Strategic Plan
Dear Rostered Ministers and Leaders of the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin,
I’m pleased to share that we are beginning a strategic planning process for the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin. Starting now and continuing through the summer of 2027, we will spend time listening, reflecting, discerning, and planning together as we consider where God is calling our synod in the years ahead.
This will be a thoughtful process, and it will take place in several stages.
Listen. We will begin by listening carefully to people across our synod and to others who can help us understand the changing context in which we serve. We want to hear about the gifts and strengths of our synod, the needs facing our congregations and leaders, the challenges before us, and the opportunities we see for ministry.
Understand Our Identity. We will then take what we have heard and ask some deeper questions. Who are we as the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin? What has God entrusted to us? What is distinctive about our shared ministry? What are we being called to carry forward, and where might God be calling us toward something new?
Set Strategic Priorities. From that work, we will identify a focused set of strategic priorities to guide our shared ministry. Good strategic planning requires choices. We will not be able to pursue every good idea or respond to every suggestion we receive. Our task will be to listen for the larger patterns and identify the areas where focused attention can make the greatest difference.
Build Teams and Put Priorities into Action. Finally, we will move from planning to doing. Teams will be formed around our strategic priorities to develop practical initiatives, identify resources, establish measures of progress, and help move the work forward.
A Strategy Team is currently being formed to help guide this process. But the work cannot happen around one table alone.
Over the coming months, many of you may be invited to participate through surveys, listening sessions, focused conversations, conference gatherings, or other opportunities. Not everyone will participate in every part of the process, and we cannot promise that every person will be asked to participate directly. But when you are invited, I ask you to make every good-faith effort to take part.
Your voice matters. Your experience matters. Your perspective will help the Strategy Team develop a richer and more faithful understanding of our synod and the communities we are called to serve. The stronger our listening is, the stronger the information will be from which we discern our direction.
Participation also does not mean that every idea shared will become part of the final strategic plan. Listening is how we gather the wisdom of the synod. Discernment then asks us to consider that wisdom together, recognize patterns, make choices, and seek the direction in which God may be calling us.
Guiding and Resourcing the Process
We have engaged GSB Fundraising to help shepherd and resource this work. Our lead consultant will be the Rev. Dr. Nathan Swenson-Reinhold, MCC, ACTC, CFRE, a GSB Partner, ELCA pastor, executive leadership coach, facilitator, and organizational strategist. Nathan works with congregations, church bodies, nonprofits, and other organizations in strategic planning, organizational development, leadership, and change. He will work closely with me and our Strategy Team while also bringing an outside perspective to help us listen well, ask good questions, and move faithfully from what we hear toward action.
Strategic planning at its best is an act of discernment. We are asking questions about programs, priorities, resources, and structures, but beneath all of those questions is a deeper one:
What is God calling the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin to be and do in this next season of our life together?
Answering that question will ask something of all of us: openness, curiosity, prayer, courage, and a willingness to listen to people whose experiences may be different from our own.
I am grateful for the ministry you offer every day across this synod. I look forward to listening with you and discerning together where God may be leading us.
More information—and the first opportunities to participate—will be coming soon.
In Christ,
Bishop Joy Mortensen-Wiebe
South-Central Synod of Wisconsin, ELCA