LCMS Kansas District

2022-2025 Triennium Strategic Direction

“Living as the Baptized”

The 2022-2025 strategic direction placemat is available below. There are two different paper sizes to choose from: Letter (8.5” x 11”) and Legal (8.5” x 14”). Feel free to download and print these sizes, and share with church congregations, schools, workers, and members.

Legal Size (8.5” x 14”)

District Overview

The Kansas District is one of 35 districts of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The state is divided into four regions, each represented by a vice-president, as well as 16 circuits, each represented by a circuit visitor. The members of the District include church workers (rostered and commissioned), congregations and schools.

Quick facts about the District

Congregations: 156

High schools: 1

Elementary schools: 15 (including 2 classical schools)

Preschools: 43

Baptized members: 43,896 (as of October 2023)

Church workers: Ordained, 203; Commissioned, 179 (as of November 2023)

Kansas District Archives

Looking for historical information about the Kansas District? We expect to have a searchable database available soon, but in the meantime, we invite you to contact Mike Grau, Kansas District archivist, at archives@kslcms.org.

Brief History of the Kansas District

The Kansas District was established in 1888 after roughly 25 years of mission work in the state. Initially, that mission effort focused on German Lutherans who had migrated south from Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. God blessed those endeavors, and the District was formed.

The timeline below provides a brief snapshot of the history of the District, based on accounts in A Century of Blessings (L.H. Deffner, ed.) and A Century of Grace (Rev. Roger M. Goetz, ed.). Copies of both publications are available in the District Office.

1861: First missionary, F.W. Lange, sent to Kansas. First sermon given in a home seven miles southeast of Junction City. Lange becomes the first called LCMS pastor in Kansas at St. Paul’s Church in Junction City, the first congregation organized in the state.

1862: First LCMS church in Kansas built in Leavenworth, with M. Meyer as pastor.

1863: First Lutheran parish school established in Leavenworth, with C.H. Diesler as teacher.

1888: Kansas District organized at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Leavenworth, with 30 congregations, 42 pastors, and six teachers. F. Pennekamp elected first district president.

1908: The Kansas District assumes oversight of St. John’s College in Winfield, KS, transferring control to Synod in 1911. (St. John’s closed in 1986.)

1913: 25th anniversary of the District. The number of congregations and preaching stations had doubled, the number of pastors tripled, and the number of teachers quadrupled. Preaching in English had begun in 44 locations.

1921-24: Kansas District split due to expansion; Colorado and Oklahoma form their own districts.

1939: Lutheran Laymen’s League of Kansas organized in Alma.

1943: Kansas District LWML formed; first convention hosted at St. John’s in Topeka.

1960: District convention resolves to construct a District office building in Topeka.

1961: 100th anniversary of LCMS activity in Kansas.

1988: 100th anniversary of the Kansas District.

1997: Mission partnership established to support Guinea.

2007-08: Construction on the Kansas District Retreat Center in Herington begins; Retreat Center opens in 2009.

2017: Collaborative agreement established between the Kansas District, Mission Central (IA) and LCMS Mission Advancement to raise awareness throughout Kansas of international mission work.