As Luther Seminary moves into a period of significant transition, including preparing our campus for sale, we are energized by the conviction that each of the many transitions before us is a beginning rather than an ending.

In fact, the campus sale is not the only nor even our primary focus of our discernment as we move into a future filled with hope. Because our mission to educate Christian leaders is as vital and necessary as ever, we are thinking bigger—not smaller—thoughts about the path on which the Holy Spirit is leading us. And we are grateful for the many ways our educational mission continues to grow and evolve.

In moving away from this particular campus setting means, we will be able to provide more face-to-face learning than we are able to today. We are committed to identifying physical spaces where our growing community can teach, learn, worship, and form relationships in many other ways. We will find spaces that provide affordable housing for residential students and robust resources for the scholarly pursuits of our world-class faculty.

At Luther Seminary and our predecessor institutions, we have been educating Christian leaders for over 150 years. In that time, we have inhabited multiple campuses and gone through multiple mergers. The present campus has served our mission well for many years, but our aging buildings are in need of major repairs and are not configured in a way that serves our current educational models. The board’s decision to leave this campus resulted not from financial strain—our finances are the strongest they have been in over a decade—but with full confidence that faithfully stewarding our many resources meant an openness to divesting from this particular campus.

As we continue to rethink how seminary education is delivered, we will continue to provide robust education for residential students and for our distributed learners—those who live away from campus, serve in their local communities, and join us in the Twin Cities several times a year intensive in-person classes.

In making this courageous decision, the board has asked the seminary not only to fulfill our mission but to expand on it. We are living boldly into the new realities of theological education, changes in curriculum, changes in workforces, and changes to our physical spaces—all of which were made only after much prayer and discernment across the community.

We ask for your support as we listen for God’s call to this community, knowing that by the Spirit’s power we can be faithful witnesses to the good news of Jesus Christ today and into the future.

Peace,
Robin Steinke
President

Read other installments in our series on why the church needs Luther Seminary in this moment:
A New Chapter for Luther Seminary – June 2025