Leadership conference registration opens
Registration is now open for the WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership, Jan. 19–21, 2026, at the Hilton in Chicago, Ill.
This conference is the flagship leadership event in WELS, offering called workers and lay members, men and women, and current and future leaders an opportunity to grow in their faith, learn new ministry strategies, and contemplate how they and their congregations can best reach out with the gospel in their communities.
“People will return home from this conference with new ideas, yes, but more important, with renewed hearts,” says Jonathan Hein, director of WELS Congregational Services and part of the conference planning committee. “That’s what strengthens a congregation more than anything else.”
Strengthening congregations is one of the four main priorities of the synod’s new long-range strategic plan, “Christ through us,” which was approved at the synod convention this past summer.
“The WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership is where we honestly wrestle with some of the major strategic challenges in WELS,” says Hein. “For example, at this conference you will see a strong focus on the retention of young members, on the need to better engage women in the ministry of the church, and on the need for a more robust approach to cradle-to-grave discipleship.”
Four keynote presentations will touch on larger strategic and cultural issues that affect every congregation and American Christianity as a whole. Sixty-nine breakouts, divided into tracks for those who want to focus on specific topics, will offer practical ideas for participants to bring home to their congregations, helping transform a long-range vision into real-world action.
Says Hein, “I’m most excited to see what happens after the conference—when the people who attended return home with renewed purpose and their congregations begin to feel that ripple of gospel momentum.”
This conference also will have a strong emphasis on youth participation, with conference planners working to have about 10 percent of attendees be high school- and college-aged members.
The deadline to register for the leadership conference is Nov. 30. Early-bird registration, ending Nov. 15, is $299 per person.
Register for the conference today and get a taste of just some of the breakouts being offered through short video teasers from conference presenters.
