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Sure Foundation, Woodside, N.Y., which reaches out to millions of people in a very ethnically diverse area of New York City, is just one example of the work we are able to do together by God’s grace as a synod that each congregation could not do alone.

This month, hundreds of students head back to the campuses of our four ministerial education schools where steps are being taken to better prepare future called workers for ministry in a multicultural society.

Luis Acosta talks about multi-cultural ministry in WELS.

Long established congregations as well as new ones reap the benefits of sending congregational leaders to schools of outreach. The main reward: realizing that evangelism is everyone's responsibility.

This past June each of our 12 districts met in convention. They meet every other year to discuss the blessings and challenges of ministry in their part of the country. This month we look at the South Atlantic district. With God’s blessing it is the fastest growing in our synod and WELS’ resources are playing a role.

One of the greatest strengths of our synod is our called work force. Plans are in place to identify young people with particular gifts for ministry – from outside our traditional prep school system – and to encourage them towards working full time in the Lord’s kingdom. Our preparatory schools have played the primary role in training future workers.

West Orlando Florida is growing and saw an abundance of opportunities for outreach. They partnered with Martin Luther College and brought in a “dream team” - four students who came for a week to help with the effort. They worked with the congregation to identify prospects and visit nearby neighborhoods.

Sometimes mission opportunities walk right through your front door – literally. That is exactly what happened to our WELS congregation in Des Moines, Iowa. The face of Des Moines, like so many communities across the United States, is changing with the wave of immigrants coming from the world over.