Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 257
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 257

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

HIGHER EDUCATION 257

Lutheran high schools entering the colleges of the Synod
has risen sharply. In recent years the community Lu-
theran high schools have played a very significant and
valuable role in providing teacher education enrollees.
There is every reason to believe that these schools can
also become a strong source of supply for pastoral stu-
dents, although this has not been the case to date.

More attention is being given by many of the high
schools to the recruitment of pastoral students. District
recruitment committees need to become more active in
working with these schools. Consideration is being given
by the Board for Higher Education to a plan in which
the Synod, with the permission of the governing board
of the high school, would support a full-time or part-time
member of the high school staff who would give direct
attention to the recruitment of students for ministerial
training.

c. Colleges and Universities. Both the Springfield
and the St.Louis seminaries have been active during
the past biennium in recruiting qualified students at the
public and private colleges and universities of the nation.
Closer relationships between campus pastors and the
seminaries are being developed. Campus pastors have
been more active than ever in identifying, counseling,
and instructing prospective candidates for admission
to the seminaries.

The detailed study made by the board’s Curriculum
Commission in response to Resolution 6-19 of the New
York convention found almost no support in our church
or in other church bodies for the House of Studies con-
cept. However, the board has found a great deal of en-
thusiasm within the church for bringing more students
from public and private colleges and universities into
the pastoral program.

Further steps are needed to make full use of the op-
portunities in recruitment at the college level. District
committees have often almost totally ignored this im-
portant source of students.

d. District Recruitment Committees. Table C indi-
cates the male enrollments during the past biennium
analyzed according to the home Districts of the students.
Several Districts have consistently shown a relatively
poor rating on this report given at the time of each con-
vention. Other Districts have had significant increases
in the number of students as a result of concentrated
efforts by the recruitment committees and other leaders
in the Districts.

More sharing of information and help is needed
among District recruitment committees. Special atten-
tion should be focused on recruitment by the leaders
in those Districts from which few of the pastoral and/or
male teacher education students have been coming.

6. Give Top Priority to Imaginative and Careful Insti-
tutional Development
Our colleges and seminaries are excellent institutions.
They can, under God, become even better. Certainly the
Lord of the church should be given our best. Congrega-

tions of the Synod should and do expect the young men
and women whom they call into service to be competent
to undertake a wide range of professional activities
within the context of their respective ministries.

The Board for Higher Education sees the search for
greater quality in the educational programs as one of its
most important responsibilities. The board believes that
it can carry out this obligation best in the years imme-
diately ahead by helping the schools strive for increased
excellence in especially six areas: administration, in-
struction, evaluation of teaching and learning, guidance
services, curricular self-study and revision, and the
continuing education programs.

TABLE C

Junior Confirmands, 1963—64, and Freshman College
Pastoral and Male Teacher Enrollments, 1967 —68

Analyzed According to Home Districts of Students

aseseeec? ¢ 436e¢¢% 2
cietereis 2 aetsseg ge fz

eaeg Mad ak Petes

UF
Atlantic _______._ 6,740 43 1:157 15 35 1:192 18
Calif. & Nev. >: 3,557 27 1:132 ll 21 1:169 17
Calif. S.__——- ~— 4,607 24 1:192 22 35 1:132 9
Indiana * __— 1,970 22 1:89 4 23 1:86 2
Ohio* 2,861 27 1:106 5 17 1:168 16
Colorado 2,139 13 1:164 17 15 1:143 12
Eastern 2,574 18 1:143 13 8 1:322 27
English ______ 6,199 22 1:282 30 22 1:282 26
Fla.-Ga. «1,537 9 1:170 19 3 1:512 30
Illinois C.____-——_ 2,276 14 1:162 16 9 1:253 25
Hlinois N. ____- 8, 104 62 1:131 10 69 1:117 6
Illinois S. 1,615 9 1:179 20 11 1:147 13
Iowa East 1,914 2 1:957 34 4 1:478 29
Iowa West 2,939 14 1:210 23 20 1:147 14
Kansas ___ 2,122 26 1:82 1 21 1:101 4
Michigan 9,398 52 1:181 21 67 1:140 11
Minnesota N. ___—_: 3,286 8 1:411 32 14 1:235 24
Minnesota S. 5,616 25 1:225 26 45 1:125 7
Montana 713 3 1:238 28 1 1:713 31
Nebraska N.______ 2,368 8 1:296 31 26 1:91 3
Nebraska S. 1,981 9 1:220 25 31 1:64 1
North Dakota ___—:11,224 5 1:245 29 6 1:204 19
Northwest 3,407 39 1:87 3 21 1:162 15
Oklahoma 862 8 1:108 6 4 1:215 22
South Dakota — 1,536 10 1:154 14 7 1:219 23
Southeastern 2,511 19 1:132 12 12 1:209 21
Southern 1,550 12 1:129 9 4 1:387 28
Texas. ————<CS—~«=S*=e 8S 39 1:86 2 24 1:140 10
Western 5,512 47 1:117 8 42 1:131 8
Missouri * - (45) - - (40) - -
Mid-South *___ - ( 2) - - ( 2) - -
Wisconsin N. —_— 4,085 18 1:227 27 20 1:204 20
Wisconsin S.______ 5,723 52 1:110 7 50 1:114 5
Alta. & B.C. 1,083 5 1:217 24 - - -
Man. & Sask. —— 875 1 1:875 33 1 1:875 32
Ontario ______- __1,325 8 1:166 18 = = -
Total ________ 107,574 700 1:154 688 1:156

* Became separate Districts in 1963
+ Divided into Missouri and Mid-South Districts in 1966

The area among these six which until recently has
received the least amount of attention is that of con-
tinuing education. Widespread interest, however, is
now being shown throughout the church in the efforts
to develop more such programs, especially for pastors.

It is important that the Synod capitalize on this
interest in what has been a most compelling but unfilled
need in the past. New programs of continuing education
have been developed since the last convention.

Quality Essential

As this expansion continues, however, it is important
that the quality of such programs be maintained at a