We know the Spirit is always sending us out into the world, out of our comfort zones, to serve our neighbors. This invitation looks different for each of us.

One of the great delights of being part of the Luther Seminary community is witnessing how the call to ministry is lived out in a thousand unique ways. In this issue, we explore diverse places the Spirit beckons our students and alumni to follow.

Into a hopeful future. We equip leaders who share a passion for sharing the gospel in new spaces and with new audiences, especially through our recent Cultivating New Christian Communities Fellowship (page 9).

Into the heights and depths. We educate leaders whose ministry is one

of accompaniment, walking with individuals and families through sickness, incarceration, memory loss, military service, and death—as well as healing, recovery, release, and new birth. In chaplaincy, our alumni bear witness to the love of Christ that knows and shares even the deepest human suffering (page 14).

Into the global communion. We send our students out into the world to be transformed by travel courses and global internships (page 18).

International experiences open our eyes to a world beyond the familiar and the ways the gospel transcends culture, language, and nationality. Global travel also reminds us of just how local our preaching must be. We might travel around the world, but we are always sharing God’s word with an individual or group of people in a specific, local context.

The common thread through all of these experiences is connecting deeply with our siblings in Christ, where and as they are. Being present with others is a necessary part of proclamation—whether hearing the deepest losses a person has experienced, learning new forms of worship and words of praise, or walking with a new community for a few steps or a few miles. We cannot hear the good news of Jesus Christ when we are alone.

Our calling is out into the world, to those many places where God’s word of grace and new life is so desperately needed. In our diverse callings, we find each other—God’s beloved community—and we continue reminding each other that each of us is a beloved child of God.

Grace and peace,

Robin J. Steinke
President