LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 61

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OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
foster coordination and collaboration between such directors
and committees.
•

Consider the long-term strategic direction of the Synod’s
pastoral formation and facilitate discussion of the same with
the seminaries’ boards of regents in their annual joint meeting.

Over the 2019–2023 quadrennium, the PFC convened consistently as deemed needed and beneficial (and far more frequently
than the minimum once-per-year requirement per 2019 Bylaw
3.10.4.7), via face-to-face and Zoom meetings, in order to carry out
its above-listed duties, including consultations and facilitation of
discussions with the seminaries’ boards of regents in their annual
joint meetings and fostering of coordination and collaboration with
various directors and committees involved in the Synod’s programs
of pastoral formation. The PFC is recommending no new routes to
ordination for approval by resolution of the Synod at the current
2023 convention.
Beyond such regular PFC duties, most notable over the quadrennium was the PFC’s ongoing work to fulfill assignments given
to it under three resolutions adopted by the Synod at the 2019 convention:
1. Resolution 6-02, “To Promote Residential Seminary Education as the Preferred Option for the Preparation of Men for
Pastoral Ministry”
2. Resolution 6-03A, “To Enhance the Specific Ministry Pastor
(SMP) Program”
3. Resolution 6-04, “To Support, Encourage, and Expect Continuing Education for all Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Pastors”
A separate PFC document, Report R60 in this convention workbook, presents the PFC’s response to these above-listed convention
resolution assignments. The PFC has also submitted a separate
overture to the current 2023 convention (also in this convention
workbook) with proposed actions emerging from its observations,
conclusions, and recommendations as set forth in Report R60.
Kevin D. Robson, Chief Mission Officer
R13.1

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri
The mission of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (CSL) flows
from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God has sent His own Son into the
world to redeem sinners by His death and resurrection. The Good
News of repentance, forgiveness, and eternal life in His name is
being preached to the ends of the earth. Concordia Seminary is a
part of Christ’s beautiful, life-giving mission. We are grateful heirs
of the Reformation as we teach, preach, and confess in accord with
the scriptural, Christ-centered witness of the Lutheran Confessions.
We serve church and world by providing theological education and
leadership centered in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for the
formation of pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars, and leaders in the name of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Thanks
be to God that, since our founding in 1839, more than 13,000 workers have gone forth from Concordia Seminary to bring to all nations
the life and hope found only in Jesus.
Concordia Seminary prepares and forms pastors through two
residential programs (Master of Divinity and Residential Alternate

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Route) and a number of distance programs tailored to those serving specific ministry contexts. We prepare deaconesses in both
residential and distance programs. Concordia Seminary also trains
scholars and leaders for the church through our Advanced Studies
programs.
As we carry out this mission, student recruitment is a key priority. We know that the Synod is looking to us to provide future
pastors, deaconesses, and missionaries. While our overall enrollment remains strong, with about 600 full- and part-time students
across all our programs, we recognize the need to encourage more
people to offer themselves for full-time Gospel service. Toward
that end, we have assembled an outstanding Enrollment team and
are pursuing a number of new recruitment initiatives. The Lord of
the harvest is answering our prayers and blessing our efforts: the
applications for our Master of Divinity pastoral formation program
for 2023–24 are up 40 percent over last year.
The effort to identify and encourage prospective church workers must be a churchwide effort, and many throughout the church
are joining hands toward this end. The Synod’s Set Apart to Serve
initiative is leading the charge in developing practical resources
for congregations, pastors, and parents to encourage church work
vocations, both among young people and among second-career
members. Concordia Seminary has been directly involved with
and is enthusiastically supportive of and grateful for the Set Apart
to Serve program. We are grateful to the LCMS districts for their
strong appeal for future pastors and deaconesses at district conventions and for district-level recruitment initiatives. We are also
partnering with our sister seminary in Fort Wayne in joint marketing and recruitment efforts to sound forth the call throughout the
church that a life of ministry in Christ’s name is a beautiful, joyful,
challenging, fulfilling calling. In 2021, Concordia Seminary and
Concordia Theological Seminary received a $1 million grant from
Lilly Endowment Inc. to collaborate and establish our “Partnership for Pastoral Formation: Setting Our Course for Future Church
Leadership,” coordinating our efforts to recruit future pastors and
deaconesses.
Significant milestones for Concordia Seminary since the last
Synod convention include completion of a highly successful fundraising campaign, a transition in leadership, re-engagement with
our worldwide partners, accreditation visits and the development
of a new five-year strategic plan. Begun in 2012 and concluding
in 2020, our Generations and Generations 20/20 campaigns raised
$285 million for Concordia Seminary—$39 million more than the
original goal. Such generosity on the part of the church funded
Seminary endowments, annual expenses, the complete renovation
of the Kristine Kay Hasse Memorial Library, renovation of oncampus faculty houses (on what is now designated as McCall Terrace), and student scholarships. The most recent years have seen
record annual gift support as the LCMS continues to value and
fund the preparation of future church workers at her seminaries.
Thank you!
In February 2021, Dr. Thomas Egger was elected as the 11th
president of Concordia Seminary and accepted the call to succeed
Dr. Dale Meyer. Egger is a Concordia Seminary graduate and, after serving as a parish pastor in Storm Lake, Iowa, for five years,
has served on the faculty since 2005. In March 2022, Dr. Ronald
Mudge was called to serve as provost to carry on the able work of
Dr. Douglas Rutt, who was retiring from that role. Mudge is also
a Concordia Seminary alumnus and, after serving as a missionary
and theological educator in French-speaking Africa for 10 years,
2023 Convention Workbook