Tag Archive for: Together02012022

Home Missions begins planning for 100 missions in 10 years

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At the synod convention last summer, the Board for Home Missions presented a proposal to open 100 new missions in 10 years, beginning in 2023. The convention enthusiastically embraced the proposal.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, the planning for the project began in earnest. To start the planning process a meeting was held to bring together representatives from the synod Board for Home Missions, district mission boards from all 12 districts, mission counselors, and Home Missions administrators.

The group discussed a wide range of issues such as funding and manpower, the process for identifying and prioritizing locations for new missions, and the important responsibilities of the district mission boards to do the work necessary to carry out the project.

It’s an ambitious goal, but we’ve established that goal with trust in God’s promises, asking for the Lord’s blessings on our efforts. God uses us to plant and water, but he alone makes his church grow.

Learn more about WELS mission work at wels.net/missions.

Serving with you in Christ,
WELS President Mark Schroeder

 

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You Should Also Know – Feb. 1, 2022

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News briefs from the Feb. 1, 2022, edition of the Together newsletter.

New Bible readings start this month

This month, Forward in Christ readers can enjoy selections from the book of Galatians in a study entitled, “Every day with Galatians.”

Luther writes the following regarding Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia:

Without any merit or work on our own, we must first be justified by Christian righteousness . . . but this righteousness is heavenly and passive. We do not have it of ourselves; we receive it from heaven. We do not perform it; we accept it by faith. . . . In this epistle therefore, Paul is concerned to instruct, comfort, and sustain us diligently in a perfect knowledge of this most excellent and Christian righteousness. (Luther’s Works, Vol. 26:8,9)

This month’s daily readings are short but powerful—a fuel for our day-to-day lives. “It is a comfort to know that I am justified by what Jesus did for me. It’s important to renew that truth because there are still so many distortions that lead us to think that we can earn God’s love,” says John Braun, FIC’s executive editor. “Because he has given me this gift I find courage to live as God wants me to live. His grace changes me so that I can live as a child of God. That’s important every day.”

Additionally, short excerpts from Martin Luther’s 1535 lectures on Galatians will be available online at forwardinchrist.net/galatians-bible-readings.

Watch the WELS Investment Funds quarterly update webinar

If you missed it live you can still catch the latest WELS Investment Funds quarterly update. The 30-minute webinar featured Bill Burns, CFA, senior investment consultant for Vanguard, as he delivered a quarterly market recap, an investment performance review for the WELS Funds, and Vanguard’s market and economic outlook.

The webinar also included an informative Q&A featuring current issues impacting the markets. Here is a sample of the questions that were addressed:

  • What challenges does the Fed face in deciding to raise rates?
  • How will inflation come down?
  • What is Vanguard doing to mitigate the volatility in the WELS Balanced Fund and WELS Endowment Fund?

As of December 31, 2021, WELS Investment Funds’ net assets totaled $321 million. We currently provide investment portfolios for 240 WELS and ELS ministries, and each quarter more and more WELS members are tuning in to these updates to learn how their congregation’s or organization’s investments are making an impact on ministry.

View the webinar recording

Lutheran Schools video

The Commission on Lutheran Schools is sharing a video highlighting the blessings of Lutheran schools. Enrollment in WELS schools is up 9.8 percent this school year (8 percent for Lutheran elementary schools alone), according to the recently released 2021–22 school statistics, with 26,586 students in 282 Lutheran elementary schools and 11,672 students in 363 early childhood ministries.

Watch the video

 

 

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