-directed planned gifts that support gospel ministry throughout WELS. What an impact on God’s kingdom!

That impact was felt through the distributions to ministry that WELS Foundation was privileged to make in fiscal year 2021. Those distributions included $6.7 million to WELS national ministries, $5.2 million to WELS congregations, and $1.8 million to WELS-affiliated ministries.

This past July, WELS Foundation distributed $1 million to ministry through several synod endowments. In addition, WELS Foundation manages endowments set up by individuals, congregations, and other WELS ministries. In total, WELS Foundation distributed $3.5 million to gospel work from more than 350 endowments this past year. 

To learn about leaving a legacy gift to share the gospel with the next generation, visit wels.net/foundation.

 

WELS Investment Funds

God poured out his blessings on WELS Investment Funds in fiscal year 2021. One of those blessings was the annual investment returns of last year: 25.19 percent for the WELS Balanced Fund and 32.27 percent for the WELS Endowment Fund. These returns had a tremendous impact on the ministries that invest through WELS Investment Funds.

By pooling investment resources through WELS Investment Funds, congregations can take advantage of lower cost, institutionally priced investment alternatives that would not otherwise be available. As more congregations and WELS-affiliated ministries invest in WELS Investment Funds, the cost-reduction benefits increase. As of September 30, 2021, WELS Investment Funds managed $300 million in assets.

For the second year in a row, the WELS Endowment Fund’s net investment return placed in the 90th percentile in a comprehensive annual study of private and community foundations.

To learn why more than 230 WELS ministries have chosen to invest with WELS Investment Funds, visit wels.net/welsfunds.

 

Financial Services

Financial Services provides accounting and financial services that support and serve WELS ministries. 

“WELS is financially strong as God has continued to bless us with the financial gifts needed to maintain existing ministry levels and to develop a well-balanced ministry financial plan for the next biennium,” notes Mr. Kyle Egan, WELS’ chief financial officer. 

Synod convention delegates passed the Synodical Council’s proposed ministry financial plan in July 2021. The development of the ministry financial plan is a collaborative process involving the areas of ministry, ministerial education schools, synod leadership, and the Synodical Council.

Congregation Mission Offerings (CMO) are critical to WELS’ financial position as these offerings fund nearly three-quarters of WELS’ operating budget. WELS finished fiscal year 2021 (year ended June 30, 2021) with CMO of $22.6 million, which was $1.2 million higher than the previous year and the first time CMO exceeded $22.0 million. In November 2021, the synod learned that its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan was forgiven. Northwestern Publishing House and the four ministerial education schools had previously received forgiveness of their PPP loans. 

Another critical component to WELS’ ability to maintain ministries are strong reserves, including the Financial Stabilization Fund. This fund holds all undesignated non-CMO funding sources (gifts, grants bequests, investment income, and other support) for a minimum of one year before being transferred to the operating fund. The financial position of the Financial Stabilization Fund allowed the Synodical Council to approve the transfer of certain reserves from the Financial Stabilization Fund into a new Ministry Opportunity Fund, which will provide a consistent source of funding for unfunded ministry opportunities. The Ministry Opportunity Fund will initially provide a total of $3.0 million in distributions over the next four years to WELS Home Missions in support of its 100 new missions in 10 years initiative.

 

Congregational Services

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Pictured above is Rev. Jonathan Scharf facilitating an Everyone Outreach workshop at Abiding Word, Houston, Texas.

WELS Congregational Services exists to serve congregations and schools and their leaders by providing resources, training, and personal assistance so that they may carry out gospel ministry in the most faithful way on the local level. Congregational Services consists of six commissions—Congregational Counseling, Discipleship, Evangelism, Lutheran Schools, Worship, and Special Ministries. These commissions give focused attention to specific areas of congregational life. 

Congregational Services shares its resources at welscongregationalservices.net, which was created to serve as a clearinghouse for its materials. It includes training videos, leaders’ guides, Bible studies, ready-made graphics, and more covering a wide variety of topics.  

 

Analyzing WELS Statistics

For about seven decades, at the end of each year, WELS has asked congregations to supply church statistics. Generally, over 95 percent of congregations do just that. A compliance rate that high yields very reliable and significant data. That data has been published each year in the WELS Statistical Report—over a hundred pages of numbers: membership, worship attendance, ministrations, and more.  

In 2021, WELS Congregational Services published a statistical summary report that analyzes the data from 2020 and previous years. It translates those hundreds of pages of numbers into information that can be used by congregations and the synod as we plan how to best steward the resources God provides as we seek to do all we can with the gospel. 

Find the WELS 2020 statistical summary at welscongregationalservices.net/stat-summary-2020.

 

Everyone Outreach

WELS Commission on Evangelism is now offering Everyone Outreach workshops to congregations that want to build a culture of outreach so that every ministry and every member is thinking about and participating in outreach. The workshop and extended program include group activities, thought-provoking discussions, and a process to keep outreach in focus and track engagement. WELS Commission on Evangelism trained 21 facilitators to help lead these workshops in 2021. 

 

 

Equip Women to Teach the Word

Equip Women to Teach the Word provides online training to Christian women, enabling them to teach the Word of God in home and congregational settings. Resources include five online lessons with accompanying videos to build a biblical foundation and provide step-by-step instruction that replaces fear with confidence to serve. 

“Equip Women to Teach the Word is for the woman who wants to be well prepared, improve her teaching, and stand firm on the Word of God despite the influences of the world around her,” says Mrs. Dawn Schulz, a member of WELS Women’s Ministry, which was commissioned to develop the resource. It stresses the important partnership between pastor and laypeople as they work together to carry out their church’s ministry. Find it at welscongregationalservices.net/equip-women-to-teach.

