For distributed learners, Residential Focus Sessions offer an immersive, in-person learning experience and the chance to connect with the wider Luther Seminary community. These intensive, three-day classes are offered four times per year. Until now, they were always held on campus.
This January, Luther offered the first “off-site” Residential Focus Session—an experiment designed to test new ways of teaching and learning as the seminary prepares to transition to a new physical space. Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis generously hosted 107 students for three days of classes led by Mary Hess, Kathryn Schifferdecker, Alan Padgett, and Lois Malcolm ’89 M.A.. Beyond the use of classroom space, the seminary community gathered each morning for chapel worship, with preaching by Mount Olivet pastors David Lose, Theresa Latini, and Jenna Olson Popp ’23 M.Div.; shared breakfast and lunch with staff and faculty on site; and observed Mount Olivet’s Wednesday evening youth and confirmation programming. In a follow-up survey, students noted that taking classes alongside the flow of Mount Olivet’s activities—from music classes to food distribution to a funeral service—enriched their experience and deepened their feeling of being connected to the larger church.
“We are so grateful to everyone who made our first off-site experiment such a success,” said Jody Nyenhuis, senior manager for academic affairs. “Most importantly, our students and faculty arrived with so much grace, curiosity, and willingness to learn in a new setting. We learned a lot about what it means to be hosted in this way and are already thinking about how to use these lessons going forward.”
