Continuing challenges and clear blessings

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.