rhs (http://rhs.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Jeske Rules and Rocks":
I attended the conference monday. WLC's spotlight was a laughable video detailing everything they do except their Lutheran heritage and 'Lutheran' teaching.
Ironic isn’t it that pastors attack self-centeredness and selfishness when they embrace those qualities so strongly and appeal to selfishness of individuals who want to feel saved.
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GJ - Mencken said, "No one ever went broke by underestimating the taste of the American people."
WLC is non-profit and non-WELS (when it suits them), but WLC is a business.
I predict most of the WELS/ELS schools of higher education will be gone or radically different in five years.
6 comments:
I predict in 5 years there will still be 2 prep schools, MLC and the seminary at Meqoun...they will just all be in a weaker state.
I don't think there is enough resolve for any truly strategic planning...
Declining birth rates, increasing mortality rates (as WELS population gets grayer), the postponing of retirement by some called workers for financial reasons (probably in near future SSI retirement age will be substantially increased) would seem to indicate a lower demand for WELS elementary educators.
With a higher rate of non-placement and a continued poor economy, enrollment at MLC may decline.
Pastors will not be affected to such a great extent as teachers, but as congregations shrink look for continued mergers (and declining vacant pulpits).
Of course, I could be wrong.
Grumps
Grumps,
Stra-geekic planning? Do you know who will be your cell phone carrier in six months? Schools are going down faster and harder than y'all think. Bottom line - fixed costs and declining enrollment. At some point the red and blue lines go in opposite directions, with no cash to fill in the gaps. The parochial school closings are the canary in the coal mine. When Obama's Cuban Health Care starts in a few months, congregations will fold faster than Primo Carnera.
Checks will bounce long before one of the remaining schools (MLS, Luther Prep, MLC, Sem at Mequon) close...and THAT will be awhile as funds are transferred away from missions and other non-synodical school projects.
The argument will be that without at least 2 prep schools, MLC will dry up, which in turn will lead to a decline in enrollment at Sem (Mequon).
You will have MLC and Seminary grads staffing half the 7-11's in the upper Midwest before you say one of those hallowed halls closed...
I too was an eywitness at one of the recent district conventions.(not the NWD) A layman defended WLC and was upset that 'certain' people refer to the school as Willow Creek College. I would have challenged the gentleman, but ladies should not speak during congregational assemblies. On the subject of ladies, this Womens's Leadership Conference is being pushed harder than the Obama Healthcare Bill. A few of those women are deaconesses. Willow Creek, oops, I mean Wisconsin Lutheran College offers a deaconess certification course. I spoke with two pastors conserning the issue. One of the pastors was not buying-in to the Womens Ministries deal. Let's look at the male leadership in this new program. First, they list David Kehl and Richard Gurgel. They are on the Church and Change listserve. Earnst Wendland, who use to be part of The Evangelism Life Line(TELL), is the husband of one of the leaders of this ministry. Where are all of the Confessional WELS leaders? Interesting! Ain't 'nuttin' but trouble is what will come out of this. Look at the LCMS,and worse, look what became of the ELCA. One lady claims that they are not trying to lead the men. She 'may' be correct beacause you do not have to lead if you are building your own empire. Pardon me if I sound like Glenn Beck, but you have Kelm, WLC, Deaconess Certification, Womens Ministries, Church and Change, and TELL. Is it just me or is this very alarming?
In the 19th century there was a conservative deconess program. Remember the Kaiserworth hospital in Germany?(the one Florence Nightingale visited) These ladies were nurses giving care and aid to the sick and dying. They were hardly, and I mean hardly, leading the men. This was obviously a whole different ballpark. Pastor Jackson has some older posts on this history and explains that the motives were of a Christian nature.
In Christ,
from WELS church lady
Don't lump Bethany with those WELS schools. Different purpose, different mission, different theory of education.
Differentiate.
Norman Teigen
BLC 1962
ELS layman
Norman, I do not see Bethany in bed with Evangelical Left, as MLC and WLC are. However, all small colleges face the same problem with fixed costs and declining enrollment.
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