The Council of Presidents met at Concordia University Chicago this past week, and it was yet another encouraging reminder of what a tremendous blessing our Synod’s universities are. It is certainly the case, not to be taken lightly, that each of our schools is facing significant financial challenges, especially due to the demographic realities confronting institutions of higher learning (and the Church at large) across the board. But I am impressed with the thoughtful, creative, and faithful efforts that are being made to prosper our Concordias as sturdy and steadfast institutions.
The CUC campus, its president and faculty, its chapel, its programs, and its students are all impressive examples of what the Church is doing and accomplishing through our universities. I was especially excited by the reports we were given on the Honors Program and the Classical Lutheran Education track at Concordia Chicago, not unlike similar offerings in Irvine, Seward, and Mequon, yet distinctive and unique in their own ways. President Russel Dawn, Deaconess Kristin Wassilak, Dr. James Lee, Dr. Chad Kendall, and the other faculty we were privileged to meet and hear from during our time on campus are doing good and commendable work there.
The presidents of the various Concordias were also meeting with each other on the CUC campus, along with the Concordia University System Board, and we were able to spend time with all of them during our COP meeting. As I mentioned last year, after our similar meeting on the campus of Concordia University Irvine, I am greatly encouraged by the collaboration that is happening, and by the concerted effort to make our Concordias academically robust and unapologetically Lutheran. These are the Church’s schools, and one and all are clearly working together to make sure they serve and support the Church’s mission. By way of example, every effort is being made to make it affordable and possible for our Lutheran young people to attend our Concordias, and to recruit future pastors, teachers, deaconesses, directors of Christian education, and church musicians from among them, in addition to preparing all students for a variety of callings and stations in life. Perhaps the highlight of my time on the campus this past week was when several CUC students from our own Indiana District came up to introduce themselves and chat with me after chapel on Tuesday.
I got to spend a week on the campus of Concordia University Nebraska this past summer, when I was there for the Synod’s Institute on Liturgy, Preaching, and Church Music; and of course I am regularly on the campus of Concordia University Wisconsin, as I was again this past Thursday, for meetings of the CUWAA Board of Regents. I’ve had a couple opportunities to visit the Ann Arbor campus over the past year, as well; and a year from now the COP will be meeting on the campus of Concordia University St. Paul, Minnesota, which I haven’t had the chance to visit in over thirty years now, but already I am hearing positive things about the work that it is doing. In each and every case, I am seeing clear indications of conscientious faithfulness, and examples of the Church working together to be at our very best in meeting the challenges set before us.
As we look forward to Thanksgiving Day next week, I am reminded once again of how much we have to give thanks for in our Concordia University System, and I pray that our gracious Lord God would continue to bless each of our universities and all of their faculty, staff, and students!