MINISTRY / Outcome of our Surprise campaign

During 2025, 316NOW’s Board of Directors sought the Lord’s will through prayer and planning for a capital campaign to celebrate our 20th Anniversary as a non-profit organization. Our purpose for this engagement with our constituents was (and is) to urgently display the love of Jesus to Chinese people around the world.

 Purpose of the 3-year Campaign

Specifically, we stated that for 316NOW to capture these ministry opportunities, we are prayerfully committed to:

• Raise up more Chinese house church leaders through our Grace Bible Institute and Mentoring and Consulting Ministry. This requires liaisons in China who are personally shepherding and helping to train these leaders. Expanding our volunteer faculty of WELS/ELS pastors is necessary. We will also need additional interpreters. Ensuring that we use online technology that allows us to safely teach in Mainland China is essential.

• Raise up house church leaders among the 50 million expatriate Chinese, also through GBI and MCM. This requires learning to use social media in order to reach this audience. Along with learning how to use social media is the cost of advertising on social media. A growing expatriate student body will also necessitate a larger faculty and additional interpreters.

• Encourage gospel-sharing by Chinese people to Chinese people. Materials and courses on sharing the gospel in a Chinese culture need to be developed. Personal encouragement by our liaison for Mainland Chinese Christians and by State-side mentors is essential.

• Fully implement a curriculum to train deaconesses to assist in growing healthy house churches. We have launched an initial program for training deaconesses. We must continue to hone and improve it.  Publicizing this program so Chinese women know it exists is essential.

• Enhance our partnership with other WELS organizations that are working in China. Our goal is to deepen those relationships, continue to share ministry resources, and capitalize on the strengths we offer each other.

 Goal of the Give a Jesus-Shaped Surprise

 Our stated goal of over half a million dollars in this three-year appeal was built on a two-prong approach:

• Connecting more Chinese souls to the gospel

  • Mainland China: Call, train, and equip two full-time Chinese pastors to serve as liaisons

  • Grace Bible Institute: Expand the use of technology and the number of online classes to train leaders

  • Expatriate Outreach: Call, train, and equip one part-time liaison in the US.

• 316NOW administrative support

  • Part-time mission advancement leader

  • Coordinator of Volunteers: Part-time staff to capitalize on the gifts of our volunteer staff

  • Leadership: Ongoing Executive Director support

  • Support Staff: Part-time staff to manage our growing staff and communication needs

 Outcome of the Surprise effort

After nearly a year of planning and communicating with our supporters, we have completed the Give a Jesus-Shaped Surprise campaign in November 2025. God has blessed the work of so many volunteers, including a lead team, visitors, spiritual and prayer supporters, data analysts, writers of letters and emails to gather three-year pledges. While we did not reach our overall goal, we received a sizable amount of gifts and pledges. We were encouraged by many donors to keep increasing our outreach as much as possible. We received a large response with questions and inquiries about our ministry. We had a huge prayer base. And we learned valuable information about our constituents by simply communicating with them. Praise the Lord for his goodness and love!

You can still donate to this special world mission effort. If you would still like to learn more about the campaign, contact us for the Surprise Campaign Links and brochures at 316NOW@316NOW.org. If you have questions, please contact Pastor Mark Wagner, our Executive Director, at markwagner@316NOW.org or 262-488-1899 or Pastor Jim Kleist, our Mission Advancement Administrator, at jim_kleist@316now.org or 414-759-4950.