Fostering Cross-Cultural Growth at WELS Worker Training Schools

Abstract

Look into a classroom of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary classroom in the year 2013 and you will only see maybe one or two minorities amongst the class of around thirty Caucasian students. Ninety-six percent of the MLC student body is white. In a country where minority growth is rapidly increasing, these numbers are disturbing. How do we promote these schools so they become culturally inclusive campuses? It is important to examine the methods and processes of the WELS in order to determine what can be done to achieve an atmosphere of diversity.

The ultimate goal in this paper is to gather information that would better equip the WELS to attract future called workers from every people and every culture. By examining WELS worker training schools and the recruiting process, perhaps barriers can be identified and solutions to eliminate those barriers can be implemented so that the ministry of the WELS is not a “white” ministry, but a ministry of all nations.