Luther Seminary Is 50% Online Now - And Selling Off Property, Offering Free Tuition

Mrs. Ichabod and I visited the campus, to do research on WELS and LCMS working with ELCA via AAL/Lutheran Brotherhood. She found the crucial article and said, "Now I've got you, you fat little liar."

https://www.parkbugle.org/luther-seminary-to-sell-15-acres-of-buildings-land/

 Unlike Brian Williams, I was there.
Someone asked, "How did you know about Paul Tiefel's material? I said, "We drove to Luther Seminary and looked it up." Mrs. I is a whiz in research, the best anywhere.

 We also found the proof that Cho was kicked out of the Assemblies of God for false doctrine - no small feat, getting kicked out of that sect.

Luther Seminary’s new “Campus of the Future” plan will bring big change to the school by offering free tuition to all incoming students starting this fall and to the St. Anthony Park neighborhood when it sheds 15 acres of land and buildings in the northwestern part of its campus.

In May, the seminary’s board of directors approved the sale of a parcel that includes Northwestern Hall, the administrative building at 1501 Fulham St.; Stub Hall, a dormitory at 2329 Hendon Ave.; several houses and the LDR apartments on Fulham Street; a vacant home in an alley off of Hoyt Avenue in Lauderdale; and the 7 acres of wooded land abutting the Lauderdale Nature Area, known as Breck Woods. Bockman Hall, what many consider the centerpiece to the St. Anthony Park campus at the top of the hill on 2400 block of Como Avenue, will also be sold.

Michael Morrow, Luther vice president of finance and administration, said the school is hoping to find an “outside partner” that would renovate Bockman Hall, which is on the National Registry of Historic Places, and create space that the seminary can use for short-term student housing.

“I know the noteworthy change for the neighborhood is the change to the campus, but we’re excited about the new vision we’ve adopted,” Morrow said. That “new vision” includes the new Jubilee Scholarships, which will give free tuition to all incoming students this fall and increased scholarships to current students.

“We are very concerned about the cost of higher education and people going into ministry with large levels of debt,” Morrow said. Student debt has hindered the number of people going into the ministry, he said. Students will still need to pay for room and board, transportation and books, but the Master of Divinity and Master of Arts students will get full tuition.

The land sale is all part of reshaping a seminary that no longer houses all of its students throughout the school year.

“We need a different campus,” Morrow said. “We have a much different student base. The campus we have was designed for larger enrollment with everyone here taking classes full time. Today we have 500 students. About half are in the distributed-learning program, which means they live all over the country [and] take most of their classes online. We don’t have that many people here.”

When students do come to campus, it’s for two to four weeks out of the year, he said.

“For us, it’s not what we are getting rid of; it’s what we are moving to,” he said. “We can meet our needs with Olson Campus Center and Gullixson Hall. Bockman would be a good housing place, but we don’t really need all of that.”

Olson will be the campus entrance and center and will remain open to community gatherings, Morrow said. For several years, the St. Anthony Park Community Sing has used the center on the third Monday of the month for a neighborhood sing. That should not be affected by the changes to the campus, he said.

The seminary properties will be offered as a package and put on the market in July, Morrow said. The price will be made public when it goes on the market, he said.

The seminary could sell Breck Woods separately if proposals were made, he said. “We know there are people interested in doing something with the woods, and if they want to make a proposal, we would be open to listening.”

A group of residents who live near Breck Woods have been looking at avenues to protect the woods from development.

“We have been advised that one of the nimblest resources for securing Breck Woods for the public is the Trust for Public Land,” said Cynthia Ahlgren in an email. “Trying to put together a consortium to buy the land requires a longer lead time and the seminary’s timeframe to sell is short.”

The group sent a letter to the city of Lauderdale, the Trust for Public Land and Luther Seminary on June 11 supporting conserving Breck Woods for public use and wildlife habitat. “Any decision to develop and change this valuable natural resource will be irreversible,” the letter said. “We support preserving the woods, recognizing the importance of green space not only for ourselves but for the wider community.”

Luther Seminary has slowly been selling under-used portions of its property for several years. In 2014, the seminary sold five apartment buildings on Eustis Street to Greenway Village. Senior housing developer Ecumen bought 1.6 acres at Luther Place and Como Avenue in 2015 to build Zvago, a 49-unit co-op currently under construction. HealthPartners purchased 4.5 acres of land across from its Como Avenue building in 2016 to build a replacement clinic. The date for the clinic groundbreaking has not been announced.

The large grassy lawn along Como Avenue will remain part of the seminary property for now. “It is not part of what we will be bringing forward [in July],” Morrow said, however, “we are not convinced that we have a long-term need for that property.”

