Fri., May 16, and Sat., May 17, marked the commencement of the 2025 graduating class of WELS teachers, staff ministers, and pastoral students from Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn.

Friday night featured a commencement concert, and on Saturday, the synod’s college of ministry held a graduation service and a call service, where graduating teachers and staff ministers learned where they would begin their full-time ministry. Graduating pastor-track students will continue their education at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis.

Watch the recorded livestreams of the services and view the assignment list.

Amazing Grace Virtual Academy (AGVA), a fully accredited online WELS high school, celebrated a milestone May 15 with its first graduation of fully online learners.

Three students graduated high school in a virtual ceremony, participating from their homes in South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

“This milestone to be able to issue high school diplomas to its first graduating class is yet another example of how AGVA has been extremely blessed by a gracious God over its first 14 years of existence,” says Dr. James Grunwald, AGVA’s executive director.

Amazing Grace Virtual Academy (known for a time as ALHS Online) has been offering high-quality online courses since 2011 to supplement the class offerings of WELS and Evangelical Lutheran Synod high schools and elementary schools. With more inquiries from families who didn’t have the opportunity to send their children to one of WELS’ 30 Lutheran high schools, the academy decided to expand its offerings, enrolling its first full-time students in 2022. Currently 18 students are taking classes full time and 381 are taking individual courses.

The academy serves a diverse student population, including Lutheran school students whose schools don’t offer all of the courses that meet their learning interests or specific course needs, home-schooled students, students from public schools seeking additional courses, and learners with medical or personal constraints that limit traditional schooling.

Grunwald is stepping down as the academy’s full-time executive director this year but will continue to serve part time through June 2026. “Being a part of AGVA since its beginning 14 years ago and working with extremely dedicated students, partner schools, instructors, and fellow administrators has been a true blessing,” he says. “To God be the glory!”

Learn more at amazinggraceva.org. Read more about AGVA’s first graduation at forwardinchrist.net/online-partnership.

“The WELS leadership conference offered a fantastic opportunity for our members to learn from experts across the synod and encourage them as leaders at our church,” says Rev. Kurtis Wetzel, pastor at Cross of Christ, Nampa, Idaho.

Wetzel and members from Cross of Christ attended the first two WELS National Conferences on Lutheran Leadership in 2020 and 2023. He and his congregation are planning to send another group to the leadership conference in January 2026.

Cross of Christ in Nampa is a mission congregation established as a second site to Cross of Christ in Boise. Wetzel shares, “Some of the guidance I received early on in our mission was to train up lay leaders quickly and involve members in lots of ministry.”

The keynotes and workshops at the leadership conference equipped his members for just that.

“We are striving to equip and empower the universal priesthood at our congregation and encourage leaders to work alongside the called staff to do more ministry and increase our local impact on souls for eternity,” says Wetzel. “Cross of Christ has always encouraged personal witnessing. Because of some of the workshops on outreach and evangelism, our members came back with renewed outreach energy and shared with the congregation even more about the need for personal (as well as corporate) evangelism. This has energized other members at our church for witnessing.”

Member Cindy Harris says she was honored to be invited to attend the conference. “I was humbled to be in the company of so many gifted spiritual leaders who passionately shared their knowledge about how to best proclaim the gospel in our communities,” she says. “Our pastors at Cross of Christ in Idaho do a wonderful job of training and encouraging our members for works of service, but this was an opportunity to learn from pastors and teachers in other congregations throughout our entire church body and take it home and share it!”

Cindy and her husband are founding members of Cross of Christ. She serves through leading a women’s Bible study and as the coordinator for the spiritual needs committee. She says of her time at the conference, “The whole time I was there I was thinking how wonderful it would be for every member back home to experience this conference. We ‘Western WELS’ members don’t often have the opportunity to personally experience the depth of our synod’s leadership and their passion for proclaiming the gospel throughout the world. It is a taste of heaven!”

The next WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership will be held Jan. 19–21, 2026, at the Hilton, Chicago.

Learn more about the conference at lutheranleadership.com.

The WELS Conference of Presidents (COP) held its spring meeting this month at the WELS Center for Mission and Ministry, Waukesha, Wis. The COP comprises the 12 WELS district presidents, the synod president, and two synod vice presidents. Here is a summary of what they discussed.

