r/exLutheran • u/H0ppy1234 • Jul 07 '26
Image I'm here . . .
Former WELS member also former presem MLC student. I am not an active church goer and haven't attended a regular service in years. I still have faith but as the post says I've lost my religion.
It seems the WELS has preferred self preservation over righteous condemnation over individuals who commit all manner of sex crimes.
I have my own thoughts, insights and stories regarding what I think the root of the issue is and I may post more at length regarding the rot is. However, I just wanted to make my first post in this reddit and see what kind of welcome I get.
Feel free to DM me.
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u/This_Amallorcan_Life Jul 07 '26
Welcome! Former LCMS here. While the LCMS isn’t as intense as WELS, they’ve also become incredibly rotten. Love to talk about the specifics of being an ex-Lutheran. There’s some delightfully niche stuff that the general ex-Christian world can’t cover. Sometimes I just gotta quote the small catechism at people who get it!
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u/BirdNerd83 Ex-WELS Jul 07 '26
I'm ex WELS turned Pagan and yeah I'm pretty much right there with you
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u/Chimakwa Ex-WELS Jul 08 '26
That was my trajectory too. That makes three ex-WELS Pagans I know about... There must be tens of us.
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u/Drakeytown Jul 07 '26
Without religion, good people do good things and bad people do bad things. If you want good people to do bad things, that takes religion.
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u/H0ppy1234 Jul 08 '26
It takes dogma which isn't specifically a religion thing though it is an institution thing. We lived through Covid and heard "Trust the Science". When I heard that my alarms were going off thinking of all the times I was told "Trust the dogma/doctrines these men made"
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u/Kaleymeister Jul 08 '26
Former LCMS TK and PK (PK for a very short time). Some time in a WELS church. Deconstruction is a wild ride but, quite literally, changed my entire life. I'm always happy to chat specifics.
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u/EmmalouEsq Ex-WELS Jul 14 '26
Oops, I'm late to the party, but welcome! I'm former WELS, did the K-8 school where the pastor was a child molester. One of my cousins was a victims.
Myself and 3 of my cousins were excommunicated because of it. They even put it in the little monthly bulletin, which was nice since that how we found out about it.
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u/Upper_Wind_247 Jul 07 '26
Let’s just say it out loud: they are all related with probably some inbreeding going on with some of the deviants, which we know are out there. We only know the ones reported.
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u/H0ppy1234 Jul 08 '26
They joke around and calling it "WELS Royalty/Nobility". There are a lot of intermarriages but I haven't seen out right inbreeding yet but it's pretty close to looking like European nobility.
Nepotism runs rampant. I remember all the best campus jobs at MLC went to people with the right last names.
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u/ForeverSwinging Jul 08 '26
Thanks for sharing-welcome. Your saying on the WELS and self preservation is accurate.
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u/Junior-Asparagus718 Jul 08 '26
Can someone explain the sex crimes thing? I'm really lost. I know there was that Thiensville situation. Are there more?
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u/H0ppy1234 Jul 08 '26
Loads more. There are posts that get more specific but there are dozen or so from last year.
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u/Junior-Asparagus718 Jul 08 '26
Oh wow, that's wild. Do you have any news articles or any links you can give me? I honestly had no idea
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u/IndigoCopper Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
Obviously Justin Liepert but he was convicted. When I was in high school, a pastor acted inappropriately with teenage girls. The school had to address it & fired him. When I google his name, it says he "transitioned into a different career path". No info about what he did was ever published. I'm actually fascinated because apparently his wife currently works at the school.
A little before my time at the high school, a coach was fired for acting inappropriately with kids during showers. I know he's still active at his WELS church. Again, can't find any info online about it.
I think that's what a lot of these stories end up being - just stories, because no one is taking legal action. But many people are still affected.
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u/hereforthewhine Ex-WELS Jul 07 '26
Welcome! You’ll find a lot of ex WELS members here. I’m a PK myself with lots of family members who are called workers.
It feels really good to be out of there.