Three hundred forty-eight convention delegates met in 19 floor committees to consider the synod’s work. Floor committees studied reports from the synod’s ministries, met with synod administrators and board members, and then formed reports and resolutions that were presented to the delegates at large on Wednesday and Thursday.

Many floor committees’ reports summarized the ministry that was assigned to them and offered encouragement for those serving. Resolutions that called for action included the following:

Floor Committee #1, which dealt with the President’s Report, called for “the synod president to appoint a pastoral ministry shortage task force to study the challenges related to the present pastoral shortage and spiritual support for pastors from all angles to provide concrete recommendations to the synod president to address this matter.” Delegates approved the resolution.

Floor Committee #1 also called for “the synod president to appoint a Recruitment Task Force to study and address the challenges to recruitment for our ministerial education schools.” Delegates approved the resolution.

Floor Committee #10: Ministerial Education also offered a resolution to help address called worker vacancies. The resolution asked delegates of the 2023 synod convention to “encourage WELS members with degrees in other fields to consider training for the ministry of the gospel.” Delegates approved the resolution.

Floor Committee #2, which discussed the work of the Conference of Presidents, presented a resolution asking the Conference of Presidents to “prepare a pastoral brief on critical theories in light of Scripture.” This resolution generated much discussion, which resulted in an amendment to “prepare a pastoral brief emphasizing the importance of justice and analyzing critical theories in light of Scripture.” Delegates passed the amended motion.

Floor Committee #3: Commission on Inter-Church Relations resolved that “the synod in convention continue to support the ongoing informal conversations between WELS, the [Evangelical Lutheran Synod], and the [Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]” and that the Conference of Presidents and the Commission on Inter-Church Relations “continue to update the members of the synod as to developments in these conversations.” Delegates approved the resolution, which did note that “the [Commission on Inter-Church Relations] does not believe we are in a position to initiate ‘formal doctrinal discussions,’ which would mean ‘there is reason to believe there may be doctrinal agreement.’ ”

Floor Committee #7 analyzed the proposed ministry financial plan (budget) for the 2023–25 biennium. The floor committee then resolved to adopt the proposed plan and encouraged “every WELS congregation and their members to support the gospel ministry entrusted to our synod” and to “ask the Holy Spirit to continue to inspire his people to give as they have been given, in support of our synod’s task to hold before the world the good news of Jesus.” Delegates approved the resolution.

To read other reports and resolutions, visit welsconvention.net.

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday morning, Rev. Mark Gabb, chairman of the WELS Board for Home Missions, gave an update on the 100 missions in 10 years initiative, which was passed at the 2021 synod convention. The initiative, which began this year, involves planting 100 home mission churches and enhancing 75 ministries over the next 10 years.

In March 2023, the Board for Home Missions approved the first set of 15 new home mission starts and enhancements. Gabb shared updates about each during his presentation.

Gabb also addressed a common question about the initiative. “One of the biggest questions I’ve heard is, ‘How can we do this with so many [pastoral] vacancies?’ That’s a fair question,” he said. He then spoke about the Great Commission that Christ has given us to go and make disciples, while faithfully and wisely using the resources he has given us for both outreach and nurture. “It comes down to reaching the lost,” Gabb continued. “It’s still about one Savior, one mission, one synod, one soul at a time.”

Gabb pointed delegates to wels100in10.net for updates and encouraged them to pray, get involved, and continue to support the work with their offerings. He concluded, “Trust God’s promises. . . . God will bless us immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine.”

In its report, the Home Missions floor committee noted: “Our committee would like to underscore our support of the 100 missions in 10 years initiative adopted at the last convention in pursuit of the Great Commission. . . . This initiative gives us the opportunity to establish more footholds of gospel proclamation where the harvest is increasingly plentiful.”

On Wednesday evening, delegates heard ministry updates from three WELS home missionaries.

