Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1975 · 51st Convention › Page 294
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 294

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

294 HIGHER EDUCATION

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college must continually counsel its students to consider pre-
paring for full-time church-work careers because many stu-
dents are uncertain of their educational objectives until quite
late in their college program and are in need of advice and
counsel.

Because the educational colleges have been encouraged to
develop additional local financing, they have appointed develop-
ment officers, undertaken extensive recruitment programs, and
by necessity become more concerned with local needs and de-
sires. As local resources have been sought, local needs and
desires had to be given a higher priority than had been the case
in the past.

As the high school departments were phased out, the schools
affected had faculties and facilities available for use by general
education college students. In order to put these resources to
productive use and for the institutions to remain viable in the
eyes of the church and the general public, an enrollment level
had to be secured that would permit a reasonable variety of
programs and course offerings. Consequently, during the past
7 years we have witnessed rather dramatic changes for several
of our colleges. Although these ‘‘new developments” were not
entirely new for some of the colleges, the number of general
education course offerings has increased, the number of college
programs attracting these students has increased, and the
synodical subsidy as a percentage of support has decreased.
Our institutions have had to change in order to successfully
survive rapidly changing circumstances in higher education
irrespective of the impact on the total LCMS system. The
majority of these changes have not been specifically planned for
or requested by the Synod.

“Preferred Route’ Changed by Synodical Action and
General Developments

The 1967 convention (New York) passed Resolution 6-52
granting authorization to graduates of Concordia Senior College,

Fort Wayne, to attend the seminary at Springfield, Il. The
Springfield seminary had been granting the Bachelor of Divinity
degree and was at the point of qualifying for accreditation in the
American Association of Theological Schools. Prior to this
period the Springfield seminary had been accepting high
percentages of students without college degrees. The conven-
tion in effect said that official sanction should be given to gradu-
ates of Concordia Senior College to attend the seminary of their
choice.

This official synodical action appears to have been a contri-
buting factor for the St. Louis seminary to actively encourage
the entrance of college graduates from outside the synodical
system. The number of non-Concordia Senior College graduates
entering the St. Louis seminary increased from four in 1967 to
42 in 1972, while entering Senior College graduates went from
168 in 1967 to 116 in 1972. Senior College graduates entering the
Springfield seminary reached a peak of 25 students during this
period.

It may be somewhat speculative to state that there was a
direct correlation between the 1967 convention action officially
authorizing Senior College graduates to study at Springfield and
the enrollment decline at the Senior College. However, it should
be noted that the peak enrollment in the junior college pre-
ministerial programs and also at the Senior College was reached
in 1967. A steady decline has occurred since, while enrollment
in other church-work programs continued to expand for several
more years.

In years past Missouri Synod seminary students assumed that
the only option was the “preferred route” through the synodical
Junior College. This attitude carried over into the Senior Col-
lege program at Fort Wayne to obtain the bachelor’s degree
required for entrance to the degree-granting seminary at
St. Louis. Accompanying this general attitude was the fact that,
because the options were limited, it seemed necessary for stu-
dents to make early commitments to preministerial study. By
the early 1960s larger percentages of students were postponing
the final commitment to seminary education until a later time
partly because the increased tax-supported educational op-
portunities became viable low-cost options while students made
decisions for their future. During this same period the Spring-
field seminary was raising its academic standards for the
younger men, seeking accreditation of its theological program,
and recruiting more college graduates.

Certainly there are a variety of factors that have played a
part in the preministerial enrollment decline. It does appear,
however, that the acceptance of nonsystem graduates into both
seminary programs has permitted students to choose alternative
approaches in pursuing their educational objectives of seminary
entrance. Although these changes have not detracted from the
excellence of the “preferred route” through the Concordia
Senior College program for preseminary training, the reality
of the declining preministerial enrollment throughout the
system requires the immediate adoption of new approaches
that fully recognize the developments that have occurred.

Task Force Recommendations for the Future

Since one of the primary objectives of The Lutheran Church
~ Missouri Synod is to provide its member congregations with
professional church workers for varied ministries, the Synod has
developed a system of high schools, colleges, and seminaries.
At the present time the facilities of a limited number of high
schools and junior colleges, three 4-year colleges, and one
seminary would seem to be capable of meeting congregational
needs for professional workers. However, the practical con-
siderations that would be involved in reducing the present
system to this level are extremely complex, and it appears that
future requirements and methods of operation strongly suggest
that such drastic action may not prove to be in the best interest
of the Synod.

The educational ‘system’ operated by The Lutheran
Church — Missouri Synod has served its constituency extremely
well over the past century. Modifications, alterations, additions,
and subtractions have been made over the years, always with
the goal of insuring that the church was well supplied with
pastors and teachers. From the old Gymnasium concept the
church moved toward a junior college system for the training
of pastors. Change has not always come easy in the church.
Traditions are long-lived and difficult to alter. However, in spite
of any difficulties that may have occurred from time to time, the