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 1,286 churches; 385,321 baptized members; and 305,558 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 the United States, Canada, and the West Indies.

We maintain Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minn., Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wis., and two preparatory high schools: Luther Preparatory School in Watertown, Wis., and Michigan Lutheran Seminary in 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 324 Lutheran elementary schools; 403 early childhood ministries; 23 area Lutheran high schools; and Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee, Wis.

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' 2011 Statistical Report. School enrollment numbers are from the 2011-12 school year.