 

 

A God-Lived Life

WELS Commission on Discipleship released a new stewardship challenge titled “A God-Lived Life.” As Rev. Donn Dobberstein, director of the commission, explains, “ ‘A God-Lived Life’ is about more than stewardship. It’s a whole-life challenge to God’s people to live the life to which he has called them. The hope is that being challenged in specific ways will urge Christians to put into practice a closer walk with God and a life of love toward others. That’s a God-lived life.”

This four-part stewardship program focuses on the aspects of a God-lived life—a life of being a disciple, a life lived for others, a life of hospitality, and a life lived shrewdly. It is available at welscongregationalservices.net. 

 

 

 

 

 

One by One

“In my former life [as a detective], there were times if someone did not step up to lead, people could get hurt or die. The same is true for you—and for all of us—as Christians. Someone you have not met yet is counting on you to step up and lead—to lead them to Christ so they will live. Your church doesn’t have to grow by a thousand. It can grow one by one.” So begins Rev. David Rosenau’s article in the February 2021 issue of Forward in Christ. 

Rosenau (pictured left) created a Bible study with the title “One by one” for WELS Commission on Evangelism. To see the Bible study, visit welscongregationalservices.net. To read the full Forward in Christ article, visit forwardinchrist.net. 

 

 

July 2021 WELS Connection

 

Did you know?

WELS Congregational Services is hosting a second WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership from January 16–18, 2023, in Chicago, Ill. For more information, visit lutheranleadership.com.

 

Finding spiritual support while in the military

Paul Wolfgramm (pictured), a 35-year-old Marine Corps Reserve veteran with deployment experience, understands the importance of the work of WELS Military Services—even though he admits he didn’t know about the resources offered by WELS during his own service. “It’s a time when your faith can be unraveled or it’s a time when your faith can really be strengthened and you can grow in your relationship with your Savior,” he says. “To be able to reach people who are in such a critical junction in their lives with God’s Word and sacraments is really special.” 

As a laymember of WELS Military Services Committee, Wolfgramm now works to make sure other WELS members in the military know where they can find that spiritual support. The best place to start is at wels.net/refer. “You can sign up yourself or you can refer someone else who is actively serving,” explains Wolfgramm. 

In addition to receiving military-specific spiritual resources, service men and women who fill out the referral form will be put in contact with the nearest military contact pastor and potentially other WELS members in their area. WELS currently has 120 military contact pastors serving congregations near military installations and military service men and women on base. 

Learn more at wels.net/military. 

 

Together video update – May 25, 2021

 

WELS schools by the numbers

  • 2,922 WELS teachers
  • 423 schools
  • More than 44,900 WELS students (infant through high school seniors)
  • 68% of WELS schools had enrollment growth during the 2021-2022 year

For more school statistics, visit cls.welsrc.net/2021-stats.

 

National Hymnal Week introduces hymnal 

WELS Commission on Worship introduced its first WELS National Hymnal Week in September 2021 to provide an opportunity for WELS members to think about the blessings of worship as well as get a sneak peek at what the new Christian Worship hymnal has to offer. 

The week involved a worship service that was based on the new lectionary readings of the day and included hymns and music from the new hymnal, a hymn sing, video presentations on new hymnal resources as well as on broader worship topics, and a pre-recorded concert. These resources are available at welscongregationalservices.net/hymnal-introduction-resources. 

To learn more about Christian Worship: Hymnal, visit christianworship.com. 

 

WELS National Hymnal Week Hymn Sing

 

WELS Prison Ministry

WELS Prison Ministry administers an extensive ministry-by-mail program. During the pandemic, demand for the Bible study books provided by WELS Prison Ministry soared. A small staff utilizes the services of hundreds of volunteers to manage the ministry-by-mail program, which has reached more than 70,000 inmates. Eighty-three percent of the Bible study course books that are distributed through WELS Prison Ministry produce a response from an inmate. Volunteers prepare regular mailings, correct Bible correspondence tests, and serve as pen pals to inmates. 

 

 

The Foundation

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“We rightly look at the opportunity to gather around Word and sacrament as the highlight of the week,” says Rev. Jonathan Hein, coordinator of WELS Congregational Services. “Ultimately, the gathering of the saints is the foundation of a congregation’s ministry. It is where the sheep are fed. It is where the universal priesthood gets the encouragement to be light and salt to a dark and dying world.”

With that idea in mind, WELS Congregational Services created The Foundation, an effort to build upon the importance of public worship both on Sunday morning and throughout the week. Congregational Services now provides worship, evangelism, discipleship, and school resources for every week of the year. All the resources are catalogued at welscongregationalservices.net and are available for free. 

Pictured is the Advent theme carried out in all The Foundation resources for Advent 2021. 

 

Support Services

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Pictured above: WELS Christian Aid and Relief provided smokeless stoves in South Asia

Christian Aid and Relief

WELS Christian Aid and Relief approved $470,882 for humanitarian aid projects in WELS mission fields throughout the United States and worldwide for fiscal year 2021–22. 

Rev. Daniel Sims, director of WELS Christian Aid and Relief, says, “When our missionaries can assist people in this way, it also helps to build trust and leads to many opportunities to then share the life-changing news of the gospel.”

The humanitarian aid granted through WELS Christian Aid and Relief takes many forms, including providing smokeless stoves to safely heat homes in South Asia (pictured above), medical clinics, assistance for legal immigrants, vocational training, and backpacks and school supplies for underprivileged kids.

WELS Christian Aid and Relief also offers disaster relief, which takes the form of monetary aid and volunteer efforts. In December 2021, a crew of volunteers replaced roofs from two homes in New Orleans, La., that were damaged by Hurricane Ida. 

“I can’t thank God enough for the support and prayers for Crown of Life that poured in after the storm,” says Rev. Jonathan Kehl, pastor at Crown of Life. “The immediate support was so encouraging, as well as the long-term commitments to aiding our congregation and area in recovery. We were excited to see the crew of Christian Aid and Relief volunteers, who generously gave their time and vacations to show up in New Orleans.”

