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“The one time each week that we are all together as a congregation is on Sunday,” says Nathanael Brenner, pastor at Holy Scripture, Fort Wayne, Ind. “So, I really like the idea of carrying one theme throughout the week so that worship becomes more than just something we do on Sunday. It extends into a life of worship.”
Brenner is using resources from The Foundation to help him create this extension of worship for his members. The Foundation focuses on a specific theme for each season of the church year and then a sub-theme each week. These themes are reflected in the Bible readings, sermons, and music in church and can be customized to fit each congregation’s needs. They are also carried through in the devotions sent out through the synod for individuals, families, and teens. As a suite of resources developed by WELS Congregational Services, The Foundation includes images, videos, and bulletin blurbs to help congregations spread the word about each week’s theme and to invite people to worship.
Before The Foundation was released for Advent 2021, Brenner often created his own themes and images. Now that he can use The Foundation’s resources, he has more time to make visits and phone calls to prospects and members, which is precisely what WELS Congregational Services had in mind.
“That probably is what we prayed for most when we were planning The Foundation,” says Jonathan Hein, coordinator of WELS Congregational Services, “We want pastors to be able to spend less time in their office planning worship series and finding graphics to fit and more time doing the face-to-face ministry that people need.”
Learn more at welscongregationalservices.net.
Connecting your devotional life to Sunday worship
Devotions prepared by WELS Congregational Services follow the theme that is set for each week’s worship in The Foundation’s resources. That means that the message that you hear on Sunday can be reinforced and expanded on in the devotions you read or hear. Here are the three devotions that offer this connection.
- Daily Devotions: Published every day for general use by individuals and groups. Available as text and audio.
- Family Devotions: Published Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for families. Available as text and audio.
- Teen Devotions (titled “Transformed”): Published on Sunday to connect teens to Christ. Available as text.
Subscribe for free to any of these devotions at wels.net/subscribe.
Volume 109, Number 03
Issue: March 2022
- Laying a foundation for the week
