New Parish Assistance consultant
Filed Under: Parish Assistance
For the first time since August 2006, WELS Parish Assistance—which offers fee-based consulting services to help congregations analyze and improve their ministries—has three full-time consultants. Rev. Paul Kelm, who previously served as a Parish Assistance consultant from January 1998 to August 2004, accepted a call Oct. 14 to be the third consultant, a position that had been vacant for more than two years.
"We are just elated," says Rev. Bruce Becker, administrator for WELS Parish Services, the board that oversees the Parish Assistance program. "We will now be in a position to start accepting the requests for services from the congregations that have been waiting."
Becker says he's looking forward to working again with Kelm, who will be starting his consulting duties Nov. 1. "Paul has always been a fantastic consultant," says Becker. "He's also just come out of four years of parish ministry, which brought him back up to the realities of life in the parish—and that will only enhance his ability to serve as a consultant."
In addition to his previous experience as a Parish Assistance consultant, Kelm has also served as pastor at St. Mark, De Pere/Green Bay, Wis., and Faith, Pittsfield, Mass.; campus pastor, professor, and dean of students at Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee; administrator of WELS' Commissions on Evangelism and Adult Discipleship; project director of Spiritual Renewal, Milwaukee; campus pastor at Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel, Madison; and tutor at the former Dr. Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn.
"This call is something that I think matches my gifts and my personality," says Kelm. "And my years here at St. Mark, in a large parish, have helped to shape some of the ways in which I can help congregations as well. I did enjoy [serving as a consultant] and expect to again."
For more information about WELS Parish Assistance, visit www.wels.net/pa
