WELS Church Extension Fund
866-511-7793; cef@sab.wels.net
WELS Church Extension Fund (CEF), which provides financing for mission-minded projects directed by the Board for Home Missions, now offers Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). “Now you can help build churches while you are building your retirement savings by investing in a WELS CEF Retirement Certificate,” says Tim Probst, vice president of marketing and development for CEF. All monies invested with CEF—whether in IRAs or traditional savings certificates—are used exclusively to provide financing to mission congregations. Find out more at www.welscef.org.

Conference of Presidents
414-256-3202; mark.schroeder@sab.wels.net
The 60th biennial convention will be held July 27–31 at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, Saginaw, Mich. The theme of this year’s convention is “Christ’s Love, Our Calling.” Two essays at the convention will expand on this theme and form the basis for two years of synodwide Bible studies in circuits, conferences, and congregations. For more information about the convention, check out the convention Web site, archive.wels.net/convention, which will go live in early April.

In its January meeting, the Conference of Presidents (COP) discussed some of the new and different approaches and methods in the areas of worship, outreach, and congregational organization that some WELS congregations are considering. “In keeping with its role of supervising doctrine and practice, the Conference of Presidents is concerned that all decisions in these areas are made with a good understanding and application of clear biblical principles,” says WELS President Mark Schroeder, chairman of the COP.

Schroeder says when specific practices are not specifically commanded nor forbidden by Scripture and are matters of Christian freedom, the Conference of Presidents wants to be sure that as a synod we are asking the questions that the apostle Paul encouraged: Is this wise? Is this beneficial? Is this loving? “We value the freedom that God has given us in these areas,” he says. “Many things are matters of Christian freedom and are permissible. But that doesn’t end the discussion. That’s where the discussion really begins—when, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we ask those questions that Paul would have us ask.”