R13.1 Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri

R13.1

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri Concordia Seminary serves church and world by providing

2026 Convention Workbook 65 OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS Priority #3: Strong Recruitment and Enrollment Priority #4: Lutheran Resources and Worldwide Impact A copy of the plan is available at: csl.edu/about.

The Seminary board, administration, and faculty are currently developing the next five-year plan, and, toward that end, conducted a survey of the Seminary’s broad constituencies in January 2026.

The new strategic plan will be finalized and published in late 2026.

The 2023 Synod convention passed twelve resolutions giving assignments, affirmations, and counsel to the seminaries. Concor - dia Seminary has acted upon or is in the process of acting upon all of these. Space precludes commentary on each, but examples include the following:

The convention adopted 2023 Res. 1-01A, “To Stimulate Training for Witness,” by unanimous voice vote. Over the last three years, in addition to the required course “Pastor and Congregation in Mission,” Concordia Seminary has offered its students weekend workshops facilitated by Synod staff on evangelism and community outreach. We have piloted a neighborhood canvasing and evangelism program and plan to implement it as a regular part of our students’ training. We have resumed the practice of traveling with small groups of students to experience sites of LCMS church planting. We have also held fruitful discussions with our sister seminary, Synod staff, and nearby district mission executives regarding ways in which the seminaries, Synod, and districts can partner to equip our future pastors to be “chief evangelists” in their congregations.

President Bruss at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, initiated this project, and we are grateful to be participating. This is one of several dimensions of fraternal and fruitful collaboration between the two Synod seminaries.

2023 Res. 6-02A and 6-03A direct the seminaries to encourage men to residential pastoral ministry routes as the preferred option and to position and promote the residential M.Div. as the strongly preferred route for pastoral formation, maintaining the current practice of full tuition support for that route and using the Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program only for its specific, intended purposes. Concordia Seminary advocates within the LCMS for the prioritization of residential seminary study, and our recruitment and admissions team gives this message consistently to all applicants, most especially to younger applicants desiring to prepare for a lifetime of ministry within the LCMS. Our faculty take very seriously the task of preparing, examining, and certifying men for the Holy Ministry. We plead with the church to maintain its longstanding shared commitment to thorough theological and personal formation, recognizing that encouraging men to pursue full-time study in person and in community on the campuses of our seminaries gives us the best opportunity to accomplish such formation for the good of the church. At the same time, and in harmony with Res. 6-03A, we value and thank God for the men preparing in our alternate route programs, and we operate those programs with seriousness, integrity, and increasing excellence. Our SMP, Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology, Center for Hispanic Studies, and Cross-Cultural Ministry Center programs fulfill real needs in the overall mission and ministry of our church.

On the campus of Concordia Seminary, we gather each morning in our chapel to hear the voice of our Shepherd, to receive His gifts, and, in turn, to call upon Him in prayer and joyfully sing His praises. The chapel is the center of our life and work because Christ is the center of our life and work: His mercy, His forgiveness, His Word, His hope. From this crucial center, our life and work flow cruiting future pastors and deaconesses through our “We Are Your Seminaries” efforts.

Thanks to the generous people of the LCMS, Concordia Seminary’s financial condition is stable and strong. In step with our sister seminary in Fort Wayne, we offer 100 percent tuition coverage to students in the residential Master of Divinity program and significant student support and discounts to students in all programs. Concordia Seminary’s endowment now provides about 40 percent of its annual operating budget, and additional endowment development will be important to sustain our mission for coming generations.

Our senior leadership is committed to financial discipline and limits the growth of the annual operating budget to the rate of inflation.

The Concordia Seminary Board of Regents recently approved a comprehensive Campus Master Plan 2026, subsequently reviewed and approved by the Synod Board of Directors in February 2026.

This plan prioritizes improved housing for married and single students, additional on-campus faculty housing, and the ongoing stewardship of our historic stone buildings, including complete interior renovation of three large wings of the campus core. We view strong community life at our Seminary as a tremendous resource and vital component for the formation of future pastors and deaconesses and for the long-term shared life and mission of our church.

