Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 2019 · 67th Convention, Tampa › Page 81

LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 81

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
complish this, and we invite you and your congregation to join
us. Together we can recruit the pastors to lead our congregations and share the Gospel among those who are lost or have
never heard the saving name of Christ, proclaiming His great
deeds long after you and I have been taken to heaven. Please
encourage potential students to explore enrollment and share
names with our admissions team at admissions@csl.edu.
Prepare pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars, and
leaders to faithfully serve the church of the 21st century so that
its congregations and institutions can boldly bring the Gospel to
people. As Dr. Walter A. Maier preached, “A Changeless Christ
for a Changing World,” Concordia Seminary forms pastors
and deaconesses who will bring the unchanging theology of
God’s Word and our confessions to the changed context and
challenges of the 21st century. In the last triennium, the faculty instituted a thoroughly revised residential curriculum, the
first thorough revision since 1958. This revision was undertaken
in response to issues that emerged from the needs of our congregations. The new curriculum continues to form the theological knowledge and skills of future pastors but also attends to
their personal well-being (spiritual, emotional, and physical)
and teaches them how to become churchmen who support and
work positively with one another. Another result of the curriculum revision is shifting the seminary’s academic year from the
quarter system to semesters, enabling greater coordination with
neighboring universities and the Concordia University System.
And it takes into account a pronounced trend in recent decades:
assessment. Seminaries must be able to demonstrate to accrediting agencies (for our seminaries, The Association of Theological Schools and The Higher Learning Commission) that we are
actually doing what we purport to do. In their own right and
because they necessarily reflect regulations of the federal government, accrediting standards we must meet are rigorous, but
they are welcome because they help ensure that our seminary
has a good reputation with others even as we form pastors and
church workers for our Synod’s need in these changed times.
Provide continuing education resources that foster pastors’
lifelong maturation of faith, discipleship, and skill for life and
church in the world. This is a burgeoning area of our seminary’s
service to church and world. Through advanced degree programs, seminars, lectures, print, and online resources, we make
Lutheran theological depth and richness available not only to
partner churches around the world but also to Christians of any
denomination who desire to learn our biblical and confessional
theology. Of 570 total students this last academic year, 191 were
enrolled in programs beyond the Master of Divinity. During
the last triennium, Concordia Seminary awarded 99 advanced
degrees (PhD, STM, MA, DMin, in addition to 148 MDiv degrees). In addition to graduate programs, Concordia Seminary
is prolific in its variety of offerings to pastors and laity for continuing education. Concordia Journal, Advent and Lenten sermon series, Lutheran Identity fascicles, lectionary resources,
theological and multi-ethnic symposia are increasingly used by
pastors for their continuing education and service in ministry.
Our online offerings continue to grow (scholar.csl.edu, www.csl.
edu/ce, www.concordiatheology.org, www.csl.edu/store, and www.
csl.edu/resources/publications). Professors travel throughout our
country and world, offering workshops, addressing pastoral
conferences, presenting papers at academic guilds, and preaching. Professors continue to be published, not only by Concordia

Seminary Academic Press and Concordia Publishing House but
by publishers literally around the world. During the last triennium, our professors published 35 books and contributed to over
20 published collections of essays, journals, videos, and the like.
Concordia Seminary will grow its financial resources to sustain its mission of providing theological education for the formation of pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars, and leaders
for the LCMS. Unlike most colleges and universities, Concordia Seminary’s needed revenue comes from donations, not from
tuition. Sixty-five percent of our needed annual revenue comes
from your direct gifts and about 25 percent from deferred gifts
received through endowment, meaning 90 percent of our annual revenue comes from the generosity of the people of the
church. In 2017, we concluded a five-year fund raising effort,
Generations: The Campaign for Concordia Seminary, which
raised $204 million for endowments, the complete renovation of
the Kristine Kay Hasse Memorial Library, and annual support
and scholarship. The goal for our current Generations 20/20
is $66 million by 2020, again for endowment, annual support,
and scholarship. By God’s grace and through the generosity
of friends and supporters, we hope to have raised $270 million
through this comprehensive campaign from 2012 through 2020.
Right now, because of the awesome generosity and support of
seminary donors, Concordia Seminary is debt free and is able
to guarantee financial aid equal to the cost of tuition for all
Master of Divinity, Residential Alternate Route, and Deaconess Studies students. We thank you! But as we celebrate and give
thanks to our donors for their generous support, it’s important
to remember that removing our students’ out-of-pocket tuition
expenses can only continue and get even better with the ongoing
support of our partners and donors. We must be in partnership
in this!
It would be impossible for Concordia Seminary to fulfill its
mission without significant collaboration with our LCMS partners in ministry. The seminary strives to model churchmanship
as we work with partners and constituencies and seek efficiencies in fulfilling the mission and goals of the seminary. Our collaborations with LCMS entities are too numerous to list, but
some must be highlighted. In this past triennium, the Lutheran
Women’s Missionary League has moved its national offices to
the seminary’s campus, raising student awareness of the valuable service and mission of this auxiliary. Concordia Plan Services has deployed a counselor to both seminary campuses to
give financial counseling to students. As a result, student debt
has markedly declined. Our professors collaborate with the
LCMS Office of International Mission and are contributing
theologians on the Commission on Theology and Church Relations. Faculty members, 34 in number this last academic year,
are regularly invited to participate in Pastoral Ministry PostSeminary Applied Learning and Support (PALS) mentoring
gatherings. Our faculty, administration, and Board of Regents
are in regular conversation with our counterparts at Concordia
Theological Seminary. And, again in gratitude, it is collaboration with all our partners and constituencies that has allowed
Concordia Seminary to provide 100 percent financial aid for
residential students.
It is a joyous time to be the church of our Lord Jesus! “We
will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord,
and his might, and the wonders that he has done” (Psalm 78:4).
Dale A. Meyer, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis President
2019 Convention Workbook