The Story

First Quarter, 2006

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Richard Bliese Installed as President of Luther Seminary The Luther Seminary community, the Twin Cities faith community and distinguished guests from around the country gathered the weekend of Oct. 22-23 for the installation of Richard Bliese as president of Luther Seminary.

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Notes From the Mission Field: Becoming a Centered Congregation Locally and globally, congregations that strive to become missionally dynamic share at least one commitment in common: they are striving to center their life together in the word of God.

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Amjad-Ali to Play Greater Role in Islamic Studies Program Dr. Charles Amjad-Ali will take on additional responsibilities teaching and providing leadership for Luther Seminary’s Islamic Studies Program, beginning July 1, 2006.

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Living Out Our Callings in the Community At the 2006 Mid-Winter Convocation, "Living Out Our Callings in the Community," Jan. 4-6, participants examined what call really means in correlation with one's community.

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One Congregation's Vision for its Community Zion Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids, Minn., lives its mission statement: "Serve Christ by Sharing God's Love."

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Church Reaches Out to the Recovering Community Too many congregations live with the myth that 'Addiction doesn’t happen here,'" Pastor Kathryn Brown, '01, said at the beginning of a workshop on Extending the Love of Christ to the Recovering Community. "They couldn't be more wrong."

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Seminaries Receive Grant to Educate More Church Leaders Luther Seminary and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, as partners in the Western Mission Cluster of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.

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Congregation Actively Raises Up Leaders for the Church When Paul Harrington, '71, took a call to newly started mission congregation Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in 1980, he didn’t set the goal that the church would support one new seminarian each year. But he could have.

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Rural Synod Awards Its First Full-Year Scholarship to Senior Seminarian "I now have more freedom to serve a rural congregation," Michael Hanson, a senior in Luther Seminary's Master of Divinity program, said. He is the first seminarian to receive a full one-year tuition scholarship from the Southwestern Minnesota Synod.

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The Sustaining Gift Fund: A Gift Without Strings While Luther Seminary thanks God for gifts for named scholarships, endowed chairs and special funds, it is unrestricted gifts — those with no strings attached — that are most crucial to keeping the seminary running each year.

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Insight for Pastors Find out more from Luther's D.Min. students

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Two New Books by Luther Seminary Faculty The Centered Life and Coming of Age: Exploring the Spirituality and Identity of Younger Men are two new books by Luther Seminary faculty.

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Alums: Nominate Your Peers! The Luther Seminary Alumni/ae Council is receiving nominations for two recognition programs. All Luther Seminary graduates are eligible.

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