Official Workbook report source text
Official Workbook source-navigation report record. No analysis has been added.
- Report number/id
- R27
- Report title
- R27 Indiana District
- Workbook start page
- 111
- Workbook end page
- 112
- Source pages
- 111, 112
- Source status
- source_checked
- Committee
- Not available
R27 Indiana District The Indiana District comprises some 212 congregations, along with their pastors, schools, teachers, and commissioned workers in Indiana and northern Kentucky. By God’s grace we are a strong and healthy district with many blessings received with thanksgiv- ing and being used to the glory of His name and for the good of His Church. Following a period of significant transition within the district office, the past few years have been a time of increasing stability and of growing equilibrium in our week-to-week operations. As the undersigned has settled into his office and role as district president, to which he was reelected in June of 2025, it has become easier to clarify our collective goals, to lay the groundwork for future plans, and to make concerted efforts to advance the faithful and consistent catechesis and confession of our Savior Christ Jesus and His Word. A persistent focus has been maintained on the following five key priorities, identified by the undersigned in 2022: couraged and strengthened in their life and ministry through Grace Place Wellness Retreats, DOXOLOGY , Pastoral Leadership Insti- tute, and seminary workshops. We are blessed to support worker wellness through Lutheran Counseling Services, Post-Seminary Applied Learning and Support, pastors’ wives’ retreats and break- outs at our conferences, and working with Synod partner ministries. We are working to further develop our worker and family wellness plans. During this triennium, our educator conferences, pastors’ con- ferences, circuit convocations, and the President’s Equip Confer - ence have all given priority to equipping God’s people for outreach and leadership. Attendance at these events has increased, with more than 800 at our pastor and educator conferences and over 1,000 at the President’s Equip Conference in 2023. We have seen new min- istries start, our schools grow, and an openness to helping “Every Congregation Be a Church Planting Congregation—Start Some- thing New” that will be a bridge to reach new people and connect them to Jesus. Youth ministry and children’s ministry in many of our congre- gations have reflected much of the change across Synod. However, we remain blessed with great directors of Christian education, dea- conesses, and other youth and children’s ministry leaders who are working to reach out into their communities. Even with the chal - lenges, we continue to offer excellent district youth gatherings for middle and high school students with more than 500 in attendance, along with annual servant events. Our 59 early learning centers and schools are growing. This growth is a result of the excellence in our programs, parental choice, and a growing population. We have seen two new schools open and others are under consideration. Yet not only do we provide exceptional education, but places where the seeds of faith are planted and nurtured in both students and parents. Over the past three years, we have seen more than 400 baptisms through our school ministries! Our district convention theme in 2025 was Compelled, based upon 2 Cor. 5:14–15: For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (NIV) The population of Florida and Georgia continues to grow rapid- ly (two percent or more a year), now totaling more than 34 million residents. With that growth comes many opportunities and chal - lenges in reaching the diverse, large-growing ethnic population. This includes few bilingual pastors, but also leaders and congrega- tions that will answer the call to send workers into the harvest. We are indeed blessed to have a number of ethnic ministries including Hispanic, Haitian, Korean, and Ethiopian. But there is more to do as we respond to what is before us and the Synod’s call to increase mission efforts to immigrants and various cultural groups. One re- sponse to these opportunities is our Rev7:9 Project involving 22 congregations in reaching diverse ethnic groups. This project is be- ing supported through a partnership with Mission Nation Publish- ing and a grant from the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. In addition, we have given more attention to new ethnic church plants and raising individuals to be trained through our seminaries. During this triennium, we have closed two congregations and planted three new congregations. Today, the Synod and our district are facing an ever-growing and critical need for workers. There are more than 600 congrega - 2026 Convention Workbook 112 OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS cies of the Synod in the areas of stewardship, worship, counsel- ing, worker wellness, youth ministry, and the recruitment of future pastors, teachers, deaconesses, church musicians, and other work- ers. The district is also privileged and pleased to have Concordia Theological Seminary in our midst, with whom we cherish a close working relationship. In the area of mental health care and counseling, in particular, the past few years have seen the beginning of Concordia Counsel- ing in Seymour, Ind., and Cross Connections of Tippecanoe Coun- ty in Lafayette, Ind., indicative of the desire and effort to provide theologically sound temporal assistance and support alongside the ongoing spiritual care of the Church and ministry of the Gospel. It is noteworthy that parishes in other parts of the district are likewise exploring the possibility of providing similar counseling services. Within the life of the district, the undersigned has focused on visitation as a primary means of oversight and pastoral care for the pastors and parishes of Indiana and northern Kentucky. He has thus far been able to worship with roughly 70–75 percent of the con- gregations and to visit in some capacity as many as 85–90 percent of the parishes. As those efforts continue through this new trienni - um, a process of more formal visitations will begin, for the sake of providing counsel and encouragement in the ministry and mission of the Church on earth. The president and regional vice-presidents also make regular visits to the circuit pastors’ meetings throughout the year, in order to maintain communication and close connections with the pastors and their labors in the Lord on the front lines of the Church and in the trenches of this life under the cross. The circuit visitors are likewise instrumental in this exercise of care and over - sight for the congregations, all the more so because of their close proximity to and familiarity with the parishes of their circuits. Sim- ilarly, our education executive is making regular visits to schools and principals, in order to know them and the challenges they face, and to serve and support them in their work. There are challenges, of course, facing not only the schools but the congregations of the district in general as well. The Synod’s Set Apart to Serve initiative has helped to spread awareness of the urgent and growing need for more theologically trained teachers and pastors for the present and future generations of the Church. As more pastors are reaching the point of retirement, the number of vacancies increases, some of which are harder to fill. At the same time, demographic declines have contributed to the struggles of our small congregations. We look to the Lord for wisdom, even as we pray that He will continue to provide what is needed for His Church. We know and trust that all things depend upon His faithful Word! D. Richard Stuckwisch Jr., President