In 2021, WELS Christian Aid and Relief also offered a grant program to help congregations offer pandemic relief to their communities. 

For more information, visit wels.net/relief.

 

WELS Ministry of Christian Giving

WELS Christian giving counselors serve God’s people with the good news of Jesus and help them offer gifts for Christ’s work in their congregations, local ministries, and WELS areas of ministry. There is no charge for their confidential service. Christian giving counselor contacts are made through in-person and phone/Zoom meetings. By God’s grace and to his glory, over the past 14 years our Christian giving counselors have helped WELS members offer $93 million in immediate gifts and $419 million in deferred expectancies. We thank Jesus for his gift of generosity! Pictured is Rev. Michael Hatzung, a WELS Christian giving counselor since 2005.

To learn more or request help with a gift to your church, synod, or WELS-affiliated ministry, visit wels.net/christian-giving or call 800-827-5482.

 

WELS Technology

The WELS Technology team seeks to help the spread of the gospel with technology tools the Lord continues to make available in the 21st century. WELS Technology supports the synod’s gospel work by providing a capable and secure technical infrastructure, building and supporting applications used by synod workers and volunteers, facilitating digital communications, assisting congregations and called workers to better make use of technology, and coordinating technology initiatives that cannot be done at smaller organizational levels. 

 

WELS Communication Services

WELS Communication Services coordinates the various WELS communication platforms so they have a recognizable look and feel and layers communications across those platforms. Some of those platforms include wels.net, WELS’ official website; “Together,” a bi-weekly e-newsletter and a bi-weekly video update; Forward in Christ, WELS’ official monthly magazine; WELS Connection, a monthly video highlighting how Congregation Mission Offerings are used; and WELS’ social media sites. As new programs are developed or new communications created, WELS Communication Services helps establish the design, offers input on the content, and helps areas of ministry develop a communication strategy for the new ministry tool.

 

 

World Missions

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Pictured above: Members of WELS’ One Africa Team with a delegation from the Lutheran Church of Cameroon

Representatives of WELS’ One Africa Team met with a delegation of pastors and laymen from the Lutheran Church of Cameroon in Douala, Cameroon, on October 23, 2021. The group discussed the partnership in the ministry that these groups share, the future of the Lutheran Church of Cameroon seminary, ministry training opportunities, and other ministry topics. At the conclusion of the meetings, Rev. Matthias Abumbi, Lutheran Church of Cameroon president, presented gifts of peace to the WELS missionaries. The gifts were cultural items from the Bakossi Tribe—a bag (Ebam), a cap (Mbute), and a cup (Mbwinde). When Abumbi placed the caps on their heads, the bags on their shoulders, and the cups in their hands, he announced and explained that these gifts speak the powerful message—there is peace between us as brothers. The gifts expressed what the six-day meeting revealed—the tremendous and valuable gift of peace. Pictured with representatives from the Lutheran Church of Cameroon are (from left) Missionary John Holtz, Missionary Dan Kroll, Mr. Stefan Felgenhauer, and Missionary Howard Mohlke.

The Lutheran Church of Cameroon includes 31 congregations that are served by 8 national pastors, 3 evangelists, and 4 certified assistants. To learn more, visit wels.net/cameroon.

 

WELS World Missions conducts and encourages gospel outreach in 44 foreign countries and is exploring outreach opportunities in 20 additional countries. World Missions brings the light of God’s Word through evangelism efforts, church planting, training national workers for ministry, and providing religious materials in foreign languages through Multi-Language Productions. Forty-one world missionaries partner with more than 400 national pastors to conduct outreach
and train more than 380 students for service in Christ’s kingdom. 

World Missions supports mission work: 

  • on the Apache reservations in Arizona, where the gospel is being shared in eight churches, one preaching station, and two Lutheran elementary schools;  
  • in Africa, where missionaries and national church partners from six existing countries are exploring mission work in ten additional African countries; 
  • in Asia, where the newly formed Asia One Team is coordinating resources and partnering with sister synods to reach out with
    the gospel to Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, and Muslim individuals
    in nine different countries;
  • in East Asia, where missionaries are coaching and mentoring 45 mission group leaders in spite of tightening security, and Asia Lutheran Seminary is reaching hundreds of new students through new online classes; 
  • in Latin America, where the Academia Cristo online training
    tool is walking more than 360 people through self-led classes, and missionaries have identified more than 25 men in 11
    different countries as potential church planters;
  • in Europe, where national churches are partnering with WELS missionaries and the Pastoral Studies Institute to train the next generation of church leaders; and
  • through Multi-Language Productions, which has produced confessional Christian content in more than 56 languages and
    on a variety of platforms.

 

Mexico City, Mexico

Arturo and Maricruz Navarrete learned about God’s grace through Academia Cristo and were confirmed as Lutherans in September 2021. The couple sold their living room furniture and purchased chairs, tables, and a coffee maker so they can host a new church group in their home in Mexico City, Mexico. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nong Khai, Thailand 

Missionary Tom Chaleunsouk baptized six people in March 2021 in Nong Khai, Thailand. Since 2020, Chiang Mai, Thailand, has served as a home base for the Asia One Team, which coordinates WELS mission efforts in South Asia and the Asia-Pacific Rim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAMM Celebrates Anniversary

WELS’ Central Africa Medical Mission (CAMM) celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2021. CAMM provides health care through clinics in Malawi and Zambia, serving more than 70,000 patients per year. Pictured is a young patient with an ear infection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New synod in Latin America

In October 2021, representatives from WELS and WELS’ sister churches throughout Latin America met in Medellín, Colombia, to form a new synod—Iglesia Cristo WELS Internacional. Founding members come from churches in Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Venezuela. As part of a synod, these churches now carry out mission work together, train pastors together, and support each other with prayers and fellowship. Pictured is Rev. Larry Schlomer, administrator of WELS World Missions, installing the officers of the new synod. 

