The Old Testament Year of Jubilee is meant to teach God's people to put our trust in him. He provides for our earthly needs. Moreover, he redeems us from our slavery to sin!
WELS is celebrating God's grace during a Year of Jubilee from June 2008 to July 2009. A thank offering is being collected with the goal of gathering $22.4 million to eliminate the synod's debt. Reducing or eliminating this debt would free up to $2.7 million a year to then "proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" to prisoners of darkness around the world.
Nearly every congregation in our synod has one or more of its members serving in the military. WELS Military Services supports our troops (as well as unchurched soldiers) with God's Word and sacraments through the work of chaplains, regional contact pastors, and its ministry by mail program. Your gifts support this work and will provide more chaplain visits to soldiers in the Middle East.
WELS Committee on Relief, the synod's "ministry of compassion," continues to bring physical relief to victims of natural disasters through gifts of cash grants, food, clothing, and medical supplies. A current focus is flood disaster relief in the Midwestern United States.
WELS' endowment funds help to ensure long-term financial stability to ministry by providing predictable support year after year, until the Lord returns. This is possible because the principal of an endowment fund is locked away permanently, and only a portion of the interest is taken annually for ministry support.
Walking Together is an annual celebration of what we, by the grace of God, accomplish together in WELS. The 2008 service is based on Acts 1:8. Just as God, at Pentecost, worked things out for the spread of his gospel across the world, today he brings people from every continent right into our neighborhoods. Together as WELS we are taking advantage of this opportunity to share our faith with the world by witnessing to these people.
