October 2020 - LCMS Joint Seminary Fund

Post date: Oct 01, 2020 3:27:29 PM

Excellent seminaries are important to everyone who needs the Gospel. Well-formed pastors, deaconesses, ordained missionaries and theological leaders are vital to our life together as they faithfully and accurately teach the Gospel.

The LCMS supports two seminaries — Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Concordia Seminary in St. Louis — with Sunday-morning worship offerings set aside by congregations for district and national/international work.

The LCMS national office acknowledges the level of financial subsidy it provides is woefully insufficient to fully operate either seminary, let alone both.

The LCMS Joint Seminary Fund was established to supplement the Synod subsidy by directly soliciting the church for charitable donations. Gifts to the LCMS Joint Seminary Fund are restricted exclusively to supporting both of our world-class seminaries.

Our LCMS seminaries have only three sources of operating revenue:

· Investment income from endowment

· Tuition paid by students after financial aid is awarded (often in the form of student loans)

· Financial gifts graciously supplied by God’s people

The LCMS Joint Seminary Fund helps raise the last type, functioning as a line of defense against passing rising educational costs on to seminary students via higher tuition.

For more information, on the LCMS Joint Seminary Fund, visit https://www.lcms.org/seminary-education/seminary-topics/lcms-joint-seminary-fund