As far as the current package that will be up for sale and any future sales, “we know that we are picking who our next neighbors are,” Morrow said. “We are real concerned about picking someone who is a good neighbor.”

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https://alpb.org/Forum/index.php?topic=7020.msg445958;topicseen#msg445958

United [sic?] Seminary has had free tuition for those in ELCA candidacy since it began operating, and Mt. Airy had been doing so for a year or two before the merger with Gettysburg.

spt+

Gideon Will Not Enroll at Iliff - Apparently

 The blog post is linked here.

Pastor,

I've been thinking about this for a couple of days and it rather dovetails into the Concordia mess in St. Louis (debating Creation, or more accurately negotiating the veracity of Scripture).

So here we have ILIFF, the Methodist "seminary?"  Doing well apparently:

“It’s a social justice-oriented institution. It’s the perfect place for me because they care for people who are rejected and not accepted in society.”

“She worked to provide an alternative to the narrative that permeates our culture — the idea that everything around us can be traced back to individuals and their psychology, rather than social forces. At its core, this required constant (and frequently uncomfortable) critical thought. Given the nature of sociology, this also required us to think critically about our own lives and social positioning. It takes a special person to cultivate such a space for this. She always contextualized the need for such critical thought, as well.”

 My little seminary has been named Martin Luther University College, because its main program is now in counseling, with a side helping of seminary, its lowest enrollment. The dean's statement - "At the seminary, we have done so for decades. Our school has grown to become an inclusive and multifaith learning environment. Our students represent over 30 religious traditions — or claim to no faith tradition at all. Many are also members of historically marginalized groups including LGBTQ, physically challenged, Jewish, Muslim, and Indigenous communities."

At this point, it may be debated if LLIFF is even a seminary at all since it seems to be more concerned with sociology and psychology than the Gospel.  One may wonder how on earth did the church of Wesley get here.  The answer may be with Wesley himself:  “And at the same time that we are justified, yea, in that very moment, sanctification begins.”  And, this is true as far as it goes, but Wesley went further.  It has been said of Wesley, "Luther got Justification right, I will get Sanctification right." (Craig Parton said this once at a conference paraphrasing Wesley.  The Remarkable Decline of American Evangelicalism).

And so he went, and so many followed.  Sanctification becomes the focus and Justification became a mere academic point.  Our egos love it when we can do things, and we get so full of that self adoration.  Accomplishments feel good.  Our accomplishments.  This is the danger of getting away from the Cross (Justification).  Justification by Faith is something that God does; it's his gift to us, but Sanctification is something we do in response to give him glory-- as it should be.  BUT...once Justification is removed, things can and do go sideways.

This is not something unique to Wesley, but rather common to all men.  We want to have that "garden moment" when we can take that fruit and stand on our own.  God is forgotten; this is our moment.

So, what is the result?  Where did the successors and followers of Wesley (and his ilk) end up?  Eventually we have the things like the Salvation Army (as it exists today) and what was known as the "social gospel."  Neither had much or anything to do with the Cross, and I believe ultimately these eventually gave birth to the Social Justice movement we have today ( completely devoid of the Gospel and Christ and his Cross as evidenced by a complete lack of forgiveness of its adherents).  Hence, we have the Methodist LLIFF.  Seems extreme to say that's antichrist, but where's the Gospel in that "seminary."

Herein lies the importance of being grounded in what God does and not in what we do.  Law and Gospel.  The Scriptures.  The Confessions.  Cathechisis.  With these we never stray too far.

To be sure, the likes of Bonhoeffer will remind us of the importance of Discipleship, but we won't be need to be reminded if we remember how we are justified.  If we understand Justification by Faith for what it is (which does not tend to antinomianism)  and for what OJ/SJ/UOJ is not(which does tend to antinomianism).  Faith demands an answer on it's own.  2 Cor. 5 and 6 have much to say about this.  If one reads the entire chapter it become clear that those addressed are believers (and not the entirety of humanity).  We (not the world!) are compelled / controlled / constrained. (v.14) That's what faith does.  Without faith, look to the world, and ILIFF.  With faith (the faith that God [the Holy Spirit] gives through Word and Sacrament) we cannot help but bear fruit.  For faith bears witness to both the Law and Gospel.  This fruit is real and God pleasing.  We go beyond that, we become self important.

