# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1947_S172
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

172 SEMINARIES AND COLLEGES

counselors, physical education service, and regional accreditation —
all of which are recommended in your Board’s Report — will in-
volve staff additions (not necessarily full professors) if the pro-
posals on ranking are adopted.

What About the Past?

As our Synod enters upon its second century of service, it
may well pause to ponder the reasons for successes or failures of
the past. In the matter of ministerial education, we have followed
a policy of segregated training with specialized curricula. There
has been a sharp focus upon a single objective. Admittedly there
remains much room for improvement particularly in those areas
of training which attempt practical adaptation to the constantly
changing conditions which confront us and that have always chal-
lenged the preacher’s capacity for adjustment of method and
technique. It is not easy to keep pace with the tornadic force and
speed of today’s social changes, _

For a hundred years God has granted our Synod a high degree
of success in achieving acceptable ministerial training through
Synod’s schools. But it would be a mistake to assume automati-
cally that such a blessing indicates the propriety of a continuation
of the identical system. The fact is that there have already been
gradual and subtle changes in our colleges during the past century
of service. Particularly in the basic language of instruction, in the
curriculum, in administration, in guidance, in the admission of
students at higher levels, and in the introduction of general educa-
tion and co-education there have been vast departures from the
original and traditional practices in these schools.

In addition, any evaluation which attempts to ignore the strong
and deep currents of change that have been transforming our
world-wide fields of labor at an accelerating pace in recent years
will not be helpful. Many of the social factors involved in these
changes must vitally affect the Scope, nature, and quality of min-
isterial education. The rapid development of urbanization and
mechanization in American life tend to make the task of the min-
ister increasingly difficult. The world’s profound cultural crisis
molds the thinking of Christian and pagan alike. Mass education
and the general advance of knowledge inevitably sharpen com-
petitive attitudes and force a rise in standards of professional edu-
cation. All of these situations lend emphasis to the ever present.
need for careful diagnosis of the Church’s current and future
educational function. The servants of the Church must be so
trained as to be able to understand the moving currents of human
thought and action, and also know how to bring the Word of God
to bear upon the personal and collective problems af the age in
which we live.