LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 263

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HIGHER EDUCATION

existing colleges, universities, and seminaries but rather to
establish and support its own system of higher education.

The history of higher education in the United States
demonstrates that this decision was a wise one. It is apparent
from the development of such institutions as Harvard, Yale,
and Princeton that when a synod or a church body no longer
supports and supervises institutions established to train
church workers, these institutions rapidly lose their original
purpose and are no longer of real service to the founding church
body.

The problem in the LCMS in the past years has not been a

263

lack of concern for its colleges and seminaries but rather the
problem of rapidly decreasing subsidies as a consequence of
inadequate budget receipts. In the twenties and again in the
early fifties the Synod supplied funds for about two-thirds of
the educational and general expenses at the seminaries. The
support from the synodical subsidy declined at the St. Louis
seminary from 62.5 percent in 1969—70 to 39.6 percent in
1979—80, with a projected drop to 32.1 percent in 1980—81. The
Fort Wayne seminary experienced a similar decline, from 55
percent in 1969—70 to 38.1 percent in 1980—81.

From 1975—76 to the present the decline has been especially
precipitous, as will be apparent from table 1.

TABLE 1
Percentage of Total Educational and General Expenses Met by Synodical Subsidies, Fort Wayne and St. Louis

FORT WAYNE
Educational
Syondical and General
Year Subsidy Expense
1969—70 1.0... eee 527,122 958,233
1975—76 oo. eee 634,645 1,450,103
L97T6—77 ow eee 619,979 1,581,125
1977-78 eee 922,679 2,439,878
1978—79 0... eee 1,233,313 2,483,595
1979—80 1... 1,085,903 2,793,558
1980—81 1.0... eee eee 1,003,000 2,630,045*
(projected)

ST. LOUIS

Percent of
Educational
and General
Expense Met

Percent of
Educational
and General

Expense Met Educational

by Synodical Synodical and General by Synodical
Subsidy Subsidy Expense Subsidy
55.0 1,021,922 1,635,090 62.5
43.8 863,031 1,504,011 57.4
39.2 905,520 1,709,410 53.0
37.8 948,031 1,936,463 49.0
49.7 1,067,221 2,254,907 47.3
38.9 1,081,548 2,734,293 39.6
38.1 1,127,039 3,510,835 32.1

* Based on a budget reduction from $2.972.000 necessitated by reduced subsidy

There have been a number of consequences of this drop in
support at the two seminaries. The first has been a substantial
increase in tuition and fees paid by the students, an increase
that has inflicted genuine hardship on many of them. The
seminary program builds on a baccalaureate degree requiring
four years of preseminary training, and ministerial students
have always been strapped to meet the cost of the additional
years of study. Many are already deeply in debt when they
enroll at the seminary. Students have faced even greater
difficulties in the inflationary times through which we have
passed these last years.

-~~ A second problem has been the necessity that the seminar-

ies seek support outside the regular synodical budget. Both
individuals and congregations have been solicited, and these
fundraising activities may well impinge on the stewardship
activities of the Synod and its Districts.

These fundraising efforts have imposed an additional drain
on the seminaries’ resources of time, talent, and money,
because resources have had to be directed to the raising of
funds rather than to more appropriate needs.

Although there is no evidence at this time of the seminaries
becoming independent in their planning and departing from a
truly Scriptural and confessional program of theological
education—and we pray God that this may never occur—we
also recognize that this danger and this temptation are present
when the seminaries are forced to provide more and more of
their own support.

Another effect of the reduced subsidies has been the
seminaries’ inability to call the necessary faculty members
and to hire badly needed staff people. The quality programs
that have developed over the years are endangered by such
inadequate staffing.

The two seminaries and their Boards of Control are very
grateful for the past support that they have received from the
congregations of the Synod through the synodical treasury.
They continue to be deeply committed to the purpose for which
they were founded—the preparation of men loyal to Scripture
and the Lutheran Confessions who are pledged to devote their
lives to spreading the Gospel. At the same time the Boards of
Control of the two seminaries continue to find themselves faced
with a serious situation that results from this precipitous drop
in the percentage of expenses covered by the synodical subsidy.
For that reason the Boards of Control submit the following
overture:

Resolved, That the Synod instruct the Board for Higher

Education to provide 40 percent of the educational and general
budget of the two seminaries for the 1981—82 academic year;
and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod instruct the Board for Higher
Education to increase the subsidy granted to the two sem-
inaries by no less than an additional 5 percent per year until
the Synod is providing at least 65 percent support for the
educational and general budget of the two seminaries; and beit
further —

Resolved, That the Synod instruct the Board of Directors to
provide the necessary funds to make this level of support
possible for the two seminaries without decreasing the funds
needed to provide for the present level of support for the
preparation of full-time church workers at synodical colleges;
ang be it finally ~

Resolved, That the congregations of the Synod be urged to
commit themselves to greater financial support of the Synod so
that these resolves may be carred out.

Board of Control
Concordia Seminary

St. Louis, Mo.

Walter C. Dissen, Secretary

Board of Control

Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Ind.

W. Niederbrach, Secretary

Identical or similar:

6-41B and 6-41C

Trinity, Hoyleton, III.
Pilgrim, Beaverton, Oreg.

Peter Kurowski
Walter Anderson

6-42

To Give Greater Financial Support
to Training of Church Workers

A prime task of the Synod is to train an adequate number of
pastors, missionaries, and parish teachers in accordance with
the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures so that all opportunities for
maintenance and expansion of the Kingdom are met. We
propose the following resolution in full obedience to our
Savior’s final command before His ascension. The history of