The WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership, one of the largest gatherings of WELS and Evangelical Lutheran Synod members, was held Jan. 19–21 in Chicago. The event was a huge success, with attendees offering many positive comments. Jonathan Hein, coordinator of WELS Congregational Services, provides the following reflections on the conference:

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The 2026 leadership conference centered on the theme of WELS’ recently adopted long-range plan, “Christ through us.” The aim was to draw people back to the heart of Christian leadership: not what we accomplish through Christ, but what Christ continues to do through his people. Some highlights included the following:

• Four keynotes touched on major cultural needs for ministry efforts: courage, character, critical thinking, curiosity, and better collaboration between all God’s people—men and women. (About a third of attendees were women.) One congregation president said, “The final day’s emphasis on critical thinking—paired with a serious call to better recognize the ideas and gifts of women—will force us to ask different questions about whether our structure really encourages the full body of Christ to serve together.”
• Sixty-nine breakouts allowed participants to examine “best practices”—tactical approaches to ministry around WELS that the Lord seems to be blessing. Breakouts on leadership development were especially popular. One lay leader shared, “What struck me was how many breakouts focused on growing as leaders, not growing numbers. The emphasis on character and collaboration was refreshing and deeply needed.” Also popular were breakouts on revitalizing congregations and schools. A pastor noted, “After a tough few years in ministry, this was encouraging in the best sense. Seeing what the Lord is blessing elsewhere didn’t make me feel behind. It reminded me that he’s still building his church, and that faithful work—even in small places—matters.”
• One in ten attendees was under the age of 24. This was an intentional effort, not just to equip the next generation of leaders but also to hear their insights on how to better reach and disciple people their age. One high school–aged attendee wrote, “It was encouraging to know that our perspectives mattered. It felt like my church was inviting us to help shape ministry now.”
• Worship was inspiring and encouraging, grounding everything else in the forgiveness and peace Christ provides. Music was led by 20 students from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis. The three preachers represented different aspects of leadership: in the parish, in the synod, and in training future workers. Twenty area pastors helped with distribution of the Lord’s Supper to the 1,600 WELS attendees.

Rather than minimizing current challenges in congregational life, the conference addressed them openly. Declining participation in some contexts, leadership fatigue, and cultural change were named honestly—yet always in light of Christ’s ongoing faithfulness to his church. One leader shared, “I appreciated the honesty. No one pretended ministry is easy right now. But the focus kept coming back to Christ’s promises instead of our anxiety. That kind of clarity gives you courage to keep serving.”

With that confidence, leaders returned to their congregations, schools, and ministries reminded that the future of the church does not rest on perfect plans or flawless leadership but on a faithful Savior who continues to work through his people.

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Thanks to Rev. Hein for his summary and to all who planned, presented, and attended this conference.

Serving with you in Christ,

WELS President Mark Schroeder

Video recordings of two keynote presentations as well as materials from many breakout presentations are available on the conference website. The remaining keynote video recordings will be released in coming weeks.

The Conference of Presidents (COP) met Jan. 6-9. At that meeting, the COP discussed the following items:

• The current number of pastoral vacancies. There are 162 total vacancies for pastor-trained men (unchanged from October), of which 154 are in congregations (up from 148 in October). The vacancy numbers will improve somewhat in the spring, since the graduating class at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., will be larger than it has been in recent years.
• Guidelines for the call process. These guidelines apply to how often called workers can receive calls, how district presidents work together to coordinate when calls are issued and which names can be used on call lists, and how many names should be included. The COP reviewed the current guidelines and the suggestions for changes and decided to keep the current guidelines in place.
• What information should be included in the profiles of called workers that are provided to congregations when they are considering candidates to call.
• The process for assignments of called worker candidates. Assignments will take place at Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn., and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., in May.

Synod statistics for 2025 and Congregation Mission Offering (CMO) subscriptions are currently being gathered, with Feb. 6 being the deadline for both. Congregations are encouraged to submit their statistics and CMO subscriptions by that date.

The Doctrine Committee of the COP will hold its annual meeting with the Doctrine Committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod at the end of January.

Serving with you in Christ,

WELS President Mark Schroeder

On Jan. 9, Charles Vannieuwenhoven was installed as the administrator of the Board for Ministerial Education. Attending the installation and participating in the laying on of hands were the presidents of WELS’ four ministerial education schools and the chairman of WELS Board for Ministerial Education. Pictured from left in above photo: Richard Gurgel, Martin Luther College; Earle Treptow, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary; Duane Rodewald, WELS Board for Ministerial Education; Charles Vannieuwenhoven; Matthew Crass, Luther Preparatory School; and Mark Luetzow, Michigan Lutheran Seminary. Vannieuwenhoven began his call at the Center for Mission and Ministry in January.

Read Vannieuwenhoven’s recent Forward in Christ article to learn more about his ministry priorities for WELS Ministerial Education.

“Calling” is one of the four priorities outlined in the synod’s “Christ through us” long-range strategic plan (along with “Culture,” “Congregations,” and “Commission”).

For our synod to carry out its mission faithfully, we need an adequate number of well-trained pastors, teachers, and staff ministers to teach and proclaim God’s Word in our congregations, schools, and mission fields. That need has become more acute in recent years as we are experiencing a significant shortfall in the number of called workers available to serve.

