Melanie Giddings just finished her 18th year serving WELS schools. With experience as a classroom teacher and a curriculum coordinator, God has blessed her with a unique perspective as she coordinates the development of a new theology curriculum for WELS schools.

“My time as the director of curriculum for the Fox Valley Lutheran Schools in Appleton, Wis.,” says Giddings, “helped me value the uniqueness in the schools that I was serving, from two-room schools with 20 students to very large schools with more than 360 students in K-8. This uniqueness also was evident in the teachers and administrators, each of whom had their own gifts to bring to the teaching ministry. What a blessing that God has used these experiences and people to help me with coordinating the work of the theology curriculum team.”

When Giddings began her work for WELS Lutheran Schools in 2023, she was directed by the Conference of Presidents to develop a Lutheran theology curriculum in which WELS educators contribute to that development. The result is that the Theology Curriculum Task Force, focus group reviewers, and survey takers have all been WELS educators—teachers, pastors, and staff ministers—serving in Lutheran schools from early childhood through 12th grade, representing all 12 districts and a variety of ministry contexts.

Ben Reichel, youth and young adult pastor at St. Mark Ministries, De Pere, Wis., serves on the curriculum’s task force. He explains, “We knew very early on that this was a monumental task, and we couldn’t jump right into creating content. The students we serve across our WELS schools today are not the same as they were back in the 1990s. So how could we take solid WELS doctrine and best educational practices and serve a wide variety of families who are all at different stages of their faith journey in today’s world?”

Reichel notes that the task force decided to start with the end in mind. “We came up with six ‘picture of the graduate’ statements [see image above] that summed up who we wanted our students to be when they graduated from high school,” says Reichel. “With 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.”

Giddings reports that writing teams are gearing up to begin their work late in 2025 or early in 2026. Both digital and print platforms are being planned. She reminds WELS members, though, that “while we can focus our energy and time on developing a curriculum and instructional programs with the most effective and quality instructional practices, we know these components only attend to biblical knowledge and skill acquisition. By faith, we trust that the work of the Holy Spirit will grow the grace and knowledge of God in students’ hearts.”

Learn more at cls.welsrc.net/theology-curriculum.

Read more about the six “picture of the graduate” statements in Melanie Giddings’ “Parent conversations” article.