Helping Asian leaders remain faithful and fruitful amidst challenges

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Dear Christian Friend,

How would you feel if you lived in a country where December 25 was treated like any other day? Pastor M faces challenges like this regularly. He is a Lutheran pastor who lives in an Asian country where few people know that Christmas is about the arrival of the Savior. He says, “Christians are a minority in our Muslim-majority country. But because of the CELC, we do not feel alone.”

Formed in 1993, the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC) is a place where Pastor M and members of other churches can express their oneness in faith and confession and be strengthened by the Word of God. WELS Commission on Inter-Church Relations (CICR) works to maintain and support relationships among these 34 CELC church bodies throughout the world.

Pastor M’s church has attended one of the triennial CELC global conferences, but he has found special blessings in regional gatherings with his fellow believers. Meeting in Asia helps to keep a focus on Asian issues like ancestor worship and polytheism. They also network with other Lutherans. For example, Pastor M introduced a member from his church, who was working in Taiwan, to a local Lutheran pastor.

This is happening more and more. WELS ministry in Asia now serves people in at least a dozen countries. The church is growing quickly, but it faces many pressures. Civil unrest is common. Christianity is often suppressed. Churches have even been burned. Our Asian brothers crave fellowship and encouragement from the Scriptures and fellow Lutherans.

Pastor M is working hard to gather as many CELC Asia leaders as possible in June 2025. Together they will study God’s Word, encourage each other, and talk about sharing the good news of Jesus in their country and culture. He serves because he has seen firsthand the spiritual benefits of the CELC. “When our church joined CELC Asia in 2015 and then in 2018, we came back home and shared all the blessings we received. Our brothers and sisters were encouraged because they have fellowship with brothers and sisters in many other Asian countries. It is a joy and blessing for us to host the CELC event for the first time and welcome our brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Your gift to WELS Commission on Inter-Church Relations will help these Asian leaders with limited financial resources to attend CELC Asia. It enables a pastor who is a former Buddhist to join and share his story. It helps another leader attend who faces increasing physical danger because he confesses his Lutheran faith. A young pastor who toils alone in another country says, “I am so excited to be able to see all our Lutheran brothers and sisters from Asia during the CELC Asia conference. We will have a great chance to discuss questions like ‘How can we share the heavenly message with others in our country and culture? How can we plant and nurture the church with the Means of Grace?’”

God’s people in Asia are bringing the true message of Christmas to fellow Asians. Your support will encourage and strengthen them, despite the difficulties, to remain faithful to the Savior’s Word and to become more fruitful in their ministry.

In Christ,
Rev. Rob Siirila
Retired East Asian missionary
Advisor to the CELC Asia planning committee

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Prayer: Lord Jesus, what a special blessing to be united with church bodies of various sizes around the world through shared confession of faith based on your true Word. Thank you for the WELS Commission on Inter-Church Relations, which maintains and supports relationships with the 34 Lutheran church bodies of our fellowship around the world. We ask you to continue to enrich this fellowship through the encouragement that comes from the study of your Word, prayer, and regular gatherings of church bodies. Amen.

Magnify the Lord through music

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Dear Friend,

Luther Preparatory School (LPS) has been part of our synod’s ministerial education training on its Watertown, Wis., campus for 159 years. Today more than a hundred 14-year-olds enroll at the high school every year to consider and be prepared to serve the Savior as pastors, teachers, or staff ministers in Christ’s public gospel ministry. Perhaps you know that 25 percent of the students at Martin Luther College and 40 percent of the students at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary are LPS graduates. Thank you, Lord, for blessing LPS’s ministry and purpose, as only you can!

Throughout its history, thousands upon thousands of WELS members have been supporting the worldwide preaching and teaching of the gospel by supporting Luther Prep’s ministry. Everything Luther Prep possesses—from the buildings to the bleachers to the beds in the dormitories—has come from the gracious hand of God through the gifts of his people. Thank you, dear WELS members!

LPS has not built a new stand-alone building in more than 50 years. In 1971 a new gym replaced the one built in 1912. Since then, that 1912 building has been serving as Luther Prep’s music auditorium. As the student body and number of programs have increased, this space has been creatively adapted to accommodate practices for large and small choral and instrumental groups, storage, and set construction. We have come to the point where we have maximized our ability to adapt. Sharing space is no longer an option.