• The COP continues to develop sample governance models for congregations developing congregational constitutions and bylaws.
• The COP reviewed the procedures it will follow as it carries out teaching assignments at Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn., in May, including clarifying that preseminary graduates (who do not continue at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary) are not automatically certified for non-pastoral ministry. Those called to other types of service (such as teaching) will normally need to enroll in the synod’s teacher certification program.
• The COP continues to review the calling process, especially in view of the challenges of pastor and teacher shortages.
• The Assignment Committee will continue to consider emergency teaching calls after the assignments are made in May.
• The COP was asked to reconsider a proposal to change the synod convention from a biennial to a triennial schedule. The 12 districts heard this proposal last summer, and the majority of districts were not in favor of the change. In view of that, the COP declined to reconsider the proposal at this time, but it did decide that additional rationale could be placed before the district conventions in 2026.
• The COP reviewed the new long-range strategic plan that will be presented to the synod convention in July.
• As of the April meeting of the COP, there were 156 pastoral vacancies in the synod, with 149 of those being parish pastor positions. The 2025 seminary graduating class will provide candidates numbering in the mid-20s, meaning that the pastoral vacancy situation will improve only slightly in the near term. Larger classes at the seminary in the coming years, however, will provide some relief in the future. In the meantime, the COP asks every WELS congregation and member to encourage young men to consider training for the pastoral ministry.
• A similar high vacancy rate is taking place in teacher positions. WELS school enrollments have increased significantly in the last two years—a real blessing—but that has caused a need for more teachers than are currently available. It’s estimated that even after teacher candidates are assigned at Martin Luther College in May, there will still be approximately 100-120 vacancies in teaching positions. The Commission on Lutheran Schools has been working with congregations to find ways to fill the vacancies. At the same time, Martin Luther College has been redoubling its efforts to recruit both traditional and non-traditional teacher candidates. It will also be exploring other ideas to provide more teacher candidates. As in the case of pastors, those in the best position to recruit and encourage young people for the teaching ministry are congregational members, called workers, parents, and grandparents.

Serving with you in Christ,
WELS President Mark Schroeder

This summer, Rev. Dan Frey, pastor at Gethsemane, Lee’s Summit, Mo., and six of his members—four who are deaf and two who are interpreters—are planning to make the trek to Wisconsin for a conference on how to serve the deaf and hard of hearing members of God’s church. The Hands of God Conference will be held July 18–20 at St. Paul, Lake Mills, Wis.

Frey, a member of the WELS Mission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing committee planning the conference, is excited to gather with others to dig deeper into this important topic.

“This is a passion of mine—I’m in it now,” he says, referring to his own congregation’s ministry to the Deaf population. “I’m excited to help open the eyes of other people who might be interested.”

The conference will feature topics like technology devices in church for the deaf/hard of hearing, how to welcome deaf/hard of hearing guests at church, how the deaf share their faith (panel discussion), and setting up a deaf Bible study. One workshop, which will be led by deaf members, will focus on the Deaf culture, how it is different, and how congregations can bridge the gaps. “This [conference] is for the deaf [members] to get together but also for anyone interested in working with the deaf,” says Frey.

While the conference focuses on how the deaf can serve and how congregations can support them, the keynote presentation “Hands of God” is a message that can resonate with called workers and lay members in any circumstance. “We want to provide a setting where all can learn how God used his hands to save us and how we now get to be the hands of God in various ways to serve one another in love,” notes the conference website.

Learn more and register for the conference at wels.net/mdhh-conference-2025.

The 2024 WELS statistics have been gathered by WELS Congregational Services. We are thankful to the 95 percent of our congregations that furnished their statistics—an incredibly good level of participation. While some of the statistics indicate continuing challenges in some areas, others provide some very good news and reasons to thank God for some significant blessings. Certainly, our confidence does not rest in statistics. Our confidence and optimism rest in the hands of a gracious God who continues to work through his Word and sacrament. Following are some significant details, both positive and negative, in those statistics: 

