LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 62

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62

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS

had served as professor of theology and pre-seminary director at
Concordia University Wisconsin since 2007.

Priority #1: Faithful and Full-Person Formation

Like all schools, Concordia Seminary carried out its mission
with numerous modifications and restrictions during the COVID-19
pandemic. One of the great joys of our return to normal, along with
a renewed sense of campus community, has been a vigorous reengagement with our worldwide partnerships and involvements.
Confessional Lutheran churches and seminaries from around the
world—seemingly from everywhere—are looking to our LCMS
seminaries to provide graduate-level theological study on our
campuses for their future professors and leaders and to provide
faculty expertise and short-term courses for groups of pastors and
deaconesses in their countries. During the pandemic, most of these
partnerships had to be halted. With the resumption of world travel,
existing partnerships have resumed and new partnerships have
been initiated, including involvements in Taiwan, the Dominican
Republic, Brazil, Ethiopia, Norway, Finland, Latvia, and Europe
and Africa more generally.

Priority #3: Strong Recruitment and Enrollment

Concordia Seminary is hosting visits this year from our two
accrediting agencies, the Higher Learning Commission and the
Association of Theological Schools. In preparation for these
every-10-year reviews, we document our work and demonstrate
our academic, institutional, and financial integrity to external accreditors. The self-analysis and the external critique involved in
the process lead to ongoing improvements in our seminary’s work.
Accreditation confirms the confidence placed in Concordia Seminary not only by higher education peers but also by the people of
the LCMS and, importantly, by worldwide partner churches and
partner seminaries.
In 2022, the Board of Regents adopted the Concordia Seminary,
St. Louis, Strategic Plan 2022–26. The plan was developed with
input from a broad cross-section of our seminary’s constituencies
within the LCMS. It lists nine guiding objectives that undergird
the plan:
1.

Keep God’s written Word at the center of ministerial formation.

2.

Continue to add quality faculty. It is the faculty who execute our mission and determine our impact.

3.

Creatively strengthen our short-term and long-term efforts
in student recruitment.

4.

Instill in our students a fervent both-and commitment to
Lutheran teaching and outreach to the lost.

5.

Make the case to the broader church for the distinct value
of residential theological formation in community, even as
we seek to be realistic and responsive to the church’s varied
situations and needs.

6.

Cultivate shared forms of piety and form a praying ministerium through the centrality of daily chapel in our Seminary
life.

7.

Cultivate a community of learning, hospitality, and mutual
service.

8.

Maintain strong collaborative and respectful relationships
within the LCMS at all levels.

9.

Resource international Lutheranism with clear biblical and
confessional Lutheran teaching.

The plan contains 42 specific initiatives supporting the following key priorities:
2023 Convention Workbook

Priority #2: Commitment to Community and Collaboration
Priority #4: Lutheran Resources and Worldwide Impact
A copy of the plan is available at: csl.edu/about.
We carry out our vocation at Concordia Seminary under our
Lord’s mercy and in full confidence of His help and of the fruitfulness of His Word. God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son. He loves the world still, and so we know that our
work to share Christ’s Gospel pleases Him and will be blessed by
Him. We gather each morning in our chapel to hear the voice of
our Shepherd and receive His gifts and, in turn, to call upon Him
in prayer and joyfully sing His praises. The chapel is the center of
our life and work because Christ is the center of our life and work.
His mercy. His forgiveness. His Word. His hope. From this crucial
center, our life and work flow out to our classrooms, to our campus
life together, to the broader church, and to the ends of the earth.
On behalf of the students, faculty, and staff of Concordia Seminary, thank you to the people of the LCMS for the privilege of serving with you. Thank you for your enthusiastic financial support.
Thank you for entrusting future church workers to us for instruction
and formation. Thank you for your prayers, for your witness, and
for your work in Jesus’ name.
Thomas J. Egger, President
R13.2

Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort
Wayne, Indiana
Concordia Theological Seminary (CTSFW) exists to form servants in Jesus Christ who teach the faithful, reach the lost, and care
for all. We rejoice and give thanks to our Lord and Savior, who
continues to bless CTSFW richly through the faithful support of
alumni, friends, and donors who have enabled the seminary to carry
out this mission for the sake of the church and the world. Listed
below are several among the many blessings your seminary has
experienced over the past four years:

Planning for the Future
•

We experience strong leadership with Dr. Lawrence R. Rast
Jr., who was unanimously reappointed for his third term as
president of CTSFW.

•

A key component to that leadership is guiding CTSFW in the
development and implementation of the seminary’s strategic
plan. The 2021–24 plan has focused on improving campus
operations and preparing the seminary for the future. This
has included moving multiple data silos to a single Salesforce organization to enable collaboration between departments based on real-time shared data and reorganizing the
administrative structure as part of succession planning and
leadership development. Strategically focusing our time and
efforts frees CTSFW to embrace new opportunities and challenges and to build on what it means to be distinctively Lutheran, community-oriented, and committed to excellence.

•

In order to think creatively yet in a disciplined manner about
the future, CTSFW has engaged in a scenario planning process. This process has enabled the seminary to challenge the