WELS news briefs: April 2022

Evangelism

Everyone Outreach meeting Ten Everyone Outreach workshops were held in fall 2021. Twenty-five more are planned during the first five months of 2022.

WELS Commission on Evangelism designed the Everyone Outreach program to help congregations build a culture of outreach among their members. In August 2021, the commission trained 21 pastors to facilitate these workshops. In January 2022, 20 more were trained (pictured).

When a congregation makes the commitment to participate in Everyone Outreach, a facilitator visits the congregation for a two-day workshop. During the workshop, the facilitator uses group exercises and reflection, grounded in God’s Word, to help members focus on outreach. After the workshop, the facilitator continues to encourage and support the congregation in maintaining its outreach mindset.

Learn more at everyoneoutreach.com.

Joint Missions

Mission Journeys, the WELS short-term mission trip program, is back up and running again after taking an understandable pause at the beginning of the pandemic. In January, three members of the WELS campus ministry at Concordia University, Mequon, Wis., traveled to Reformation in San Diego, Calif. The students assisted the congregation with many projects, including delivering bags of food and supplies to the homeless, teaching Sunday school, and facilitating activities for children whose parents were having a bilingual (English and Chinese) Bible study. The student volunteers are pictured with a Pastoral Studies Institute student and his wife while making Chinese dumplings. In 2021, 65 WELS members made up 13 Mission Journeys teams.

Learn more at wels.net/missionjourneys.

The Global South Sudanese Committee met at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., in February. The committee, consisting of South Sudanese pastors and leaders with their Anglo partners, oversees the various ministries reaching South Sudanese refugees in North America and in South Sudanese refugee camps in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. Currently 10 North American congregations offer Sudanese ministries.

Learn more at wels.net/sudanese.

Home Missions

100 missions in 10 years Members from WELS’ 12 district mission boards, the Campus Ministry committee, mission counselors, and Home Missions administration gathered for training in Las Vegas in late January. This training is part of the upcoming Home Missions initiative to plant 100 missions in 10 years beginning in 2023. Pictured are members of the Home Missions Task Force who are tasked with determining feasibility and exploring what additional resources will be needed to accomplish the “100 in 10” initiative.

Learn more at wels.net/homemissions.

World Missions

Michael Hartman, missionary to London, was commissioned on Feb. 8 at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis. Hartman is now serving WELS members in London, connecting with Lutherans from other sister church bodies that have moved to London, and launching outreach efforts to those who are unchurched.