Meet Mrs. Jamie Walta, who recently began serving as the new national coordinator for early childhood ministry.
Learn more about Walta and her role with WELS Lutheran Schools in Forward in Christ‘s article, “Supporting early childhood ministries.”
This is the time of year when schools begin a new year. Parents have been shopping for school supplies and clothes, kids are saying goodbye to summer vacation, and teachers are ready to put their summer preparation to work in the classroom.
This should be a time when all members of our Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod pause to reflect on the amazing blessings of our Lutheran schools. Our synod operates one of the largest private school systems in the country, operating 340 early childhood ministries, 276 elementary schools, and 30 area Lutheran high schools. In addition, we are blessed to have two synodical prep schools that prepare students for a lifetime of service in the church, a college of ministry, a seminary, and a Lutheran college that prepares laypeople for Christian vocations. These schools serve nearly 48,000 students.
Our schools are a blessing because of what happens in them. They offer many of the things that public schools offer, but they also provide something that public schools canāt: daily instruction in the truths of Godās Word and classes that are taught from a biblical and Lutheran perspective. Our Lutheran schools certainly do not replace the vital and primary role that parents play in bringing up their children in the training and instruction of the Lord, but they do offer our children years in which the foundation laid in the home is built upon and supplemented. In our schools children grow in their faith and learn to know their Savior better.
WELS schools are also a blessing because of what they do for the students who eventually graduate from them. They produce young adults who are ready to enter a world in which they will live as children of God, serving him, serving others, and being the salt and light that God intends them to be.
With WELS school enrollments experiencing significant growth over the past few years, we are facing the challenge of a shortage of qualified teachers. That situation is being addressed by a special task force, or āthink tank,ā comprised of representatives from the WELS Commission on Lutheran Schools, Martin Luther College, area Lutheran high schools, elementary schools, and members of the Conference of Presidents. We ask for Godās blessings on their work.
Serving with you in Christ,
President Mark Schroeder
On July 14-16, a focus group of pastors and teachers met at the WELS Center for Mission and Ministry in Waukesha, Wis., to provide feedback to the Theology Curriculum Task Force.
The task force began meeting in 2023, led by Mrs. Melanie Giddings, curriculum coordinator for WELS Lutheran Schools. Consisting of pastors and teachers across all grade levels, leaders on the task force are now using the information gained from the focus group to revise and clarify information for the projectās writing teams, which are poised to begin their work in 2026.
Other updates on the theology curriculum project include:
Rev. Ben Reichel, youth and young adult pastor at St. Mark Ministries, De Pere, Wis., serves on the curriculumās task force. He notes that the task force decided to start with the end in mind. āWe came up with six āpicture of the graduateā statements [see image] that summed up who we wanted our students to be when they graduated from high school,ā says Reichel. āWith that picture in mind, we worked our way backward to guiding principles and supporting standards, which would then help us create the content we wanted to see.ā
Read more in the article āDeveloping a new theology curriculumā in the August issue of Forward in Christ.