• WELS total membership declined from 330,618 in 2023 to 327,943 at the end of 2024. That is a loss of 2,675 members (-0.8 percent), but on the positive side, it is the smallest annual decline since 2011. 
• Weekly in-person worship attendance increased from 124,042 in 2023 to 127,594, a 2.9 percent rise. The percentage of WELS members in worship each week is now close to where it was prior to COVID. 
• There were increases in adult and youth Bible study attendance. Both rose last year by 1.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. This was the fourth year of annual increases. 
• Spiritual gains have been trending upward, and spiritual losses downward. In 2024, the Spirit blessed WELS congregations with 4,126 adult confirmations. That is the most adult confirmations since 2012 and the second highest total in 50 years. The 4,126 confirmations is a significant increase compared to the average of 3,300 confirmations annually for the last decade. Professions of faith (those coming to WELS from other Lutheran church bodies) remained stable at around 1,700 annually. 
• Spiritual losses (those who left to join other churches not in fellowship with us or who walked away from church completely—sometimes called “backdoor losses”) are decreasing. In 2024, WELS had 2,315 net spiritual losses, the lowest total of net spiritual losses since WELS began keeping such records. Over the decade prior, the average annual net spiritual loss was approximately 5,300. 
• In 2024, 2,985 children were born to WELS members, while 3,345 WELS members went home to heaven. That is five straight years when total births were at or fewer than 3,000. In the decade prior, the average annual number of births was 5,700. While the number of deaths has been fairly consistent, 2024 marks the fifth straight year that WELS had more deaths than births. 
• In 2024, WELS had 3,445 youth confirmations, the lowest in WELS history (a 20-year trend that reflects the declining birth rate). 

Given the demographics of our synod (an aging church population and fewer births), it seems likely that our synod will continue to decline in total membership in the next decade. But if the Lord continues to bless some of the positive trends (increased worship attendance, more spiritual gains, and fewer spiritual losses), it is possible that the losses will flatten out and possibly even be replaced by membership gains. All of this, of course, is in the Lord’s hands. We plant and water, but ultimately, he is the one who makes his church grow.

Serving with you in Christ,
WELS President Mark Schroeder 

NOTE: The full 2024 WELS statistical report is available on welscongregationalservices.net. A more detailed anaylsis will be available in June. 

In recent years, Martin Luther College (MLC), New Ulm, Minn., has been working hard to address the current shortage of teachers across the synod. MLC has developed two new programs designed to offer alternative pathways for non-traditional, second-career individuals to earn degrees in education, which would aid in staffing growing WELS early childhood centers and elementary schools.

To support WELS early childhood centers with their varied staffing needs, the MLC Office of Continuing Education has launched its four tiers of support for early childhood teachers. Tiers 2 to 4 build upon one another, with Tier 4 culminating in an associate degree. Prospective students—often WELS members already working in some capacity at an early childhood center—can enter the program at any level, depending on their educational backgrounds and career goals. 

As of November 2024, the program has cleared the final hurdle in becoming an accredited program. “The online Associate of Science in Early Childhood Education for non-traditional adult learners has been approved by the state of Minnesota and the Higher Learning Commission,” says Prof. John Meyer, director of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education at MLC. “Since the program was approved by our accreditor, four adult learners have been accepted, two more have begun the application process, and more have expressed their intention to apply.”  

MLC has also recently launched the Alternative Pathway to Professional Licensure Eligibility program, which provides a pathway for non-traditional and second-career students to earn a bachelor’s degree in education. “We believe there are a great number of candidates who can serve the church and its school system in a way that will help fulfill the existing teacher shortage,” says Dr. Jeff Wiechman, vice president for academics at MLC. “Many people are considering a second career in teaching because they want to support our system.” 

This licensure program is structured as a competency-based education program, allowing students to use their knowledge and experience to guide their pacing through the coursework to meet the Bachelor of Science in Education degree requirements and be eligible for a Minnesota Tier 3 teaching license. Wiechman explains, “Many of these students are already working in school settings and can apply their experiences toward their coursework, ultimately earning both their degree and license.” 

The development of the licensure program has been years in the making. “This idea first surfaced in 2017 when we recognized our schools were growing and began exploring alternative ways to serve our church body,” Wiechman explains. MLC called Dr. Nichole LaGrow as the program director and Dr. Martin LaGrow as the instructional designer. Together, they secured accreditation and approvals necessary for the program’s launch and worked with MLC faculty to structure the curriculum. 

