WELS Statistics - Looking Bad

As Luther said, when people order God around, He denies them their infantile demands. WELS has focused on the Church Growth Movement for 30 years and lost ground the entire time. WELS is not only following ELCA in ideology but in membership losses as well.

Here are the stats:

2005 souls - 398,282
2006 souls - 395,947
net loss of 2,335

2005 communicants - 313,553
2006 communicants - 311,977
net loss of 1,576

[Subtract the teens and shut-ins from the communicant list and the real figure is doubtless much lower. Those would be the people left to support and attend regularly.]

2005 child baptisms - 7,006
2006 child baptisms - 6,836

2005 adult baptisms - 734
2006 adult baptisms - 668

2005 adult confirmations - 3,956
2006 adult confirmations - 3,852

2005 professions of faith - 2,342
2006 professions of faith - 2,294

2005 ave. Sun. att. - 44.3%
2006 ave. Sun. att. - 44.0%

2005 LES students - 23,049
2006 LES students - 21,911

2005 S.S. students - 34,614
2006 S.S. students - 31,789

2005 CMO received - $28,994,971
2006 CMO received - $20,230,919

2005 ave. giving per comm. (all purposes) - $959.47
2006 ave. giving per comm. (all purposes) - $1,011.86

Giving per communicant for all purposes went up in 2006, but synod giving tanked, nosedived, did the Katie-Couric-ratings thing. Another $8 million disappeared.

WELS: Where Is All the Money Going? The Final EpisodePart 1

"In keeping with policy established by the Synod in Convention, we are not opening new missions fully funded by the WELS Home Missions budget. Instead, we rely on the initiative of local congregations, individuals, or circuits to begin new evangelism efforts. By applying for it through the DMB, such initiatives may receive financial assistance from the WELS BHM. We call these “Level 2 ministries.” The WELS BHM is responsible for approving these and appropriating funds. The DMB encourages all our congregations to consider making plans to begin second sites or to use additional languages in reaching out. We will try to provide assistance and access to resources.

Cross-cultural and Multi-cultural mission work continues to advance, especially among Latino and Hmong language groups. These efforts are important to us. Many challenges face our called workers, lay evangelists, and congregations. The DMB is working to understand the special needs of cross-cultural missions. One of the greatest challenges is financial. New immigrant groups do not have the financial stability to enable them to grow support for their congregations that the BHM normally expects. While we will continue to teach stewardship and work toward self-support, we know that this work will require greater commitments of time and financial resources. The DMB supports the idea of making Phoenix a hub for Hispanic outreach, believing that there is strength in the numbers of brothers and sisters working together there. The DMB chairman has talked with the ELS Mission Counselor about cooperating with them on Korean outreach in Southern California. We are working with the Coordinator for WELS Hmong Ministry to strengthen Hmong missions in Northern California."

From the WELS California-Arizona-Nevada district.

New Lutheran Association - The Churches of the Defenestration

I like the word defenestration, finding it useful in dealing with the Evangelical Lutheran Synod and Pope John the Malefactor.

The word is used in history when Roman Catholic officials were thrown out the window. A soft landing followed - on a manure pile. This started the Thirty Years War -

Old Fashioned Protestant Diplomacy

Defenestration means - thrown out the window.

The congregations and pastors tossed out of the ELS have formed an association, listed here:

First Evanger (First Confessional Lutheran Parish), Fertile, Minnesota

Grace (First Confessional Lutheran Parish), Crookston, Minnesota

Reformation, Hillsboro, Oregon

St. Mary Evangelical Lutheran Chapel, Des Moines, Iowa

St. Paul, Escondido, California

Wayfarer's Chapel, Fillmore, California

And others

My source is: Reformation Lutheran Church, Hillsboro, Oregon