Synod membership is expected to swell in the future as new groups gathered through Academia Cristo training efforts complete a two-year confessional process called Ruta Cristo (Christ path). Academia Cristo launched in 2015. It is a multi-faceted effort of the WELS Latin America mission team to make disciples by sharing the message of God’s grace through its website, mobile app, and social media; to identify and train potential leaders; and to encourage those leaders to make disciples who plant churches. Since Academia Cristo’s launch, 47 students from 12 countries have become confessional Lutherans—41 in 2021 alone. Most of them have gathered and now lead groups of believers.

To learn more, visit wels.net/latinamerica.

 

Did you know?

The WELS world mission field on the Apache reservations in Arizona serves more than 3,600 baptized members through 5 missionaries, 2 national pastors, and 1 national evangelist. 

 

April 2021 WELS Connection

 

Home Missions

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Pictured above: Christ Our Savior, Collinsville, Ill.

The Board for Home Missions approved financial support for home mission churches in five new locations in 2021, including:

  • Waco, Texas: The Heart of Texas mission core group has been meeting regularly since March 2020. This mission is being supported by Trinity in nearby Temple, Texas.
  • Durham, N.C.: Gethsemane, the WELS congregation in Raleigh, N.C., is launching a second site in nearby Durham. The gospel is especially needed in this area, as studies show that 75 percent of people in the area do not know their Savior.
  • Parrish, Fla.: This new mission plant is being started and supported by Risen Savior in Lakewood Ranch, a previous home mission church that recently became self-supporting. Ascension in Sarasota is also supporting this new mission site, which is reaching out with the gospel to a community that is 85 percent unchurched.
  • Dickinson, N.D.: A committed core group has been meeting regularly for livestreamed worship and monthly gatherings since 2012, served by pastors from Redeemer, Mandan, N.D., and Our Saviour’s, Bismarck, N.D. Those two congregations as well as Salem, Circle, Mont., will be supporting this new mission start named Amazing Grace. 
  • Collinsville, Ill.: Christ Our Savior, Collinsville, Ill., has served as a preaching station of Martin Luther, St. Louis, Mo., since 2002. Home Missions is now providing funding to Christ Our Savior to call its own pastor. The group pictured (right) took an evangelism and outreach training course from Praise and Proclaim Ministries in October 2021 and is looking forward to reaching out to its community with its new pastor.  

In 2021, Home Missions approved financial support for four existing ministries, including King of Kings, Willoughby, Ohio; Christ the Rock, Hutto, Texas; Ascension, Crossville, Tenn.; and Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nev. Home Missions also approved unsubsidized mission status for Redeemer, Fallbrook, Calif.; St. John’s on the Hillside, Milwaukee, Wis.; and Good Shepherd, Beloit, Wis. Home Missions provides assistance to unsubsidized mission congregations through its district missions boards, mission counselors, synodical support staff, and special project funds, but does not provide direct financial support.

From One Generation to Another

Rev. Paul Bourman presents a children’s devotion at Hope, Tigard, Ore. Hope is one of the 132 congregations that Home Missions supported in 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

Intown Lutheran, Atlanta, Ga.

On October 17, 2021, Rev. Lucas Bitter, pastor at Intown Lutheran, Atlanta, Ga., baptized Lauren Glenney. Bitter began reaching out to those in the heart of the city in 2017. This home mission has created deep roots in its community through local service projects and fellowship events. Members let their lights shine as they interact with their neighbors. 

 

 

 

Mission Connections

Salvador, a Spanish-speaker who lives in Denver, Colo., began studying virtually with Academia Cristo and then sought a local congregation that would teach the same things as Academia Cristo. He found Christ Lutheran Church/Iglesia Luterano Cristo, WELS’ home mission in Denver, which offers Spanish worship services. Salvador’s children were recently baptized (pictured with Rev. Paul Biedenbender), the family attends church regularly, and Salvador is training to become a leader in the congregation.

 

 

Campus Ministry

Campus ministry students in Milwaukee, Wis., volunteered at the WELS Bargain Center, which supports its ministry, in September 2021. Home Missions provided funding to 25 campus ministries in 2021. A full-time campus ministry mission counselor, Rev. Dan Lindner, is now serving all WELS campus ministries. 

 

 

 

 

Did you know?

In July 2021, the synod in convention approved a WELS Home Missions initiative to plant 100 new home mission churches and enhance 75 existing ministries from 2023–2033. 

 

November 2021 WELS Connection

 

 

Joint Missions

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WELS Missions commissioned five new missionaries during the closing service of Taste of Missions in July 2021. Pictured from left: Rev. Mark Zondag, world missionary on the Asia One Team; Rev. Lucas Callies, home missionary at Good Shepherd, North Liberty, Iowa; Rev. Isaac Hayes, home missionary at St. John’s on the Hillside, Milwaukee, Wis.; Rev. Timothy Walsh, home missionary at Grace of God, Dix Hills, N.Y.; and Rev. Andrew Westra, home missionary at a new mission start in Waco, Texas. 

In 2021, Taste of Missions provided an online missions experience for WELS members around the world. The 2022 event is scheduled to take place both online and in person at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., on June 11.
For more information, visit tasteofmissions.com.

 

Mission Journeys

In November 2021, a WELS Mission Journeys team from St. Matthew’s, Oconomowoc, Wis., traveled to Hope in the Heights, a WELS home mission congregation in Houston, Texas. The team assisted Hope with its outreach efforts. 

 

 

 

 

New members confirmed

Rev. Ger Lor confirmed 11 new members at Grace Hmong Lutheran, Kansas City, Kan., in January 2021. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taste of Missions commissioning and Q&A

 

 

Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary

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Pictured above: Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary class of 2021

On May 21, 2021, 28 men graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (WLS), Mequon, Wis., and began their pastoral ministries. 

