Official Workbook PDF page source text

LCMS 2026 Convention Workbook: Reports and Overtures, PDF page 100

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 Train-
ing 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 communi-
ty outreach. We have piloted a neighborhood canvasing and evan-
gelism 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 plant-
ing. 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 strong-
ly preferred route for pastoral formation, maintaining the current 
practice of full tuition support for that route and using the Specif-
ic 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 life-
time 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 forma-
tion, 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, integri-
ty, and increasing excellence. Our SMP, Ethnic Immigrant Institute 
of Theology, Center for Hispanic Studies, and Cross-Cultural Min-
istry Center programs fulfill real needs in the overall mission and 
ministry of our church.
On the campus of Concordia Seminary, we gather each morn-
ing 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 Semi-
nary’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 signifi-
cant student support and discounts to students in all programs. Con-
cordia 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 stu-
dents, additional on-campus faculty housing, and the ongoing stew-
ardship 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 follow-
ing key priorities:
Priority #1: Faithful and Full-Person Formation
Priority #2: Commitment to Community and Collaboration