• Paul Biedenbender is pastor at Christ, a bilingual congregation reaching out to its culturally diverse neighborhood in the middle of Denver, Colo. Christ serves and meets people from all over the world. Biedenbender showed a photo of a hallway at Christ, which displays the flags of the 12 nations represented in its congregation. In cooperation with local nonprofits providing for the community’s physical needs, the church has established itself in the neighborhood as a place people can go for their spiritual needs. Biedenbender shared multiple stories of God’s hand at work at Christ as entire families have come to be baptized into God’s family.
• David Koelpin, Foundation, Folsom, Calif., shared photos of Foundation’s unique approach to worship. Because Foundation began worshiping during the pandemic in 2019, members worshiped outdoors at community parks due to necessity. They soon found that their flexible, creative, and welcoming approach has made them known in the community as “the church that worships in the park.” They have continued to worship outside, providing a natural community awareness. Foundation members are also challenged to make new friends so they can invite those new friends to church—tapping into the strength of one-on-one evangelism.
• Timothy Spiegelberg, pastor at Carbon Valley, Firestone, Colo., reported that the congregation is in an area of extreme population growth. Since members knew that they wanted to be proactively in the path of that growth, they purchased and repurposed an existing building into a versatile ministry center that could serve the community, with the goal of having people in their building at all times. Carbon Valley’s motto of “Connecting Christ . . . Connecting Community” places a heavy emphasis on building personal relationships as a way to reach out with the gospel.

Mr. Joseph Purcell, a lay delegate from St. Paul’s, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was inspired by the success stories being shared by WELS home missionaries in new locations. “Consistently all of them are considering what their community needs and asking how they can best serve them,” he said. “I think if we can keep following that model, doing 100 mission congregations in 10 years is realistic.”

Learn more about WELS Home Missions.

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday afternoon, Rev. Jonathan Hein, coordinator, WELS Congregational Services, shared with the convention the vast and varied work of WELS Congregational Services. Congregational Services comprises several areas all focused on encouraging and equipping congregations for faithful and fruitful gospel ministry.

These areas include the Commissions on Congregational Counseling, Lutheran Schools, Evangelism, Worship, Discipleship, and Special Ministries. Hein provided an overview of the many resources created by these areas of ministry to support congregations including evangelism training, elder training, child abuse awareness training, prison ministry programs, Bible studies and ministry programs for teens and millennials, worship planning, stewardship programs, resources for women’s ministries, and marriage resources. Resources, Bible studies, and programs are on the Congregational Services website, welscongregationalservices.net.

The Foundation provides churches with weekly worship plans, a preacher podcast for each week, thematic graphics, school devotions, and promotional text. In its first year, The Foundation had 83,000 engagements on its web pages.

New from the Commission on Discipleship is the launch of the Stewardship Legacy series, which will focus on five Ts of stewardship: time, talent, treasure, temple, and truth. Four weeks of worship, sermons, and Bibles studies are available on welscongregationalservices.net for the first installment on “time”—”A time to prioritize,” “A time for perspective,” “A time to plan,” and “A time to pause.” In the coming biennium, resources will be developed for talent, treasure, temple, and truth.

Hein introduced two upcoming evangelism programs—Come & See, to encourage and equip Christians for invitation evangelism, and Local, designed to help regional churches establish a local presence.

Following Hein’s overview of the many congregational resources, Mr. Jim Rademan, director of the Commission of Lutheran Schools (CLS), provided an overview of the resources and programs provided by CLS as well as enrollment trends of WELS schools around the country. Rademan reported that 156 WELS educational ministries, including all of the WELS area Lutheran high schools, are currently accredited, either through the WELS School Accreditation program or another accreditation agency.

Rademan also noted an uptick in WELS schools’ enrollment post-COVID. Notably, schools are seeing an increase in non-WELS families enrolling. These non-WELS families are bringing the mission field to schools. Telling the Next Generation is CLS’ program to help WELS schools and early childhood ministries maximize the opportunities to share God’s Word with all children and families they serve.

Rev. Joel Gaertner (pictured), director of WELS Commission on Special Ministries, shared a snapshot of the different areas that Special Ministries serves, including Prison Ministry, Military Services, Ministry to the Visually Impaired, and Mission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Gaertner was commissioned as the director in June, following the retirement of Rev. Jim Behringer, who had served in the role for 11 years. Learn more about Special Ministries at wels.net/special-ministries.

To see the entire presentation, watch the archived livestream. The Congregational Services presentation begins about 29 minutes into the video.

 

 

 

 

“Pray for more workers.” That was a repeated request during the WELS Ministerial Education report in Tuesday morning’s session.

Rev. Paul Prange, administrator of the Board for Ministerial Education, spoke of the rare blessing WELS has in its four ministerial education schools: preparatory high schools Michigan Lutheran Seminary (MLS), Saginaw, Mich., and Luther Preparatory School (LPS), Watertown, Wis.; college of ministry Martin Luther College (MLC), New Ulm, Minn.; and seminary Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (WLS), Mequon, Wis.