WLS prepares men for pastoral ministry by providing them with spiritual, theological, and professional training. Students attend classes for two years, serve as full-time vicars during their third year, and then attend classes and write a thesis in their fourth year. Throughout their time at the seminary, students receive opportunities to serve in a variety of ministries and to experience other cultures to help prepare them for their future calls. 

The seminary also provides pastors with opportunities for continued growth in all their callings through the Grow in Grace Institute. Grow in Grace offers continuing education courses, a mentoring initiative for new graduates, a clearinghouse of resources for pastors, and an annual retreat for pastors who are celebrating milestones in their ministries. 

The Pastoral Studies Institute, a partnership between WLS and WELS Missions, guides and assists non-traditional students through their pre-seminary and seminary training so they can become pastors. This includes second-career students as well as cross-cultural students. 

For more information, visit wisluthsem.org. 

 

To carry out its purpose, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary has established the following objectives:

  • to lead theological students and pastors in a reverent study of the inspired and inerrant Word of God so that they are able to understand and apply its Christ-centered message of law and gospel;
  • to encourage theological students and pastors to grow in their personal faith through daily contact with the means of grace;
  • to teach all the areas of the theological curriculum in a thorough and scholarly fashion, in full harmony with the Holy Scriptures and in conscious agreement with the Lutheran Confessions;
  • to train theological students and pastors in the skills required for ministry in an ever-changing world;
  • to instill in theological students and pastors the kinds of attitudes that will assist them as they carry out their ministry in the contemporary world, e.g., confessional in stance, evangelical in approach, mission-minded in spirit, culturally sensitive, appropriately flexible, and zealous both to nurture and to equip the saints.

Pictured: Prof. Robert Wendland teaches church history and homiletics.

 

International Experience

Each seminary student spends an internship year as a “vicar,” learning and serving under experienced pastors and mission-minded congregations. At the seminary’s vicar assignment service on May 19, 2021, Zach Satorius (left) was called to serve in Medellín, Colombia, under Rev. Henry Herrera (right) of the Colombian Lutheran Church. It has been 12 years since a Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary vicar was placed in Latin America. Satorius arrived in Medellín in August 2021 and will return to Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary for his final year of study in August 2022. 

 

Pastoral Studies Institute

The Pastoral Studies Institute (PSI) guides and assists spiritual leaders around the world through preseminary and seminary training. Team members spend much of their time visiting and teaching PSI students. Occasionally, a PSI student visits the seminary campus. Pictured is Prof. Jonathan Bare, director of the Pastoral Studies Institute, with a student who visited the seminary in fall of 2021.

 

Did you know?

Since the school began in 1863, more than 3,500 men have graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Photos of the students from each graduating class as well as the faculty members from that school year line the hallways and hang in classrooms.  

Martin Luther College

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Martin Luther College (MLC), New Ulm, Minn., is committed to training a corps of Christian witnesses who are qualified to meet the ministry needs of WELS and who are competent to proclaim the Word of God faithfully and in accord with the Lutheran Confessions and The Book of Concord. In fall 2021, 714 students were enrolled as undergraduates. 

To meet the current ministry needs of WELS, Martin Luther College: 

  • prepares men for pastoral training at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary;
  • prepares men and women for service as teachers and staff ministers in the synod’s churches, schools, and other institutions;
  • prepares men and women for other church ministries, both full- and part-time, responding to the needs of WELS;
  • prepares international students for ministry in partnership with WELS mission fields; and
  • provides programs of continuing education that meet the ministerial needs of WELS.

For more information, visit mlc-wels.edu.

International Education Week

In November 2021, Martin Luther College’s Cultural Engagement Center sponsored activities for International Education Week to help students learn more about the international students on campus and the opportunities that are available for them to serve in other countries. During the 2021–22 school year, 12 international students are attending Martin Luther College from 7 countries. Pictured are some of those students during an international and third culture student panel offered to the student body. 

Megan Kassuelke, MLC’s director of cultural engagement, notes, “What our students learn at MLC impacts the entire synod. We need culturally competent people in our classrooms and churches who show Jesus’ love by making sure that everyone in their care feels seen, heard, and valued.”

 

 

Commencement 2021

On May 15, 2021, 158 students graduated from Martin Luther College, including 94 from the teacher track, 33 from the preseminary program, and 1 from the staff ministry track. Teachers and staff ministers were also assigned to their first calls that day. 

 

 

 

 

 

Student Teaching

Luke Schultz began his day as a student teacher by listening to memory treasures in his fourth- through eighth-grade classroom at Immanuel, Hutchinson, Minn. Each Martin Luther College student completes a student teaching assignment in a Lutheran school and a public school. 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you know?

Martin Luther College offers three graduate degrees for teachers and staff ministers—Master of Arts in Theological Studies for teachers and staff ministers, Master of Science in Education, and Master of Science in Educational Administration. 

 

October 2021 WELS Connection

 

Preparatory Schools

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Pictured above: Six Michigan Lutheran Seminary students participated in this Project Titus trip to help with a science-themed vacation Bible school at Messiah, Johns Creek, Ga.

Luther Preparatory School, Watertown, Wis., and Michigan Lutheran Seminary, Saginaw, Mich., prepare high school students for future service as pastors, teachers, and staff ministers. For the 2021–22 school year, Luther Preparatory School has 425 students and Michigan Lutheran Seminary has 182 students. 

Both schools offer “Taste of Ministry” opportunities for students, which include shadowing called workers to learn more about their work. Students also are given firsthand gospel ministry experiences on campus and during mission trips. 

For more information, visit lps.wels.net or mlsem.org. 

Abram Steinbrenner and Benjamin Felgenhauer shadowed Rev. Jordan Ertl, pastor at St. John’s, Baraboo, Wis., for Luther Preparatory School’s Taste of Ministry.

 

 

 

 

Ethan Buege and Isaiah Schlomer volunteered for this Project Timothy mission trip to Divine Savior, West Palm Beach, Fla., through Luther Preparatory School. 