Worship and all of its components are the heartbeat of WELS Lutherans’ lives. As a synod ministerial education high school it follows that music is a most essential ingredient of LPS’s ministry preparation. Every student takes a music class all four years. Approximately 90 percent of our students participate in choir and take piano lessons. LPS has a flourishing band program and produces more organists than any other high school in North America. Music permeates Luther Prep’s campus and is a blessing to our students and our church body both now and into eternity. As Martin Luther wrote, “Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. The gift of language combined with the gift of song was given to us that we should proclaim the Word of God through music.”

Luther Prep is embarking on a once-in-a-generation project for the good of our students and Christ’s Church. We desire to build a music center that will have a performing arts theater with sloped seating and 100 additional seats, designated band and choir rooms, right-sized classrooms with the latest technology, piano studios, practice rooms, adequate restrooms, etc. The estimated cost at this time ranges between $10-$15 million. Lord-willing, a new music center might endure for a century or more as the last one has. A blessed side effect will be the modest repurposing of the 112-year-old current music auditorium to its original purpose as a much-needed second gym. Through the generosity of God’s people, Luther Prep has already received gifts and designated assets totaling more than $2 million for this endeavor. Will you please consider investing your interest, prayers, and resources to help us receive the gifts we desire to fully fund this project?

Thank you, Lord, for giving Luther Prep everything for 159 years. All of LPS’s needs have been met. Thank you, dear WELS member, for considering an initial gift to a music center at your synodical school.

Grace and peace,
Matt Crass
President, Luther Preparatory School

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Prayer: Lord God, you lovingly created music to bring us joy and engage our hearts as it communicates your Word. Luther Preparatory School in Watertown, Wis., understands this and has, throughout its long history, trained students to appreciate your gift of music and to help lead worship. This has been a great blessing in our congregations. We ask you to give success to Luther Prep’s efforts to build a new music center that will allow them to enhance music education for future called and lay workers. May all that we do, Lord, serve to magnify your name! Amen.

What will God use us to do next?

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Dear Friend of Missions,

God continues to surprise us all around the world!

Those who serve in our world mission fields bring the light of Jesus’ victory over sin and death to precious souls through evangelism efforts, church planting, training national workers for ministry, and providing religious materials in foreign languages through Multi-Language Productions. Currently 50 world missionaries partner with over 500 national pastors to conduct outreach and train more than 400 students for service in Christ’s Kingdom. Praise God!

Your prayers and support for WELS World Missions work are vital and ensure that we can continue gospel ministry in 46 countries while exploring opportunities in 19 prospective new mission fields. Contributions to WELS World Missions help open and support these mission efforts. What will God use us to do next?

By now you may have already seen my letter about our many WELS World Missions opportunities. Please consider a gift to help share the love of Jesus. We pray that God will continue to surprise us. He has provided WELS with many opportunities, the manpower is ready, the door is still open, and the gospel is powerful!

Serving together,
Rev. Jonathan Schroeder
Chairman, Board for World Missions

P.S. Read about the tenth anniversary of Academia Cristo, a ministry that God has used to touch the hearts of millions of people in Latin America.

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An open door to the gospel

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Dear Friend,

When I first heard that WELS had been invited to communist Vietnam to train church leaders in the truth of the gospel, I was surprised. Yet, God had opened the door, and WELS members responded with generosity and faith. God continues to surprise us all around the world.

There are over two million Hmong people in Southeast Asia, but it was the opportunity in Vietnam, and our work with the Hmong Fellowship Church (HFC), that provided us with a direct path to share the good news about Jesus. In 2011 WELS missionary Rev. Bounkeo Lor began by training 55 HFC leaders, preparing them to return and serve rural congregations. In July 2023, these 55 men graduated as fully trained pastors. Their graduation photo, taken with President Schroeder under the communist hammer and sickle, serves as a powerful reminder of how God’s gospel can work in ways we can hardly imagine.

Now 120 more men have begun their pastoral studies, a theological training center was built and dedicated in Hanoi, there are 1,400 rural church leaders ready to be trained in the truths of God’s Word, and 700 of them have begun training. This group has the potential to become an army of evangelists, spreading the gospel not only to their 400 congregations but also to Hmong communities throughout Vietnam and neighboring countries. The door remains open, and God continues to surprise us.