Rev. Mark Luetzow, MLS president, described how students receive a taste of ministry experience to help them see better how they might serve the Lord with their lives. For students who enroll at Martin Luther College, endowment scholarships are available. MLS is working on a new strategic plan titled “Chosen people, special purpose” (1 Peter 2:9). The plan addresses communication and facilities, among other items.

Rev. Matthew Crass, LPS president, reminded delegates that when parents from a distance enroll their children at LPS, they do not send their children away from home, but they are sending their children to something—a place that is all about the Lord’s kingdom work.

Rev. Richard Gurgel, MLC president, shared a video that encouraged prayer for more workers in the public ministry. Mr. Ted Klug, vice president of enrollment management at MLC, joined Gurgel in encouraging prayers for more workers in the harvest field: “Mold us and move us to be good examples for our youth” (from “Prayer of the Church” in Christian Worship, p. 198).

Rev. Earle Treptow, WLS president, reported a record amount of scholarship assistance available to students this past year. The seminary is pursuing accreditation through the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools. The process to accreditation will benefit the seminary by means of a self-study, and achieving accreditation will benefit WELS’ sister synods throughout the world who utilize WLS in the training of their pastors. Accreditation will not impact the mission of the seminary. Treptow also noted the seminary’s tentative building plans of adding an education center and renovating several existing classrooms into faculty offices.

Prange concluded the report with another request for prayers for more workers in the Lord’s harvest field.

 

 

 

 

Embrace the Cross—Anticipate the Crown. This is the theme of the WELS 67th Biennial Synod Convention and the topic Rev. Philip Hirsch explored in the convention essay. Hirsch is the Nebraska District president, a role he’s held since 2015, and a pastor at Hope, Manhattan, Kan., where he has served since 1998. He and his wife, Kristi, have seven children and three grandchildren (with two on the way).

In his essay, Hirsch says, “In the faithful church, we need to ground ‘cross’ speech—with all of its notions of suffering and even dying—cleanly and clearly and faithfully. Or it will quickly go the way of curved-in-on-ourselves theology and make the cross all about us and our suffering. And then we will arrive at ‘crown’ speech—with all of its notions of ruling and reigning, especially eschatologically—faithfully and clearly and cleanly. We need to put cross and crown terminology together faithfully for the good of any who will be listening.”

When approached to write this year’s convention essay, Hirsch said the first thing he thought about was how the idea of “cross and crown” is so easy to get confused. “It seemed wise to not confuse cross and crown in a false way that can turn the gospel into a hard piece of work for the ‘pious’ Christian to struggle through. And, if he struggles through it well enough, he wins the crown.”

Hirsch explains, “So much of what calls itself Christendom mixes cross and crown into a brew that means the human has to keep working at getting saved; it’s kind of like the confusion of law and gospel that can sound so, so close to truth and yet is so, so devilish where the rubber meets the road, particularly in a human heart that is tempted to be pulled away from what’s preached in Christ crucified and risen.”

In the essay, Hirsch walked all the way back to when God hid his glory from Moses, emphasizing and illustrating the idea of “God hidden.” “In short, it means that we live by faith in the promises of God and NOT by sight—not by the way we want God to look or operate. Gospel in Word and sacrament? That looks foolish, wimpy, and worthless. But it saves. The promise of God says.”

He hopes listeners walked away liberated, knowing that the wonderful message of Christ crucified is the only thing that frees a sinful human from any “silly” ideas about God or gods.

“In the freedom of the gospel, we are NOT to let ourselves be burdened by a yoke of slavery again, but should embrace the cross of Christ and embrace whatever comes our way from the hand of our heavenly Father, confident that we have an eternal crown because of Christ and sure that, even now, all things serve us for good,” concludes Hirsch. “My prayer is this: that listeners and readers of the essay go forth liberated from their false theologies of glory, which each of us is so liable to invent, and to sing the ‘Te Deum Laudamus’ with all the saints with a gusto that a child of God knows, because all the work is Christ’s and we get to be his people.”

Download and read the entire “Embrace the Cross—Anticipate the Crown” essay.

 

 

 

 

Delegates re-elected Rev. Mark Schroeder as synod president Tuesday morning.

Schroeder was first elected as synod president in 2007. “It’s been a joy and a privilege to serve you and our Lord in this position,” he said. “Through the years I can say that you as God’s people have been nothing but encouraging and supportive and faithful in doing the work God has given you to do.”

Schroeder accepted the call to serve in this role for his fifth four-year term. “I humbly accept your call as synod president, and I do so with the prayer that God will continue to work in you as members of our synod through his powerful Word, working a stronger faith and continuing to work in you the zeal to carry the message of the gospel around the world.”

