Opportunities together

Photo Mark Schroeder wearing green vest with cross — WELS President Mark Schroeder | PHOTO by Mel Anne Designs

We call our church body a “synod” for a good reason. Synod means “walking together.” We walk together in a number of ways. We walk together in a common mission that God has given us—to proclaim the good news of Jesus to our own members and to those who have not yet come to know their Savior. We walk together as we encourage and strengthen one another in our faith. We also walk together in a common set of beliefs we hold and in holding to a common doctrine that we teach. A synod is who and what we are: a group of people with a common mission, common love for one another, and common beliefs.

The work we do together takes people. The synod is not merely an organization. It is not the synod headquarters and the people who work there or synodical workers out in the mission fields. The synod is really you and every member of your congregation.

Together, as workers and members, we provide financial support (salary, housing, healthcare) for called workers and lay workers who serve the synod on our behalf in frontline ministry and who serve behind the scenes in support of that ministry. We provide for the facilities where much of that work is done—at synodical schools and at the WELS Center for Mission and Ministry. Together, we plant new mission congregations in North America and send missionaries into world mission fields. So, the work we do together requires people . . . and generous financial support.

To provide that financial support, our congregations regularly devote their offerings to support not only the ministry carried out in their own congregations and schools but also the work of our synod. Every year your congregation determines what portion of its offerings it will commit to send to support the broader mission and ministry of the synod. That support extends to places you can’t go and to serve people you will never meet this side of heaven. We call the support congregations give Congregation Mission Offerings.

Those gifts have been generous. Since 2010, those gifts have risen nearly every year. In 2010, Congregation Mission Offerings were $21.1 million. In 2025, they had grown to $24.1 million, an increase of 14 percent over those 15 years. We are very grateful to God—and to you—for these generous gifts.

But one thing cannot go unnoticed. In those same 15 years, the rate of inflation has increased by 47 percent, causing Congregation Mission Offerings to fall behind the pace of inflation by 33 percent. That means that rather than having additional dollars for joint ministry support, the real ability to support ministry has decreased significantly since 2010.

We are entering the months when congregations will be determining the level of next year’s Congregation Mission Offerings. Now is a time to learn more about the work we do together as a synod and to encourage your congregation to prayerfully consider increasing its level of support to enable our synod to meet the growing opportunities that God is placing before us.

This isn’t because we must, but because, with God’s help, we can.

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