# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S314 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 314 HIGHER EDUCATION Whereas, The Cleveland convention in 1962 autho- rized the development of a new junior college in the greater Los Angeles area: and Whereas, The Detroit convention in 1965 encouraged the Board for Higher Education to proceed in the de- velopment of the new junior college at Irvine in south- ern California and also made the Lake Chabot property “available to the Synod for such educational uses as future developments in the Synod's higher education needs may indicate’: and WuereEas, The New York convention in 1967 resolved “that the matter of a new junior college at Irvine be deferred to the 1969 Denver convention of The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod for action and that in the interim the Board for Higher Education make a final restudy of the entire matter of higher education on the West Coast’; therefore be it Resolved, That in view of the current and future population growth potential of the West, the Synod needs to expand greatly its educational programs in the West; and be it further Resolved, That the immediate priority is a terminal college meeting the Synod's needs for preministerial, teacher- and other-training programs to fulfill the mis- sion of the church; and be it finally Resolved, That this convention take definitive action in authorizing the financing and construction of this terminal college. (Further reflection on this may be forthcoming in an unprinted memorial depending on the recommendations of the Board for Higher Education to the Denver convention.) BoarRD OF CONTROL CALIFORNIA CONCORDIA COLLEGE Paut E. Jacoss, Chairman BOARD OF CONTROL IRVINE Victor L. BEHNKEN, Chairman (6-41) To Establish One 4-Year College in California (Bay Area) Wuereas, The trends of modern life indicate increas- ingly a popular attitude of indifference toward the church, and the youth of our Lord's body are exposed to and threatened by these trends as evidenced by the staggering statistics of attrition among the young people from the church: and Wuereas, The deteriorating social condition in the world suggests that the church focus its primary atten- tion on new and imaginative programs of serving the leaders of tomorrow; and Whereas, The Commission on Lutheran Lay Higher Education, appointed by our synodical President to study this matter, included in its recommendations to the convention in New York (CONVENTION WoRKBOOK, Report 6-02, Recommendation 3a): “The Synod should give her immediate attention and actively focus her con- cern on Lutheran lay higher education”: and Wuereas, The synodical convention at Detroit had already resolved that this matter, as it pertained to the central West Coast (cf. Detroit Proceedings, Res. 6-43) “be referred to the Board for Higher Education for con- sideration in the light of the long-range study now in progress of the synodical education system”; and Wuereas, The continued growth of population on the West Coast includes an increasing need for the estab- lishment of a Christian college which would become a viable alternative to the existing and expanding system of state colleges in California — 22 university and state college campuses and 103 junior college campuses; and Wuereas, There continues to be a 1,200-mile vacuum of Lutheran higher education at a 4-year college level between Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland. Wash., and California Lutheran College at Thousand Oaks in southern California (40 miles from Los An- geles), the approximate distance between Concordia Teachers College at Seward, Nebr.. and Concordia Col- legiate Institute in Bronxville, N. Y.; and Wuereas, Responsible membership in the broader Lutheran community through our affiliation with the Lutheran Council in the United States of America (LCUSA) would seem to suggest strongly that The Lu- theran Church — Missouri Synod should assume the initiative for development of a 4-year program of higher education in the central West Coast area (the ALC and LCA, as responsible members of the same Lutheran community, have already developed 4-year college pro- grams in the northwest at Parkland, Wash.. and in the southwest at Thousand Oaks, Calif.): and WHEREAS, It is increasingly apparent that our church in the future will need lay leadership which is not only skilled in various secular disciplines but has also been exposed to the deeper theological insights available at such church-related colleges: and WueEREAS, The advantages of a college which trains professional church servants (pastors, teachers, deacon- esses, etc.) as well as students preparing for secular vocations would prove mutually beneficial to all stu- dents: therefore be it Resolved, That we respectfully request The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, convening in Denver, Colo.. in July 1969, to respond favorably to the memorial sub- mitted by the Boards of Control of the existing Cali- fornia Concordia College in Oakland and the college under consideration for the property at Irvine, Calif., regarding the establishment of one 4-year college for all students preparing for a career of professional church work: and be it further Resolved, That the site for this 4-year college be located in the San Franciseo Bay Area, since the ini- tiative for higher education has already been assumed by the other Lutheran bodies in the northwest at Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland. Wash., and in the southwest at California Lutheran College in Thousand Oaks; and be it further Resolved, That the convention be encouraged, in its