He continued, “I want to thank you for this undeserved privilege, and I want to ask God that he continue to keep us strong. . . . I am only a clay jar. Thankfully it’s God who does the work.”

Rev. Joel Voss, pastor at Resurrection, Centerville, Ohio, was also re-elected as the synod’s second vice president. He already has served in this position for three-and-a-half terms, elected first in 2009.

View full election results for other various WELS boards and commissions.

 

 

 

“It’s all about Jesus, and that’s a message to celebrate and communicate.” WELS First Vice President Rev. James Huebner used those words in the opening service of the 67th biennial convention to encourage delegates in their convention work and their everyday lives.

With the convention taking place at Michigan Lutheran Seminary (MLS) in Saginaw, Mich., St. Paul, Saginaw, hosted the opening service on Monday evening with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. WELS President Rev. Mark Schroeder served as the presiding minister, and the MLS Concert Choir provided special music.

The sermon from the opening service, based on Revelation 1:4-8, paved the way for five convention devotions and closing worship that treated other sections of the book of Revelation. The sermon and devotions provided the spiritual backdrop for the theme of the convention: “Embrace the Cross—Anticipate the Crown.”

Mr. Justin Slominsky from Mount Olive, Appleton, Wis., had a front row seat for the opening worship service. While sitting in the front pew, he says, “I thought the Communion distribution would never end! To me, that was like a glimpse of heaven—people coming and coming and coming into God’s heavenly kingdom to praise the Lord.”

Mr. Peter Yee from Apostles, San Jose, Calif., was attending his second opening service at a WELS convention. “It was a beautiful service. The singing and sermon were uplifting,” he says. “When you’re all one in faith and worshiping together, it’s very powerful. The service energized me.”

When the service participants recessed with the cross of Christ held high by the crucifer, the full-throated strains of praise continued in the sanctuary: “Yea, amen, let all adore thee high on thine eternal throne; Savior, take the pow’r and glory, claim the kingdom as thine own. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Thou shalt reign, and thou alone!” (Christian Worship 487:4). Even as the echoes of the hymn faded away, it was still all about Jesus.

Watch the full service online.

 

View photos from the opening worship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The WELS 67th Biennial Synod Convention is being held this week, July 31-Aug. 3, at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, Saginaw, Mich., under the theme “Embrace the Cross—Anticipate the Crown.”

Every other year a contingency of delegates from WELS congregations and schools, both called workers and lay members, convene to learn about the mission and ministry work of WELS and determine the course of that work for the following years. The convention delegates form 20 different committees that will present reports and resolutions on WELS’ ministry and the administration of that work.

The convention begins tonight with an opening worship service at 6:30 p.m. (EDT) at St. Paul, Saginaw, Mich. WELS President Rev. Mark Schroeder will preside, and WELS First Vice President Rev. James Huebner will preach. The following three days will be filled with updates from WELS areas of ministry as well as a declaration of fellowship with the Obadiah Lutheran Synod of Uganda and a public affirmation of fellowship with Iglesia Cristo WELS Internacional, a newly formed synod in Latin America comprised of a merger of national churches that have already been in fellowship in WELS.

Rev. Philip Hirsch, Nebraska District president, will present the convention essay based on the convention’s theme. Elections will be held for synod president and second vice president as well as other committee and commission positions.

Michigan Lutheran Seminary is one of two ministerial education high schools, serving grades 9-12. Initially a pastoral seminary for the old Michigan Synod, Michigan Lutheran Seminary (MLS) has served as a ministry preparatory high school of WELS since 1910. Over the past 113 years, more than 5,000 graduates have been given a Christian education that is focused on encouraging and equipping students for the public ministry. The 2022-23 enrollment was 194, comprising students from seven different states and 10 international students.

MLS President Rev. Mark Luetzow says, “Michigan Lutheran Seminary is truly honored to host WELS delegates and advisors for the 67th biennial WELS convention this week. We consider it a privilege and opportunity to showcase our campus and our ministry to the entire Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Planning really began two years ago but has been in high gear over the past six months so that delegates will feel welcome and proud of the campus that WELS members support to train high school students for the public ministry of the gospel.”

The convention proceedings will be livestreamed for the public to view at welsconvention.net. In addition, news stories will be posted daily highlighting the biggest news and events from the convention. The convention website also includes the convention agenda, the complete Book of Reports and Memorials, election results, resolutions and reports, and more. Get it all at welsconvention.net.