 

 

 

 

Megan Beardslee, a senior at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, visited St. Paul’s, Saginaw, Mich., for Taste of Ministry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Called To Support

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Northwestern Publishing House

Northwestern Publishing House (NPH) provides Christ-centered, biblically sound resources to the people of WELS and beyond. NPH publishes Forward in Christ and Meditations: Daily Devotional, elementary and Sunday school curricula, Bible studies, worship materials, music, and faith-strengthening books for WELS members. In 2020, NPH released more than 25 Christian resources in print and digital formats, including:

  • Whatever Is True, A Christian View of Anxiety;
  • Your Life Has Meaning;
  • a vacation Bible school course, plus a “staycation” version for families at home;
  • Hymns for Life, the first year of a new three-year hymnology course for Lutheran elementary schools;
  • In God’s Orchard and Full Accessories of God, Bible studies for women by women;
  • Civil Government, designed for small group study;
  • 5-Minute Bible Studies for Teens and 5-Minute Bible Studies for Families; and
  • 13 music offerings for organ, piano, choirs, and vocal solos.

NPH quickly responded to support churches and WELS members during the pandemic. NPH offered wellness supplies, resources for immediate digital download, and Faith Care Packages for those unable to attend church in person. Additionally, NPH introduced At-Home Christ-Light Sunday School with trained teachers presenting lessons via video (pictured above). The program is reaching children unable to attend traditional, in-person Sunday school.

Among other projects, NPH continues work on the new Christian Worship hymnal and its expansive suite of resources with an anticipated release in 2021.

Visit nph.net or call 800-662-6022 to learn more about the ministry of NPH.

WELS Benefit Plans

The WELS Benefit Plans Office (BPO) serves WELS and Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) workers and organizations through administration of the WELS Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (VEBA) Health Plan, the WELS Pension Plan, and the WELS Shepherd Plan.

The WELS VEBA Health Plan provides benefits for church and school workers in accordance with God’s Word while remaining compliant with the federal health care reform law. The plan provides comprehensive, nationwide coverage. More than 80 percent of WELS workers and calling bodies participate in WELS VEBA.

The WELS Pension Plan provides WELS workers with a valuable source of guaranteed income during retirement.

The WELS Shepherd Plan provides workers the opportunity to save and invest a portion of their earnings to provide income during their retirement years.

One important advantage of participating in WELS Benefit Plans is that the coverage and benefits provided are uniform throughout all 50 states. This supports the WELS ministry and call process because worker call decisions are not influenced by health insurance and retirement benefit decisions.

Visit welsbpo.net for more information.

 

WELS Foundation

WELS Foundation exists to help God’s people support gospel ministry through WELS. WELS Foundation currently administers more than 1,200 donor-directed planned gifts, including endowment funds, donor advised funds, and gifts that provide income payments to the donor and/or their family members and loved ones. These planned gifts, generally established with the assistance of a WELS Christian giving counselor or other WELS mission advancement representative, benefit WELS congregations, schools, missions, and other affiliated ministries.

In fiscal year 2020, WELS Foundation was privileged to distribute $5.88 million in donor-directed gifts to various WELS ministries. This included $2.54 million to WELS Missions and Ministry Support, $1.92 million to WELS ministerial education schools, $88,000 to WELS Church Extension Fund, $810,000 to WELS congregations, and $522,000 to WELS-affiliated ministries and area Lutheran high schools.
Visit wels.net/foundation for more information.

 

WELS Church Extension Fund

Members of Christ the Rock, Hutto, Texas, wrote their favorite Bible passages on the building’s beams before the drywall went up. WELS Church Extension Fund provided more than $600,000 in home missions grants to Christ the Rock, along with a low-interest loan for the remainder of the cost of the land and construction of its new church.

WELS Church Extension Fund, Inc., (WELS CEF) provides financing through loans and grants to mission congregations so they can acquire land and ministry facilities to be used for gospel outreach in coordination with WELS Home Missions. WELS CEF also provides loans to self-supporting WELS congregations and schools for land and facility projects. The money to carry out WELS CEF’s mission comes from investments and gifts from WELS members, congregations, and affiliated organizations.

In fiscal year 2019–20, $24.2 million of new loans and $2.9 million of new grants were approved to mission and mission-minded self-supporting congregations. In addition, WELS CEF provided a grant of $1.06 million to the Board for Home Missions from its annual endowment distribution. WELS CEF ended fiscal year 2020 with assets of $211.2 million and net assets of $106.3 million. More than 3,100 WELS members invested $99.0 million. The loan portfolio held $182.8 million in 209 loans to congregations and affiliates.

For more information, visit wels.net/cef.

WELS Investment Funds

WELS Investment Funds is a self-supporting subsidiary of WELS. Its mission is to provide cost-effective, professionally managed investment portfolios exclusively for WELS-affiliated ministries. By pooling investment resources through WELS Investment Funds, congregations can take advantage of lower cost, institutionally priced investment alternatives that would not otherwise be available. As more congregations and WELS-affiliated ministries invest in WELS Investment Funds, the cost-reduction benefits increase. It’s another way we can help support each other.

As of September 30, 2020, WELS Investment Funds manages $251 million in assets, which includes $61 million for 216 congregations and affiliated ministries.

Visit wels.net/welsfunds for more information.

Financial Services

In July 2020, Kyle Egan started as WELS’ new chief financial officer (CFO) following the retirement of Todd Poppe, who served as WELS’ CFO for the past 16 years.