The door is open. The manpower is ready. The gospel is powerful. God is providing us with opportunities all around the globe. New work in Australia, London, New Zealand, Tanzania, and the Congo has been launched over the last two years. Dozens of house churches have been opened in Latin America and Africa. We ask for your prayers and offerings to keep these gospel doors open.

Your gift to this work is vital for WELS to continue carrying the gospel through the open door in Vietnam and around the world. Contributions to WELS World Missions help open and support these missions. Your gift can enable this gospel-driven growth to multiply because we expect God to continue surprising us.

Since we began working with the Hmong Fellowship Church, it has grown from 55,000 to 146,000 members. What will God use us to do next? Christians who have heard the gospel for the first time are moved by our Lord to reach out to others who still need to hear it. The leaders we train and equip are reaching hearts, and the Holy Spirit is granting a harvest.

This work could not have been accomplished without the prayers and gifts of God’s people. We thank our Father in heaven for the generous support given to WELS World Missions. If you are looking for a way to extend the reach of the gospel, now is the time. We have extraordinary opportunities to train hundreds more church leaders, who will, in turn, share the Word with their communities. Please consider giving to WELS World Missions.

In Christ,
Rev. Jonathan Schroeder
Chairman, Board for World Missions

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Prayer: Lord Jesus, you have richly blessed our synod by allowing us to reach and serve so many souls worldwide—even entire church bodies—and by continuing to open doors to further gospel proclamation. Our world missions efforts are now on every inhabited continent and impacting people in nearly 100 countries. Help us to thank you for our many blessings and to use them to support the gospel ministry of our brothers and sisters across the world. According to your gracious will, multiply our work so that those we train will touch the lives of others with your saving message and, in the next ten years, our fellowship outside of North America can reach one million people. Amen.

The gospel is powerful!

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Dear Friend of Missions,

When WELS was first invited to communist Vietnam to share the good news of salvation through Jesus, it was a surprise. Yet, God opened that door, and WELS members responded with generosity and faith to support that opportunity.

Since we began working with the Hmong Fellowship Church, it has grown from 55,000 members to 145,000. What will God use us to do next? Christians who have heard the gospel for the first time are moved by our Lord to reach out to others who still need to hear it. The leaders we train and equip are reaching hearts, and the Holy Spirit is granting a harvest.

And God continues to surprise us all around the world.

Watch your mailbox for even more information about how God is blessing ministry happening all over the world through WELS World Missions. The door is open. The manpower is ready. The gospel is powerful. God has provided WELS with opportunities in Australia, London, New Zealand, Tanzania, and the Congo over the last two years. Dozens of house churches have opened in Latin America and Africa. We boldly ask God’s people to help keep these gospel doors open.

“See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut” (Revelation 3:8).

Your prayers and offerings to WELS World Missions will support new and existing ministries around the world and will enable this gospel-driven growth to multiply. If you are looking for a way to extend the reach of the gospel, now is the time! Consider giving to WELS World Missions today. We pray that God would continue to surprise us!

Serving together,
Rev. Jonathan Schroeder
Chairman, Board for World Missions

P.S. Watch this video to see how God opens doors to the gospel all over the world.

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Spiritual support for military members in the West Pacific

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Dear Friend,

Hopefully you were able to watch this month’s WELS Connection and read my letter about WELS European Civilian Chaplain, Pastor Robert Weiss, bringing the good news of Jesus to many in Europe. WELS also has a national chaplain, Pastor Paul Horn. He is our direct link to the Pentagon and works to connect with and provide spiritual support for WELS members serving in the military across the United States and around the world.

Chaplain Horn is being asked to assist military members serving in the West Pacific—Japan, Guam, and several other countries. Currently, military members there are served about twice a month by a worship service via Zoom. These military members have expressed to Chaplain Horn how they would appreciate the chance to gather together in one place for worship with Word and sacrament and for fellowship.

Chaplain Horn is planning his first in-person trip this fall to provide this worship and fellowship opportunity. Another such gathering is planned for early 2025. Each of these trips will cost over $2,000.

Thank you for taking the time this month to learn about and possibly expand the outreach of our WELS European Chaplain. If you are so moved, please also consider donating today to help our national chaplain better minister to those protecting us and our country while stationed in the West Pacific. Thank you.

In Christ,
Joel Gaertner
Director, WELS Special Ministries

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