Plan proposes synodical priorities for all WELS members to internalize

On Tuesday afternoon, Rev. Jonathan Hein, a member of the synod’s Long-Range Planning Task Force, presented a proposed ten-year long-range strategic plan as WELS enters its eighth generation of God’s grace.

This plan’s theme, “Christ through us,” is taken from 2 Corinthians 5:18-20: “God . . . reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

Hein explains, “ ‘Christ for us’ is ‘the message of reconciliation’ St. Paul speaks of. What Christ did for us is our motivation. We love because he first loved us. ‘Christ THROUGH us’ is the method by which Christ shares that message. He gives us his Word and sacraments and asks us to use those life-giving tools in a dying world.”

This proposed strategic long-range plan is an issues-based plan, offering priorities and goals related to key issues the committee uncovered after conducting surveys and cultural analyses and talking to focus groups. An example of one such issue is the exodus of young adults from churches.

The committee is proposing four intertwined priorities on which WELS will focus over the next ten years:

Culture: Cultivating a gospel-driven culture

Congregations: Strengthening WELS’ backbone

Calling: Producing workers for a growing harvest

Commission: Bringing Christ to the nations

Each priority has five goals that further define how WELS will meet the challenges and opportunities it faces. If these priorities are approved at the synod convention, the areas of ministry will develop more specific objectives and “KPIs” (key performance indicators) to assess progress toward the goals.

“The way I like to picture the long-range plan is almost like a filing cabinet,” says Hein. “The four priorities are your four drawers and then there’s five goals, like five filing folders, within each of those drawers. Then areas of ministry and even support groups are going to put their objectives, their programs, their initiatives, into one of those 20 folders.”

Hein stresses that this plan is different from those in the past, which focused more on synodical goals for the areas of ministry. “The emphasis is really on understanding that the ‘US’ in ‘Christ through us’ is all of us. It’s not the synod, it’s not the pastors, it’s all of us. The Lord has given all of us the opportunity to serve as his ambassadors in the relationships that he places us in. . . . I think if we can do that more broadly as a church body, that we take personal ownership of the mission that Christ has given to his church. I’m excited to see what Christ will do through that effort.”

Mr. Ken Hall, a lay delegate from St. John, Sturgis, Mich., is ready to take what he heard and share it with his church and neighboring congregations. “The whole thing was eye-opening,” he says. “You get involved in your own things [in your congregation] . . . and so you’re not really looking at all the other things—the big picture. And this was the look at the big picture. It was huge.”

One big thing Hall took away from the presentation was “the notion that the Great Commission is our commission. The called workers are there to equip us; we’re the foot soldiers and that really needs to be brought home to people.”

The “Christ through us” Long-Range Strategic Plan Floor Committee, consisting of a mix of pastor, teacher, and lay delegates from 9 of the 12 districts, met via Zoom in June to study the plan. Hein and Mr. Kurt Nitz, another member of WELS Long-Range Planning Task Force, met with the group to review the document. Since then, the floor committee has been working collaboratively to offer thoughts and suggestions on the strategic plan even before the convention began.

Rev. Bradley Wordell, floor committee chairman, says he encouraged his floor committee to study the entire Book of Reports and Memorials since the long-range plan encompasses areas affecting the synod in its totality.

“One clear message that we have gotten is that we’re a very blessed church body. We have the gospel. We have the Word of God,” says Wordell, a pastor delegate from the Southeastern Wisconsin District. “The Lord is definitely using our beloved synod in amazing ways for the sake of the gospel and his kingdom.”

The “Christ through us” Long-Range Strategic Plan Floor Committee will be offering any resolutions and/or reports on the plan in the coming days. Read the strategic plan and view Hein’s presentation at welsconvention.net. Learn more from Hein on trends in WELS based on the 2024 statistics in his recent Forward in Christ article.