Helga Jansons
Director of Evangelical Mission
EWAID Synod Staff

Last year (2011) the ELCA started 60 new congregations.  The goal for 2012 is 70 new church starts.  Prior to the placement of the 65 Directors of Evangelical Mission the ELCA averaged just 30 new congregations per year.  Perhaps most exciting in a denomination that is less than 5% non-Caucasian 50% of those new starts are in ethnically diverse communities.  In the Eastern Washington Idaho Synod Celebration Lutheran in Wenatchee has an exemplary Latino ministry.  The new congregation Tree of Life is going well and shortly a Horizon internship site will begin in the Wenatchee area with the intention of continuing to grow in intentionality toward the migrant worker population of Eastern Washington.