In late 2025, the Board of Regents renewed the appointment of Dr. Thomas Egger as Seminary president for a second five-year term (2026–31). In February 2026, three new regents joined the Seminary board: the Rev. Dr. Peter Elliott and Mr. Troy Prehar as board-appointed regents, and the Rev. Ryan Wendt, appointed as the Council of Presidents representative to the board.

In 2022, the Board of Regents adopted the Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Strategic Plan 2022–26. The plan was developed with input from a broad cross section of our Seminary’s constituencies within the LCMS. It lists nine guiding objectives that undergird the plan:

1.

Kee p God’s written Word at the center of ministerial formation.

2. Co ntinue to add quality faculty. It is the faculty who execute our mission and determine our impact.

3. Creatively strengthen our short-term and long-term efforts in student recruitment.

4. Instill in our students a fervent both-and commitment to Lutheran teaching and outreach to the lost.

5. Make the case to the broader church for the distinct value of residential theological formation in community, even as we seek to be realistic and responsive to the church’s varied situations and needs.

6.

Cultivate shared forms of piety and form a praying ministerium through the centrality of daily chapel in our Seminary life.

7. Cultivate a community of learning, hospitality, and mutual service.

8. Maintain strong collaborative and respectful relationships within the LCMS at all levels.

9. Resource internati onal Lutheranism with clear biblical and confessional Lutheran teaching.

The plan contains 42 specific initiatives supporting the following key priorities:

Priority #1: Faithful and Full-Person Formation Priority #2: Commitment to Community and Collaboration

2026 Convention Workbook 66 OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS to establish endowments for scholarships and recruiting activities.

We’re starting to see the results of these efforts, with an incoming 2026–27 class that is expected to be significantly larger than in recent years. Thanks be to God!

Producing enough pastors is critically important. Even more important is producing faithful confessional Lutheran pastors who will conserve and promote the unity of the true faith (Const. Art. III 1), strengthen congregations with their bold witness (Art. III 2), and support all other objectives of the Synod through their work in our congregations. That’s part of our charge too, and we’re committed to keeping these aims at the forefront in all our strategic activities.

Highlights from the 2023–26 Triennium:

Building on the Past and Planning for the Future The first year of the past triennium was the last year in office for Dr. Lawrence R. Rast Jr., who faithfully served the seminary as president for 13 years. Under Rast’s leadership, the seminary introduced full tuition coverage for residential formation students, completed the Wayne and Barbara Kroemer Library, completed a successful capital campaign, increased the endowment, and instituted a disciplined strategic planning process.

Highlights from 2023–24:

• Added two new faculty chairs, the Reverend Victor H. and Lydia Dissen Chair in the Lutheran Confessions and the Roemer-Baese Chair in Pastoral Ministry and Missions • Significantly upgraded the fiber and data infrastructure on campus • Celebrated the 25th anniversary of Christ Academy • Completed a comprehensive Facilities Condition Assessment, which provided the groundwork for the campus master plan Notable Activities from 2024–26:

With the election of a new president in 2024, the seminary ramped up its planning efforts and has made top-notch residential formation a foremost goal. Notable activities include:

• Developed a comprehensive campus master plan • Developed an aggressive strategic plan for 2024–29 • Installed three faculty members and a new director of deaconess formation • Revised the mission statement as part of the strategic planning and curriculum revision processes • Established Munderloh Endowments in support of recruiting • Launched a new website • Executed several campus improvement projects, guided by the campus master plan In addition, the seminary continues to play a pivotal role in strengthening confessional Lutheranism domestically and inter - nationally, supporting 2023 Res. 1-01A, concerning training for witness, and Res. 2-02A, which encourages collaboration with the LCMS Office of International Mission. Activities in this area include:

• Responding to the steady demand from international partners for theological education in their locations out to our classrooms, to our campus life together, to the broader church, and to the ends of the earth.

On behalf of the students, faculty, and staff of Concordia Seminary, thank you to the people of the LCMS for the privilege of serving with you. Thank you for entrusting future church workers to us for instruction and formation. Thank you for your enthusiastic financial support. Thank you for your prayers, for your witness, and for your work in Jesus’ name.

Thomas J. Egger, President