Financial Services provides accounting and financial services that support and serve WELS ministries. WELS has continued to be blessed with a solid financial position that allows the synod to maintain existing ministries and to branch out into new initiatives. However, 2020 has provided various challenges and changes that required the Financial Services team to be nimble in a time of uncertainty.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought forward many unforeseen impacts including working from home, the canceling of many large gatherings and in-person meetings, WELS schools transitioning to virtual learning, WELS congregations transitioning to virtual worship services, and abnormal fluctuations within Congregation Mission Offerings (CMO) in the spring and early summer of 2020. CMO is critical to WELS’ financial position as it funds nearly three-quarters of WELS’ operating budget and decreased on average more than 11 percent from the end of March through May 2020. Thankfully, the Lord provided assistance during these months through various relief efforts that WELS was able to participate in, including the Paycheck Protection Program. CMO has since improved but is being watched closely in conjunction with the levels of WELS’ various reserves as they generally are utilized more in periods of flat or declining CMO.

In fall 2020, the collaborative process of developing the synod’s ministry financial plan (budget) for the next two years began among the areas of ministry, ministerial education schools, synod leadership, and the Synodical Council. The plan will be finalized at the 2021 synod convention in July.

Support Services

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Christian Aid and Relief

Rev. Dan Sims became the first full-time director of WELS Christian Aid and Relief in July 2020. Sims (left) is pictured here with a couple that was helped by Christian Aid and Relief in August after strong storms blew through Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Having a pastor serve full time in this position will allow more time to develop an intensive program—including a printed training manual and video materials—to prepare and train congregations and their leaders in disaster response before a disaster hits. Another goal is to establish and equip disaster relief coordinators in each district to assess and oversee local disaster response.

But Sims wants to do more than just respond to disasters; he wants to create a compassionate spirit in WELS congregations to help those who are suffering in their communities. He says that not only does that follow Christ’s command to “do good to all people” (Galatians 6:10), but also “if [the neighborhood residents] can see WELS congregations and people as caring and active in helping with physical needs, then we gain more opportunities to talk with them about their spiritual needs and their Savior.”

For more information, visit wels.net/relief.

 

WELS Communication Services

WELS Communication Services helped coordinate synod resources to keep WELS congregations, schools, and members informed on how COVID-19 was affecting ministries and resources to help them adapt during the pandemic. All the information was featured on wels.net under the title “As we face COVID-19.”

Forward in Christ, WELS’ official monthly magazine, launched its redesigned magazine in January 2020. Taking into account answers and comments from the reader survey that Forward in Christ conducted in 2019, the magazine now includes new columns, old favorites, and a fresh design, all presented to help 21st-century Christians grow in their faith. Forward in Christ also debuted a new website as well as Facebook and Instagram pages. For more information, visit forwardinchrist.net.

 

WELS Ministry of Christian Giving

WELS Ministry of Christian Giving serves on behalf of the Conference of Presidents to encourage every WELS member to “excel in the grace of giving” through Christ. During the COVID-19 pandemic the Ministry of Christian Giving has continued assisting members with their Christian giving goals via phone meetings, web conferencing, and in-person visits.

WELS Ministry of Christian Giving has been involved with Martin Luther College’s “Equipping Christian Witnesses” campaign to recruit more called workers, increase tuition assistance, and build needed facilities so that WELS will have more called workers to meet growing worldwide ministry opportunities. Just over $5 million in gifts, pledges, and commitments had been received as of late 2020.

To request free, confidential assistance with a gift to your church, synod, or WELS-affiliated ministry, visit wels.net/Christian-giving or call 800-827-5482.

 

Technology

In 2020, WELS Technology helped pastors, teachers, and synod workers at the Center for Mission and Ministry adjust their work during the pandemic. WELS Technology helped lead the conversation on topics such as livestreaming and video conferencing options and how technology can help advance ministry, especially during a time when large groups of Christians can’t meet in person. Pictured is Timothy Walsh presenting a Facebook Live devotion in spring 2020 when he served as a vicar at Grace, Falls Church, Va.

 

 

Congregational Services

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Pictured above:
WELS Commission on Lutheran Schools has been working with teachers and other school leaders to help navigate the quickly-changing landscape of education during COVID-19. WELS schools are still committed to providing a strong Christian education for their students. New schools are even continuing to open. Pictured are teachers from Divine Savior Academy–Santa Rita Ranch, Liberty Hill, Texas, on the first day of this new school in August 2020.

Website offers resources and training modules

WELS Congregational Services offers resources and training modules for congregations at welscongregationalservices.net. This year, new resources include:

  • Congregational Evangelism Kit: Video-based training for congregational evangelism leaders to ensure that a congregation has a solid foundation to reach the lost in its community.
  • Youth ministry made simple: Video and print resources that offer straightforward tips for starting an effective yet simple youth ministry.
  • C20—The greatest gift: This Christmas outreach program provides materials for congregations to invite neighbors to Christmas Eve services.
  • Acoustics and audio for worship: Learn what factors need to be considered when creating a worship environment that enhances the spoken word and allows for dynamic singing as well as takes into consideration those who need hearing assistance.
  • COVID-19—For such a time as this: Articles and resources to assist pastors and congregations as they serve their members and communities during the pandemic. A follow-up resource titled “Resuming worship in a pandemic” was also shared.

 

Military Services

The Christian Service Members’ Handbook was developed by WELS Special Ministries, the Lutheran Military Support Group, and Northwestern Publishing House to help those in the military stay strong in their faith in places where a pastor or fellow believer might not be available. The book is divided into five sections—prayer, meditations and devotions, Scriptures, hymns, and the Small Catechism. Military members can receive this book—and other spiritual resources—for free by filling out a referral form at wels.net/refer.

 

Online faith-building resources grow

In 2020, WELS Discipleship began offering a variety of new resources to help members grow in their faith.

  • Family devotions: Offered three times per week, these devotions coincide with the previous Sunday’s Bible readings. In addition to Scripture, each devotion includes a set of questions for different age groups, a prayer, and hymn verses that can be sung or spoken. They are available at wels.net/family-devotions.
  • Marriage moments: This new series of videos explores one marriage thought per week as well as a question or exercise “for further thought”—all in two minutes or less. For more information or to subscribe, visit welscongregationalservices.net/marriage-moments.
  • Youth Bible study—Focused living in Christ: Rev. Joel Russow has written a new four-part Bible study for teens based on Colossians 3:12-15 that includes video lessons. Find the study at wels.net/youth-ministry.

