WELS has the most congregations and pastors ever.
WELS has steadily lost members in the last 20 years (the Church Growth years) while adding expensive administrators.
Since 1987, WELS has lost about 6,000 communicants, about 25,000 souls.
In 1970, WELS had only 10 administrators. In 2002, they had 57, who get the highest salaries in the structure, more than seminary professors. They lost a few since then, but they still have a huge number.
The percentage in attendance has gone down, too.
The good news is -
The number of administrators per communicant has doubled since 1987!
So who can doubt the efficacy of the Church Growth Movement in WELS? No wonder the Fuller-trained administrators love the Church Growth Movement.
ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
Monday, June 4, 2007
WELS Statistics Summarized
