Teachers, staff ministers, vicars, and pastors assigned

May is assignment month in our synod. It’s a joyful time and an event to celebrate the assignment of called workers.

The Assignment Committee, composed of the Conference of Presidents, assisted by advisors from the ministerial education schools and administrators of the synod’s areas of ministry, met May 14 and 15 to assign teacher and staff ministry candidates from Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn. The Assignment Committee carefully considered all requests for candidates and prayerfully matched those requests with the skills and training of the graduates. One hundred fifteen teacher candidates and four staff ministry candidates were assigned. Dozens of requests for candidates were not able to be filled, and many teaching vacancies remain. The Commission on Lutheran Schools continues to work directly with those schools that have vacancies.

The next week the Assignment Committee met at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis. There the committee assigned 37 vicar candidates and assigned or re-assigned 29 pastor candidates. As was the case for teachers, many requests for candidates were not able to be filled, and the pastoral vacancy rate remains higher than we would want it to be.

View the complete list of Martin Luther College assignments and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary assignments online.

Despite the limited number of candidates, the assignment of these workers is a reminder of what a great blessing our ministerial education system is. It provides faithful and well-trained workers who will soon go into the harvest fields where God the Holy Spirit is sending them. Please remember these called workers in your prayers, and ask God to send more workers into his harvest field.

Serving with you in Christ,
WELS President Mark Schroeder