Werning Honored for Leadership in Church Growth

Dr. Waldo Werning (Acad. ‘39, JC ‘41) received the Donald A. McGavran Award for Outstanding Leadership in Church Growth by the American Society for Church Growth at their annual conference in Kansas City, Kan., on Nov. 2, 2006. McGavran, who has been described as the father of the church growth movement, served as a missionary in India for nearly three decades and espoused aggressive evangelism with an emphasis on the Great Commission.

In a recent letter to University President Robert Holst he quipped that during the awards ceremony he reminded those in attendance that “as a Lutheran I certainly did not earn this,
but it was given by grace,”adding later that, “At the age of 85, I see everything coming from
God’s Grace - as always!”

Werning currently is director of the Discipling/Stewardship Center of Waukesha, Wis., and the author of 30 books on stewardship and church growth,as well as a contributor to Christianity Today and Lutheran Witness. He has discipled and mentored pastors in seminars and conferences in 17 countries, with 45 trips internationally to destinations throughout Europe,
Africa,South America and Asia,and has served as administrator of the “Catch the Vision of His Mission” biblical renewal effort for the India Evangelical Lutheran Church since 1997. Werning and his wife, Ruth, live in Wauwatosa, Wis., and have five children, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

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