Our staff and faculty are busy preparing for our new class of entering students. Final enrollment numbers will be confirmed after the start of the semester but we expect our enrollment will be flat compared to last year’s incoming class. This is good for Luther Seminary, but it is especially good for the congregations they will someday serve. We exist to prepare leaders for the church so that our neighborhoods have a place where they can find community, receive the good news of God’s grace and love for their lives and learn of God’s justice and restorative love for the world. Thank you for your help in sending such fine students which we have the privilege of walking with as they prepare to step into leadership.
This fall we will mark 500 years of a church that is always reforming. As we celebrate the contributions a Lutheran public witness has made and acknowledge the mistakes along the way, we are looking forward and committed to the reforming work needed in theological education. This issue notes multiple ways we are addressing this reforming work in theological education.
Reforming sustainability. Building institutional sustainability to support our mission for the 21st century has been a key priority. Entering four consecutive years of eliminating losses before depreciation, a balance sheet which improved over 10% from last year and a million dollar reduction in expenses over last year demonstrate the commitment to stewarding our resources to fuel this reforming work. All of these actions position us well to turn toward investing in a flourishing future and leading the reforming work needed in theological education so that congregations and new forms of gathered communities which attend to God’s grace and love for the world will flourish.
Reforming Research and Teaching. Another way this reforming of theological education is unfolding is through research undertaken by faculty to address key questions of ways that God is working in the world. Prof. Andy Root has been exploring the ways that youth ministry can be revitalized when one takes seriously the interface between science and theology. Prof. Karoline Lewis has been researching ways that great preaching can revitalize congregations. You can share in what they are learning as you participate in The Craft of Preaching workshop. You can also read about the ways that internships in places doing innovative ministry are reimagining what the church looks like in their community.
I invite you to read more about these reforming initiatives as we continue to reimagine what a 21st century theological education and institutional vitality need to look like for the next 500 years. We have more work to do in this academic year as we continue this reforming work to adapt so that we may bear faithful witness to God’s reforming work in the world. Come join us for the Reformation Festival and share with us what you are learning about God’s reforming work in your corner of God’s world.