The South Atlantic District had the largest gain at +232.
The Michigan District had the largest loss at -230.
The loss for Michigan was probably much larger because the Frankenmuth congregation that left for the ELS is still on the books as WELS. That would add 700 to the losses.
There are 48 Conferences in the WELS -
29 showed a net loss of communicants.
19 showed a net gain of communicants.
Conferences with 100 or more losses -
Milwaukee Metro, SEW -372.
Northern, MI -131.
Southwestern, MI -109.
Do you find it strange that the conference nestled around synod headquarters is the most Left-wing and the most disastrous in numbers? What does that say about the leadership of WELS?
Congregations that gained were not impressive:
The DePere, Wisconsin congregation, where Paul Kelm (Fuller alumnus) works, posted a gain of only 57. A large congregation could easily add members by transfer and baptism and not remove hundreds. As a gain, 57 out of thousands is not even a blip.
One example of numbers with mega-churches:
When we meet various people in Glendale who learn that we are Lutheran, they say, "Lutheran? I used to be a member of Church of Joy." That has happened many times. Church of Joy in the most famous ELCA Church Growth congregation. They add and subtract large numbers of members each month.
It must be depressing for the WELS Church Growth leaders to have hitched their careers to a jackass like Donald McGovern. The ruling Church Growth enthusiasts have worked together for decades:
- sent all the world mission and American mission people through Fuller,
- given scholarships for pastors to be brain-washed at their favorite union school,
- added Church Growth to the seminary curriculum,
- forced new pastors to come back one year after ordination for Church Growth re-education,
- created "evangelism" conferences that are pure Church Growth,
- forced everyone to focus on numbers, planning, Management by Objective,
- killed the school system in the name of missions, which are also dying.
The mantra of these phonies has been, "Get out the graph paper. Look at your numbers." Now they should be hoisted on their own Excel spread-sheets. They got corporate-trained laity to despise doctrine in the name of numbers. Now they have no Lutheran doctrine left - as a synod - and a bankruptcy of money, numbers, and values to face.
The solution is a return to Lutheran doctrine. The false teachers are so firmly entrenched that it would take a serious effort for a decade to root out the main disease systems. God could do this through His efficacious Word, but who trusts Him when they have their synod to worship?
