About Us
Grace Place and Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF)
Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) is pleased to officially welcome the newest component of its Ministry Solutions service offerings – Grace Place Wellness, with the official transfer of assets and ministry taking place on January 1, 2022.
LCEF with its Grace Place Wellness mission will continue to expand and cultivate gifts in support of retreats, traditional wellness programming, as well as newly imagined and fully integrated wellness resources for church workers of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, in service to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Learn more about LCEF here.
If you’re like most ministry workers, your heartbeat is to minister the Gospel effectively. You live your life for God and His people, and you wouldn’t want it any other way.
But many of us, after a few years in the “real world” of ministry, face questions that never crossed our minds in seminary. We began to wonder if we could possibly be effective at church and still have time for our families, meet the demands of a congregation ever-present needs, and keep up the pace of ministry life without falling apart at the seams.
Grace Place Wellness Ministries teaches professional church workers the attitudes, skills, and practices that enable them to experience a long, joyful, and flourishing career.
We do so through in-person and virtual retreats, guest speaking appearances, and a continual flow of fresh resources that teach the basic principles of The Wellness Wheel.
Grace Place helps church workers find relief from the pressures they face while avoiding the traps that lead to burnout, sin, and despair. And the practices we’ve developed over the years keep pastors and church works joyful, vibrant, and whole for as long as they’re in ministry.
Become a better disciple of Christ, the Savior who can sympathize with our weaknesses.
Don’t become a statistic, fall apart, or burn out.
Learn to live—and minister—from this place: This place called Grace.
The Wellness Wheel
The Wellness Wheel is a model for whole life, balanced, healthy living grounded in the teaching of Scripture found in passages like Ephesians 4.
The model is built around three components: my life with God; my life in community; and my life in ministry.
When all of these components are in balance, the result is joy.
Learn more about the Wellness WheelOur Mission
Grace Place Wellness Ministries nurtures vitality and joy in ministry by inspiring and equipping church workers to lead healthy lives.
Our Vision
To see professional church workers, with help from their congregations, engage in preventive self-care attitudes and practices to ensure a long, flourishing, and productive ministry career.
Our Core Values
Healthy Churches
Healthy churches are God’s design for his mission on earth. The scriptures offer description and prescription for the baptismal, spiritual, relational, intellectual, emotional, vocational, physical and financial wellness of local congregations. Healthy churches face fewer obstacles to ministry and display the work of God in their unity and service.
(Acts 2:42-47; Ephesians 4)
Healthy Church Workers
Healthy professional church workers are essential for healthy churches. The wellness of churches and their called workers are of mutual benefit to each other. The wellness of professional church workers is enhanced by healthy congregations, which are better served when their called workers are at their best, baptismally, spiritually, relationally, intellectually, emotionally, vocationally, physically and financially.
(1 Timothy 3; Titus 1)
Intentional Self-Care
Professional church workers at their best are willing and able to practice daily and weekly self-care for the wellbeing of self and family. Joyful, healthy church workers offer more creative, vibrant ministry to those they serve and lead. Grace Place Wellness supports them by nurturing vitality and joy in ministry, inspiring and equipping church workers to lead healthy lives.
(John 14-17; Ephesians 4)
Daily Renewal
Daily renewal in grace provides substantial healing for the wounds of life in ministry. Professional church workers often encounter obstacles to wellness due to the demands and expectations of their calling. Wise church workers are first receptive to the Holy Spirit’s gifts of grace for their own healing before administering those gifts to others.
(2 Timothy 3-4; 1 Kings 19)
Joyful Ministry
The joy of recognizing the living Christ at work in the lives of people fuels ministry. Healthy church workers recognize the absence of joy, assess the causes and seek healing grace to restore the joy.
(Acts 5:41-42; Acts 16:16-40)