So it comes as no surprise that “Calling” has been identified as one of the priorities of our synod as we plan for the future.

The “Calling” priority has five main components. With God’s help, we will:

1. Expand pathways to ministry. Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn., and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., will be examining how we can provide new ways for future pastors, teachers, and staff ministers to enter ministry. Some of those things are already being done. At Martin Luther College, we are already attempting to recruit WELS members who are serving in public schools. Such people already have a teaching degree; MLC provides the instruction needed to become ministry certified in WELS. Other WELS people may have degrees in other fields. We will develop ways to provide them with the educational skills needed to teach, along with the instruction needed to become ministry certified.
2. Innovative recruitment efforts. We will be looking at ways to improve and expand our efforts to recruit traditional students for entry into Martin Luther College. Those efforts will likely expand the current practice of school recruiters meeting with high school students by specifically working with current called workers and congregations to expand recruitment efforts.
3. Ensure ministerial education stability. We will look for ways to ensure that our synodical schools remain on a firm financial foundation and to enlist our members in working toward that goal.
4. Establish a sustainable strategy for called worker development. We will look at how best to deploy the workers that we have now, exercising the best stewardship in how and where we use them.
5. Support called worker well-being. Having spiritually and physically healthy called workers ensures that they will be able to cope with the challenges and pressures of ministry, thus reducing the number of called worker resignations. We will find ways to help congregations provide the best support and encouragement possible.

Of course, we can make our plans. But in the end, it is only with God’s blessing that these plans will bear fruit.

Serving with you in Christ,
WELS President Mark Schroeder

On Oct. 20, Mrs. Mary Heckendorf, Mr. Samuel McKenna, and Rev. Mark Schroeder were installed as ministry recruitment counselors during chapel at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis.

The ministry recruitment counselors will work alongside pastors, teachers, staff ministers, parents, and lay leaders to help them actively recognize gifts in others, share information about ministerial education, and keep gospel ministry top of mind for WELS youth. This initiative aligns with the “Calling” priority of the long-range strategic plan, which focuses on producing more workers for a growing harvest.

Each ministry recruitment counselor has a unique background that will help shape his or her efforts. Heckendorf has served as both a WELS and public school teacher. McKenna is retired from the military and was a recruiter for the Marines and the National Guard. Schroeder most recently served as pastor at Peace, Gilbert, Ariz., and has also taught at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, Saginaw, Mich., and Luther Preparatory School, Watertown, Wis.

Their efforts are critical as WELS faces declining birth rates. “2024 was the fifth year in a row that we have more deaths than births in our synod,” notes McKenna. “So it’s important that we find different places and new ways to encourage people to be called workers—pastors, teachers, staff ministers, and missionaries.” Hear more from the counselors about the importance of these positions.

Charlie Vannieuwenhoven, who will begin serving as administrator of WELS Board for Ministerial Education in January, will help guide the efforts of the ministry recruitment counselors.

“Working to increase our recruitment efforts will be an immediate focus,” says Vannieuwenhoven. “The ministry recruitment counselors will play a big role in these efforts. Working with them to help understand their role and see how they can best go about their work will be one of my first priorities.”

Learn more about the ministry recruitment counselors.

Learn more about Charlie Vannieuwenhoven, new administrator of WELS Board for Ministerial Education.

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.

The delegates to the convention in July adopted a new long-range strategic plan entitled “Christ through us.” This plan outlines the priorities of what we as a synod and as congregations have adopted for the next ten years. This plan was adopted not as a “top down” directive of what the synod will do and how we will conduct our ministry. Rather, it is an outline of the prayerful priorities and goals we have as we work together to carry out the mission that God has entrusted to us.

The title of the plan, “Christ through us,” emphasizes the focus and center of this plan, which is completely on Christ and on what he has done for us and for a world of sinners. But it also emphasizes the truth that God in his grace has chosen to work through us, his people and his ambassadors. The plan, which you will hear more about in the coming months, has four basic components: culture, congregations, commission, and calling.

• When addressing culture, the plan stresses the importance of developing a culture in our congregations in which all our members recognize that they are Christ’s ambassadors, each with the personal privilege and responsibility of communicating the message of Christ to the people they know. It will guide us as we work to make our congregations places where people are welcomed and participate in the life and work of the congregation.
• When addressing congregations, we will work to engage all members in the mission and ministry of the church. We will provide support and resources for ministry enhancement efforts in congregations. We will work to expand the synod’s gospel outreach through strategic church planting. We will elevate the home as the first mission field and provide sound Lutheran resources in discipleship, worship, outreach, and planning.
• When addressing commission, we will foster international ministry partnerships to expand the gospel’s reach. We will equip a global missionary force, not only by sending WELS missionaries but also by training pastors and evangelists from global sister churches and establishing confessional Lutheran seminaries in key global locations. We will foster robust mission collaboration with church bodies in full doctrinal fellowship with WELS. We will expand multi-language mission efforts and explore mission work in high-risk and unreached areas.
• When addressing calling, we will address the shortage of called workers by carefully expanding pathways into gospel ministry. We will establish innovative recruitment efforts for future called workers. We will maintain the long-term stability of our ministerial education schools. We will adopt a strategy for the professional development of called workers and will support their spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being.

The “Christ through us” plan depends on all of us. We encourage you to read more about the plan at christthroughus.net.

Serving with you in Christ,
WELS President Mark Schroeder