Listen, listen, God is calling!
\nThrough the Word inviting,
\nOffering forgiveness,
\nComfort and joy!
\n\u2014Tanzanian hymn<\/p>\n
During this past year, Luther Seminary has been actively engaged in the work of listening.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve listened to the church, who have told us that theological education needs to be more accessible, affordable, and responsive to the needs of a culture in transition.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve listened to our students, who have shared that they are better equipped to serve wherever and however God is calling when they aren\u2019t saddled with student debt.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve listened to our alumni, who have let us know that they need just-in-time training to meet the demands of ministry in a rapidly changing world.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve listened to leaders working with underrepresented and unchurched populations, who have helped us expand our imagination of what faithful Christian leadership might look like now and in the future.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve listened through Scripture, prayer, worship, conversation, contemplation, and group discernment. We\u2019ve listened through surveys, course evaluations, focus groups, one-on-one meetings, classroom discussions, workshops, learning communities, and coaching relationships.<\/p>\n
And then, trusting in the faithfulness of God\u2019s call, we\u2019ve acted on what we\u2019ve heard.<\/p>\n
When we launched the Jubilee Scholarship program in 2018, awarding full-tuition scholarships to all Master of Arts and Master of Divinity students, our goal was to reduce graduate indebtedness by one-third by 2023. To date, we have awarded Jubilee scholarships to 345 students and reduced graduate indebtedness by 39%, surpassing our goal two years earlier than we ever thought possible.<\/p>\n
We graduated the first cohort and admitted the third and final cohort to our accelerated Master of Divinity experiment (MDivX), which has provided us with invaluable insights about what it means to educate Christian leaders in the 21st century, insights that will inform everything we do going forward.<\/p>\n
Our Faith+Lead online platform has continued to grow and has now been used by 380,000 ministry leaders across the globe who are being trained and equipped to lead faithful innovation in their contexts.<\/p>\n
And we\u2019ve done it all while balancing the budget and seeing fantastic growth in our endowment. Even with the challenges of a global pandemic and rapid social change, Luther Seminary is committed to continuing to listen to God\u2019s call and to respond faithfully, wherever God leads us.<\/p>\n
Thank you for the ways in which you have listened to how God is calling you to continue to support the mission and vision of Luther Seminary. Your gifts, prayers, and engagement are what enable us to do this work.<\/p>\n
Yours faithfully,<\/p>\n