New hymnal resources introduced

A new website, christianworship.com, was launched in January 2020 to share details about the new Christian Worship hymnal. The site highlights features of the upcoming hymnal as well as the suite of resources that will accompany it. Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated new resource is Christian Worship: Service Builder, a powerful software tool that will save worship planners and staff members considerable time as they design worship services. Visit christianworship.com to watch videos and learn more about the new hymnal and the many new resources that will complement it.

 

Did you know?

Daily devotions continue to be delivered to the e-mail inboxes of more than 11,000 people each weekday. Thousands more read the devotions on wels.net or via the WELS Facebook page.

 

Joint Missions

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Pictured above: Taste and See
Taste and See, a first-of-its-kind online event co-hosted by the Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society and WELS Missions, launched in summer 2020 to allow all WELS members to experience WELS Missions. This event included live worship services, question and answer panels, devotions, presentations, video updates from home and world missionaries, cooking tutorials, and more. Visit welstasteandsee.com to see all that was offered.

Outreach to Muslims

Haris (name changed due to the sensitive nature of his work), originally from a Muslim nation in South Asia, lives in the Midwest and is enrolled in the Pastoral Studies Institute. He writes: 

When the coronavirus started, I was thinking . . . how can we reach out to the large Muslim population in our community to show the love of Christ? I was talking to my friend, and he said, “I know of WELS churches that are making face masks! They will make masks for you to share with the Muslims.” So we started distributing food to our Muslim neighborhood along with the face masks. People in the community donated groceries and money to buy food. We delivered food and masks on more than 20 different occasions. People drove up in their cars, and we put the groceries in their vehicles. We also dropped off food on people’s porches. Counting only the early drive-thrus, we helped 504 families and assisted 64 families who had a family member with coronavirus. Everyone knows I am a Christian, and they know this help comes because of the love of Jesus for all people.

 

The Global South Sudanese Committee met in February 2020 at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary to discuss South Sudanese ministry occurring in North America and in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. Pictured is the committee worshiping together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

World Missions

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Pictured above: Training the next generation
Eight men from the Lutheran Church of Central Africa–Zambia and the Lutheran Church of Central Africa–Malawi completed their six years of theological training and received their vicar assignments from the Lutheran Seminary in Lusaka, Zambia, on May 29, 2020.

WELS World Missions conducts and encourages gospel outreach in 40 foreign countries and is exploring outreach opportunities in 17 additional countries. World Missions brings the light of God’s Word through evangelism efforts, church planting, training national workers for ministry, and providing religious materials in foreign languages through Multi-Language Productions. Thirty-nine world missionaries partner with more than 400 national pastors to conduct outreach and train more than 380 students for service in Christ’s kingdom.

World Missions supports mission work:

  • on the Apache reservations in Arizona, where the gospel is being shared in eight churches, one preaching station, and two Lutheran elementary schools;
  • in Africa, where missionaries and national church partners from six existing countries are exploring mission work in nine additional African countries;
  • in Asia, where the newly formed Asia One Team is coordinating resources and partnering with sister synods to reach out with the gospel to Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, and Muslim individuals in nine different countries;
  • in East Asia, where missionaries are coaching and mentoring 45 mission group leaders in spite of tightening security, and Asia Lutheran Seminary is reaching hundreds of new students through new online classes;
  • in Latin America, where the Academia Cristo online training tool is walking more than 345 people through self-led classes, and missionaries have identified more than 25 men in 11 different countries as potential church planters;
  • in Europe, where national churches are partnering with WELS missionaries and the Pastoral Studies Institute to train the next generation of church leaders;
  • through Multi-Language Productions, which has produced confessional Christian content in more than 56 languages and on a variety of platforms.

Our mission in Pakistan has 28 house churches, 25 Sunday schools, 14 non-formal schools, and 1 all-day Christian school and high school with 400 students—all in a Muslim country that is hostile to Christians.

 

 

 

 

 

The Latin America missions team is partnering with Pastor Henry, a missionary from our sister synod in Medellín, Colombia, to help others start churches in Colombia and Venezuela.

 

 

 

 

 

WELS representatives were not able to make their planned training visits to Vietnam in 2020 because of COVID-19, and the building of a theological center in Hanoi has been delayed. Therefore the WELS Vietnam planning group provided phones and internet connectivity to all Hmong Fellowship Church leaders to participate in online training. In November 2020, 57 leaders tuned in for the first week of instruction via Zoom. These leaders take what they learn in these lessons and share it with their rural congregations and villages.

 

Connecting with Christians around the world

WELS Multi-Language Productions produces confessional Christian content in more than 56 languages. The majority of its products are evangelism and Bible study materials in the form of video, music, podcasts, and print. Multi-Language Productions has recently introduced a new online Bible-based training platform called TELL (Think, Evaluate, Learn, and Lead) to bring the gospel to English-speakers around the world. TELL students are encouraged to complete online self-led courses, participate in deeper studies with a live online instructor, and then lead a local group in Bible study or worship. Rev. Dan Laitinen is serving as a TELL missionary, helping to coordinate this mission work.

Samuel (pictured) is a TELL student from Guinea, Africa. “My greatest desire is to be well-equipped for mission work,” says Samuel. Like thousands of others, Samuel found TELL on Facebook. He then downloaded the TELL app and completed all the self-learning courses. Now Samuel is meeting twice a week in a video classroom with a TELL instructor and other students.

“I used to believe in a gospel that was preaching prosperity and miracles mostly,” Samuel says, “but I discovered this misleads believers. It focuses on earthly things and makes us forget heavenly things. Now I’m mission-minded.”