LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 171

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7. UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
Synod Board of Directors (BOD), and the boards of
regents, although the latter are clearly intended to be
the schools’ “governing bodies corporate.”
• While schools’ cash flow and other financial needs were
once met with granting by the Synod or lending of funds
deposited by other Concordias, this can no longer be the
case. Today the CUS no longer manages lines of credit
to the schools. Instead, the Lutheran Church Extension
Fund and other banks finance the borrowing by schools
based on their individual financial circumstances.
Neither does the Synod have the resources, even if all
other activity were ceased, to keep all of its institutions
economically viable (institutions in Selma, Ala.,
Portland, Ore., and Bronxville, N.Y. having been lost to
the Synod in the last five years) or to take on the scale of
liabilities that could be expected to arise in connection
with colleges and universities experiencing severe
financial straits. Nor has the Synod the power to
insulate them from the theological drift characteristic
of religious colleges and universities across the country
or from increasing uncertainties about viability of
American colleges and universities, generally. Nor,
finally, does the Synod have the flow of church vocation
and other interested member congregation students or
faculty to fill them at anything approximating their
current scale. Their survival, flourishing, and
usefulness to the church depend on the utmost
performance by highly skilled and qualified governing
bodies and administrations, committed to the
institutions’ purpose within the mission of the Synod.
• The uniqueness of our Concordias in an otherwise lostat-sea higher education landscape, however, has
radically increased. Gone are days when public schools
advocated basic Judeo-Christian morality and moral
principles, and secular society willingly supported
Christian churches and schools and maintained
Christian pro-life and sexuality standards. Today,
churches and schools are left to contend with
government and society increasingly antagonistic to
Christianity, and the church’s universities exist not only
in competition with each other or with similar regional
institutions but with the unique and valuable
opportunity to offer a robust and compelling Christian
contrast to their secular or legacy “Christian”
counterparts. In a very real sense, what is “right” is also
what “could work.” That is to say, the viability and
prospering, the “marketable brand” of each university
is, in the long view, tied to its performance of a mission
that is unique in the field of higher education—as a
university that believes, teaches, and confesses the
Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions.
• There is an opportunity—recognizing that our
Concordias are not “legacy institutions” but are
institutions of the Church devoted to faithfully serving
the Church and their students as institutions of the
Church in their new reality as somewhere between
“critical mass” institutions, having enough Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) presence to largely
Resolutions

serve the faithful while inviting others seeking what
they provide to be immersed in that environment, and
“mission” institutions, drawing faculty and staff to the
extent possible from Synod and focusing more on
delivering education to unchurched students than to
the faithful and on intentionally engaging all students
with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its application to
their vocations in family, church, and state. These
simple facts have implications, and shifting from a
“broader” institution to a “narrower” one is an
extremely challenging prospect. At the same time, a
broader institution may be capable of having a broader
mission impact if it can chart the challenging course of
such an institution well.
This proposal aims to orient the Synod to continue vigorously
in common confession and mission with her colleges and
universities, providing opportunities for members of the
Synod’s congregations to attend and hold before the world
high-quality and attractive schools that, both in teaching and
campus life, faithfully adhere to and advocate the Holy
Scripture and the doctrine and practice of the Synod
(Constitution Article II). The crucial roles of boards of regents
and university presidents are restated clearly, along with
appropriate safeguards, and realistic lines of accountability
are drawn. These roles will be equipped, empowered, and
expected to exercise their duty to the congregations of the
Synod (Const. Art. IV; Bylaws 1.2.1 [a], 1.4.5), as the governing
bodies corporate of the several institutions (existing Bylaw
3.10.6.4 [i][1, 6]) and their executives, to do the work for which
Synod has established the schools, including training
professional church workers (Const. Art. III 3) and laity for
service in the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Articles of
Incorporation II d), and thoroughly educating and nurturing
“others desiring a Christian liberal arts education” (Bylaw
3.6.6.1). At the same time, the complexity and sophistication
of the individual schools is recognized, reducing
administrative overhead and favoring coordinative and
collaborative work that comes “from within” as a means of
strengthening the individual institutions while extending
their witness and collective influence.
Simply put, the proposal aims to continue thereby the Synod’s
efforts to uphold the relationship of the schools with its
congregations and commending them to their students, while
guiding the schools to build on the strength that differentiates
them from every other university—the full and pure
confession of a Jesus who is never “in the way” but in every
sense is “the Way.” The institutions will be guided to thrive,
not just in any way, but in precisely that way that will sustain
and increase their unique and indispensable contributions to
the common mission of the Synod.
This proposal desires to build upon the hard and forwardlooking work of the Concordia presidents in good standing,
boards of regents, CUS Board of Directors (CUS BOD), Synod
Board of Directors (BOD), and 7-03 Committee, centered in
the following shared convictions:
1. There is great promise and possibility in the
Concordias, individually and collectively, maintaining
a close two-way relationship and connection with the
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION | 171