This is why Concordia needs to stop with this foolish debate over Creation.  What do the Scriptures say?  Case closed.  Persisting in this foolishness can only eventually result in a slow slide into apostasy.  Need proof?  Just run the history of the synodical conference in reverse and ask those who walked before what they think.  Yea, ask Luther, Chemnitz, Augustine...or better yet the Scriptures which are chock full of warnings about the slow slide.  Stop the slide!  Engage the world with the Gospel!  Matt 28-18-20.  We need faithful Pastors!

SDG,

Gideon

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Another brilliant letter from "Gideon".

 

Thank you for posting.  It's a comfort to the soul.

 

Alec 

I Stand with the Concordia Seminary St. Louis Professors

Wrong focus, professors!

The claim was made that the seminary professors - at Concordia St. Louis - want to back away from the Six Day Creation, because that concept is hurting them with the youth. I agree with them and will argue with great ferocity for their intentions. They want to remove what is causing a rapid decline in the Missouri Synod, not to mention WELS, the Little Sect on the Prairie, and the CLC cult.

Their focus is bad, like the Space Telescope that was launched with the wrong prescription for its optics. In harmony with all Enthusiasts, the Concordia professors imagine that the right man-made solutions will cure their ills.

WELS, LCMS, Seminex, ALC - they are pointing in the same direction as Jungkuntz did.

What has their Missouri Synod obsessively promoted the last 50 years?

1. Objective Justification - Forgiveness without faith, as taught by their syphilitic founder, Martin Stephan, STD; Jungkuntz, who helped set up Seminex for the Metropolitan Community Church; Herman Otten, spiker of synod scandals;  David Scaer, and other enemies of the truth.
2. Church Growth - Gimmicks and manipulation, doctrine watered down to success ideology, established by no less than five (5) LCMS gurus in Church Growth - Waldo Werning, Kent Hunter, and three addition morons.

Focusing on results is all wrong - that is their problem, something that even the daft Walther realized (borrowing from Luther). One does not seek for the fruit, as Pietism does, but for the good tree - sound doctrine.

I would love to see the city slickers at Concordia Seminary shopping for gardening supplies. They would see the splendid bulb flowers from Dutch Gardens, order a bunch of them, and say, "Eeek! These daffodils and tulips are ugly, not at all what we imagined. We saw perfect flowers, but these are homely and smell funny." Fools. The best bulbs are just as ugly as bare root roses. That is why people buy both in pots, which does not change the reality, only the perception.

The various synods and cults need to abandon their Enthusiasm and their sneering at ELCA to return to the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace. ELCA makes them feel superior, so why are the quasi-conservative synods collapsing just as fast? Shouldn't the escaping ELCA members fill their pews and send their male candidates to college and seminary?

No - and this is why. The LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC entities are just another version of ELCA, working with ELCA, and secretly coveting ELCA.

A priest or Babtist or non-Christian can lecture at their schools, and there is no murmur, no opposition. But if I were named a guest-speaker, their customers and leaders would go nuts. Herman Otten is just their pretend whipping boy. The synods use him to keep their scandals from coming out, to help elect the right non-leaders to office. And Otten is happy for those moments of fellowship, those whispered phone calls, those "don't tell anyone I called" calls. If a candidate for the synod president composes a song of adoration and travels to the sacred publishing location to sing it, and the editor keeps it a secret, how far apart are they?

People over the years have contacted me about the abuse and scams of the synods. Thousands have given up having any impact on their own congregations and synods, so they quietly withdraw. That will continue because the leaders skim the cream for themselves and let everything else rot away.

The numbers they give out make me laugh. WELS has 400,000 members and ELS 20,000? They cannot even scrape up cash for capital repairs on their failing prep school in Saginaw. Now it is too late to have reasonable charges, which were once subsidized by synod offerings. The Lutheran schools are luxuries that many are happy to bypass.

The leaders were content to take the money for themselves, their deluxe office buildings, portly staffs, and let the student population borrow their way to an education. Now the overhead is beyond belief and everyone is drifting away, which accelerates the problems of cost and income.

Let's look at small numbers at a tiny college. If they have a total of 200 students and lose 30 in enrollment, that is 30 x $30,000 per year. The loss is $900,000 per year - same teachers, same buildings, same utilities, same insurance. There are many tiny Bible colleges like that. The big picture is much scarier, whether LCMS or WELS or ELS or CLC. ELDONA can lose their entire seminary study body once he graduates. Then they could merge with the CLC seminary as Andover did with Newton, and Andover-Newton did with Yale, and so forth.

Luther did not worry about results. He taught sound doctrine and rejected false doctrine. Many faulted him during the Reformation, as the Lutheran leaders of today do. But if we believe the Word of God is efficacious and powerful - as I do - then God will accomplish His will through His Word, as promised.