MLC started work with returning adult learners interested in pursuing an elementary education degree and license a year ago with the launch of the theology minor. Those students can now continue via the Alternative Pathway to Professional Licensure Eligibility program. New students can join them this fall by applying to MLC . “We’re excited to serve our church body in this new way,” says Wiechman. “This has been a long time in the making, and we’re grateful for the support that made it possible.” 

To learn more about MLC’s four tiers of support for early childhood teachers, visit forwardinchrist.net/early-childhood-teachers and mlc-wels.edu/continuing-education/four-tiers. 

Visit the MLC Nontraditional Education Blog to learn more about competency-based education and the Alternative Pathway to Professional Licensure Eligibility program. 

It is likely stating the obvious that not everyone your congregation has the opportunity to serve with the gospel regularly sits in the pews of your church or the various classrooms of your congregation. Maybe you are aware of those in unique situations who could be served by your congregation, and perhaps you wonder or struggle how to serve them. This edition of Together highlights a number of the resources available through WELS Commission on Special Ministries.  

Special Ministries has several main areas that seek to help God’s people serve those who are not served in the normal course of a congregation’s ministry: Ministry to the Military, Prison Ministry, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Ministry, Mission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Mission for the Visually Impaired, Mental Health Needs Committee, Care Committee for Called Workers, Health and Wellness Committee, and a Chaplain Certification program. Subgroups or partners serve under a number of these areas.   

You can find more information on all of these areas at wels.net/special-ministries. This site also offers opportunities to refer people who might be served by one of these areas.   

So often I hear “I had no idea that our synod had . . . ” It is my prayer that this edition of Together helps you better understand all that Special Ministries offers to help you and your congregation get the gospel to those who may be in one of these unique or difficult situations in life.  

The words of our Savior in Matthew 25:40 guide the work of Special Ministries: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Those words remind us that, ultimately, we are serving our Savior in everything we do. The privilege our Savior gives us is to serve others with the life-saving gospel as we serve him. Special Ministries stands ready to assist you in whatever way we can. Feel free to reach out at [email protected]. 

In Christ,
Rev. Joel Gaertner
Director, WELS Commission on Special Ministries 

WELS Mission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (MDHH), part of the WELS Commission on Special Ministries, seeks to help congregations share the gospel of Jesus Christ with members of WELS and others who are deaf or hard of hearing. The MDHH has various resources to assist members and congregations in meeting the spiritual needs of those with hearing loss. 

Hearing loop grant 

The MDHH is offering $500 grants to congregations that install hearing loops in their sanctuaries. A hearing loop works with people’s hearing aids to provide a clearer sound directly into their ears. Perhaps your church had issues with the audio for the livestream and the sound cut out for a portion of the sermon. Maybe the microphones weren’t set up to hear people singing. These scenarios can put up barriers to worship for those who are hard of hearing. 

The MDHH is encouraging looping projects. If your church is already planning a renovation, it would be an ideal time to install a hearing loop. If your congregation might be interested in installing a loop in your sanctuary, reach out at [email protected] for more information. 

Signed online Bible study 

The MDHH’s online deaf Bible study is a program specifically for deaf individuals who use American Sign Language (ASL). The pastor is hearing, but an interpreter is provided to facilitate communication. Participants can explore thought-provoking questions and engage in meaningful dialogue with both the pastor and fellow participants. 

The classes are held weekly on Tuesday nights via Zoom. Anyone who is deaf and uses ASL is invited to the Bible study. The MDHH notes the study is not structured for someone trying to learn ASL. 

Gerald Olson, a participant in the study, says, “The Deaf Online Bible Study is a comfortable place for me to ask questions in my native language, ASL. The answers are clear, and I have gained much understanding of the Bible throughout the years.” 

To join, e-mail [email protected] for the Zoom link. The same Zoom link is used for each session.  

Gospel Hands 

Gospel Hands is an online religious sign language video dictionary for the deaf and interpreters to effectively share the gospel. This process has been a three-year project developed by the MDHH. The printed dictionary, “Sign to the Lord a new song,” has been updated to an online dictionary with hundreds of videos that are more effectively understood and shared. The online video-based reference library includes not only many religious terms but also the creeds and common prayers used in worship services.