LSTC is proud to celebrate the graduating class of 2023 and we know you are too! Learn more about each one of our distinguished graduates by visiting our Graduates Spotlight page.
LSTC Announces 2023 Fund for Leaders Recipients
The ELCA Fund for Leaders Scholarship Program provides full tuition scholarship support for students of tremendous promise attending ELCA seminaries. LSTC is pleased to announce that Madelyn Anderson, Leah Berdahl, Hannah Peterson, and Addy Stuever are this year’s recipients of the Fund for Leaders Scholarship. Hailing from Iowa, South Dakota, Montana, and Michigan, these four exceptional scholars have big visions for how their ministries will make a difference. Learn more.
As we transition to our new location, we’ve been thinking about the wonderful times shared together at LSTC. To celebrate some of these moments, we’ve created a website that features a virtual tour of the building at 1100 E. 55th Street, historical photos, stories (shared by many of you), a Reflections video featuring former LSTS staff, faculty, and alums, and the commemorative issue of the Epistle Magazine.
At its April meeting, the Executive Committee of the LSTC Board of Directors approved a resolution to establish a Reparations Task Force that will examine and propose a reparations plan for the seminary, beginning in 2023. (Read More)
As we gear up for the move to our new location, many of the beloved art pieces in our collection that help tell the rich story of LSTC will accompany us to our new location. Other items will be returned to the donors or artists who generously allowed us to exhibit them. The remaining pieces of art cannot be incorporated into our reduced-sized space, and so will be sold in an online auction. (Read More)
The LSTC Board of Directors Announces Dr. Kristi Ferguson as the 2023 Distinguished Service Award Recipient
The LSTC Board of Directors is proud to announce that the 2023 Distinguished Service Award recipient is Dr. Kristi Ferguson, MSW, PhD, a long-standing leader in the LSTC community. The Distinguished Service Award is conferred annually by the LSTC Board of Directors to an individual who exemplifies service supporting the mission and ministry of the seminary. Learn more.
LSTC Remembers Rev. Marcia Kline
This month, we ask for your prayers for the family and friends of the beloved Rev. Marcia Kline (MDiv 1991), who passed away on March 23rd, 2023. Rev. Kline led an illustrious career after graduating from LSTC; upon receiving a call from American Lutheran Church in Castlewood, South Dakota, Marcia was ordained on February 7, 1993. Following her engagement and marriage to The Rev. Kevin H. Kline in April of 1995, she relocated to Kimball, South Dakota, where she served the Kimball Protestant Parish comprised of Immanuel Lutheran, First Presbyterian, and Kimball United Methodist Churches. Even after her husband’s death in January of 1996, she continued to remain in Kimball until receiving a call to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Bishop, TX, in 2002. In 2008 Marcia left parish ministry to do advanced work in CPE with the goal of becoming a hospital chaplain.
For the remainder of her ministry, and despite repeated health struggles, Marcia worked at various healthcare centers in the Corpus Christi area as a chaplain. In those years and beyond her retirement in 2014, she also served under contract with the congregations of St. Paul, Tynan, and Grace, Mathis. Most recently Marcia has been providing support to St. Mark’s, Corpus Christi. We invite you to read more about this remarkable member of our community here.
PhD Student Helen Chukka on the Path from India to LSTC and Beyond
For PhD student and Pastor Helen Chukka, a life in pastoral work was never in question. Before her birth, her parents in Guntur, India, dedicated her to ministry. “It was like Jeremiah’s call,” she explains, “And this is normal in an Indian context, although it is mostly men who are dedicated.” For Chukka, however, the dedication resonated with her spirit. Finding her home at LSTC has been the latest part of her journey. Read more.
Diversity, Accessibility, and Possibilities Confirmed LSTC as the Right Choice for Jackie Miller
For MDiv student Jackie Miller, the journey to LSTC began as an undergraduate at Carthage College. “I was taking a J-term class on Christian spirituality, and on the second day of class we went to a little meditation chapel they had on campus to do the morning version of the Liturgy of the Hours,” she remembers. “And as we were sitting there, my mind just started to wander, and I knew that this is what I was being called to do in my life. And for the first time, I felt like I could actually do it, and that I could become the person I needed to be for [this calling].” Learn more.
Pastor Llewellyn S. Dixon on TEEM Scholarship, Bi-Vocational Practice, and the Path Ahead
Pastor Llewellyn Dixon knows firsthand that the road to pastoral work is often winding. From pre-med to a career in public health to a TEEM scholar at LSTC, Pastor Dixon has walked the walk. Here, he discusses the realities of bi-vocational practice, what it took to be a TEEM scholar, and what comes next. Read now.
Join us Thursday, May 11 at 4:30 p.m. for a celebration of the music we’ve enjoyed and times we’ve shared together in the place we’ve called “home” for more than five decades.
Preaching Jesus with Interfaith Sensitivity on The Final Sunday of Easter and The Feast of Pentecost
(JOHN 17 AND ACTS 2:1-21)
LSTC’s Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice presents its second hybrid panel, Tuesday, May 16 from 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m., exploring how preachers might joyfully engage in the celebratory tones of the last of the Easter Sundays and Pentecost without falling prey to anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim biases.
This hybrid event will offer practical guidance for those preaching texts that are particularly challenging when tending to relationships with our interfaith neighbors. (Register Now)
Commencement exercises for the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago’s (LSTC’s) class of 2023 will be held in person at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church on Sunday, May 21, 2023, at 2:30 p.m. The church is located at 5472 South Kimbark Avenue in Chicago. There will be a reception for the graduates at LSTC following the commencement ceremony.
On Saturday, May 20, at 4 p.m., the Baccalaureate service will be held at the Augustana Lutheran Church at 5500 S. Woodlawn in Chicago. Live streaming of the commencement and baccalaureate services will be made available on LSTC’s social media channels for those unable to attend in person.
We are also pleased to announce this year’s 2023 commencement speaker will be Sr. Barbara Reid, president of the Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park, where LSTC will be moving in July.
Commencement is not a ticketed event for guests. All guests who desire to attend are welcome to join us for this celebratory occasion.
