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Numbers tell stories
Jonathan Hein, coordinator of WELS Congregational Services, presented the synod's proposed long-range strategic plan to synod convention delegates on Tuesday afternoon. He noted that it is an issues-based plan, offering priorities and goals related to key issues the committee uncovered after conducting surveys and cultural analyses and talking to focus groups. Learn more about his presentation. In the August issue of FIC, Hein details more about the 2024 congregational statistics. Here's a sneak-peek.
Numbers tell stories. WELS’ 2024 statistical summary weaves a narrative of challenge, resilience, and Christ’s abounding faithfulness. Behind every statistic—births and deaths, gains and losses—are souls for whom Christ died. As we reflect on this year’s data, we see a church navigating a shifting cultural landscape yet firmly anchored in the love of Christ.
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That’s why these statistics matter. They are not cold data points. They are windows into our ministry—snapshots of the Spirit’s work in real time. Each adult confirmed is a soul brought from death to life. Each child baptized is a sinner now washed clean. Each person who drifts away is someone we grieve—not a name on a spreadsheet but a brother or sister for whom Christ died. These numbers call us both to repentance and rejoicing: repentance where we have grown complacent; rejoicing where God has been faithful despite our weakness. Statistics won’t save anyone. But they can stir us to pray, to proclaim, and to labor with hearts full of Christ’s love.
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A remarkable year of grace
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In recent years, we have noted some positive statistical trends in WELS. These continued in 2024.
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Explore more from past synod conventions:
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WELS’ 67th Biennial Synod Convention was held July 31–Aug. 3, at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, Saginaw, Mich., under the theme “Embrace the Cross—Anticipate the Crown.” Three hundred forty-eight convention delegates met in 19 floor committees to . . .
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The 2021 synod convention was presented with an ambitious proposal. The Board for Home Missions asked the convention to consider approving a plan to start one hundred new home missions over the next ten years. In addition to those new missions, the plan . . .
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Representatives from church bodies in Kenya and Taiwan traveled a long way to be at the synod convention in Minnesota this summer—and not just in miles. Their journeys were very different but their destination the same—to work hand in hand with WELS in spreading
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