WELS by the numbers

As a Christian church body, our calling is to nurture the faith of our members and to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Everything about the way we're organized is designed to serve that dual purpose.

We are the third largest Lutheran church body in America with 1,279 churches; 389,545 baptized members; and 308,640 communicant members.

We have 12 districts to allow for more area-specific ministry, personal contacts, and member involvement.

We support work in world mission fields like Malawi, Zambia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Albania, Bulgaria, Japan, Russia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, India, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. We also support mission work in about 190 locations in the United States, Canada, and the West Indies.

We maintain a college in New Ulm, Minn., a seminary in Mequon, Wis., and two preparatory high schools in Watertown, Wis., and Saginaw, Mich., for the education of our pastors, teachers, and staff ministers.

Our congregations—either individually or as federations—operate one of the largest Lutheran school systems in the country with 334 Lutheran elementary schools; 406 early childhood ministries; 23 area Lutheran high schools; and 1 Lutheran college.

We run one of the largest Christian prison ministries in the nation, distributing hundreds of thousands of Bibles and Bible correspondence courses to inmates across the United States over the last 20 years.

We are a member of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, an organization of 20 confessional church bodies throughout the world.

Statistics are taken from WELS' 2009 Statistical Report. School enrollment numbers are from the 2009-10 school year.