牧师视频致辞. Dr. 查德·里默在LTSS转移到山核桃

视频记录

弟兄们，愿恩惠平安，因基督的名归与你们.

Since 1830 the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary has been fulfilling its mission to teach, 形成和培养公共事工的领袖. 我的曾祖父, WG柯布, 在1911年哥伦比亚大学比姆堂刚开学的时候，你是新生吗. 我的墙上挂着他的毕业证书，上面有他的签名. 沃伊特 in 1914. 自从LTSS搬到哥伦比亚大学, 全球网赌十大网站家每一代都有一名成员来过这里, 从我的曾祖父那里, 给我的祖父, 我叔叔和我现在是校长和院长. 在这113年里, many of you and your families have also lovingly tended the mission of our beloved seminary.

在这两个世纪里, 从波马里亚到列克星敦, 要听见, 到瓦尔哈拉殿堂, 去了塞勒姆的罗阿诺克学院, 维吉尼亚州, Mt. 愉快的, 最后是哥伦比亚大学, 南卡罗来纳, 全球网赌十大网站面临着财政上的挑战, 战争, and epidemics that have threatened our capacity to continue this Lutheran and ecumenical tradition of theological education and formation. But we have always found a way to persist and to discern and follow what it means to best steward this gift and call that has been entrusted to us.

And now, the next stage in Southern’s long history of pilgrimage is beginning.

今天, seminaries of nearly every denomination are contending with strong headwinds across the landscape of theological education. 作为回应，经过祈祷，仔细的辨别， board of trustees of Lenoir-Rhyne University has made the decision to move LTSS to the university’s main campus in Hickory in January 2025. The move will become official when the board takes action at its March meeting.

做出这一决定的原因很清楚. The global pressures on theological and higher education in general mean that universities, 如今，研究生院和神学院必须灵活灵活. 有105家大型企业倒闭, 合并, acquisitions or consolidations among public and private higher ed institutions since 2016 alone. ELCA seminaries have also needed to take some significant action in recent years. The budget deficits that we face at LTSS are insurmountable considering broad national trends in theological vocations. 把神学院搬走，全球网赌十大网站可以省下2美元.1 million per year in operating costs and eliminate significant deferred maintenance costs on the Columbia campus, 这比全球网赌十大网站目前的项目需要的要大得多. While many have faithfully and valiantly guided our seminary through difficult years, including the psycho-social and financial pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, 是时候认识到，如果没有大胆的行动, 神学院的使命是不可持续的.

但是这次搬家, we can sustain the next chapter of our beloved seminary as a living laboratory for public ministry, where students will have opportunities to build their capacity for ministry with a vibrant formation and community life, 以及跨学科的机会. 当神学院搬到勒努瓦-雷恩的山胡桃校区, students preparing for ministry will have more access to courses in fields related to ministry, including Spanish language; business; counseling; environmental and health sciences, and will also be able to take advantage of campus amenities for recreation, 艺术与文化. We will create new pipelines for undergraduate students and the next generation of pastors and theologians, 并扩大全球网赌十大网站为世俗和神职人员领袖提供的终身学习机会. 同时, 林因伯格图书馆将和全球网赌十大网站一起搬到山科里, ensuring that our students continue to have access to the best resources available for us to strengthen our call to engage in transformative theological education and formation.

这个消息中既有悲伤，也有希望. We will bid farewell to some of the places where generations of faithful leaders have learned, 被崇拜，被塑造. But our mission — to prepare leaders for the Church’s public ministry — will remain unchanged. Embedded on a campus with a long and rich history of Lutheran higher education, we will be more able to fulfill the seminary’s strategic plan that guides the way in which we nurture, 在当今世界，教育和培养公共事工的领袖.

全球网赌十大网站首先把搬到山胡桃园的消息告诉了全体教员, 教职员及学生, ELCA主教, LTSS顾问委员会及校友会, and we are crafting a transition process that is as participatory as possible. 在接下来的几周里, we will have opportunities to hear from you about the ways we can memorialize LTSS’ history in Columbia. We will mark our pilgrimage with liturgies of thanksgiving for this sacred ground and the places that have been sanctified with our study, 敬拜, 团契及服务. 通过这些礼拜仪式, 全球网赌十大网站将从校园各处带来教堂和其他文物的碎片, 向此刻的悲伤和希望致敬. We will offer town hall zooms in the coming weeks, and of course, host space at 校友 Day in 4月.

朋友们，这不是结束，也不是重组. 这是一次朝圣. Like generations before us, we will be able to sing our song in a new place. I honor the love, grief and desire that so many across the country have for LTSS. I pray that in these days your love for this seminary will inspire you to come together to demonstrate the hope that is in us, and be part of this bold move to sustain LTSS so future generations can experience the same.

As we journey from Columbia to Hickory, we will undoubtedly face challenges along the way. 即使全球网赌十大网站在考虑搬家的实际和后勤方面, I am committed to helping all of us keep our eyes on the larger trends we are facing — trends in higher education, trends across mainline churches and trends in ministerial vocations — so we can face them with creativity, 创新教与学, 充满活力的形成和充满活力的伙伴关系.

在此过程中，我鼓励大家关注2030年. 今年是南方大学成立200周年. 2030年也是《全球赌博十大网站》发表500周年. Making this move will ensure that we are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the seminary in a way that looks to the next 200 years. And we will be embodying the genius of the Lutheran tradition that emerged from the nexus between the church, 学院和公共空间. 永远reformanda. This move can position LTSS to be a flagship of the next stage in this faithful tradition.

I look forward to celebrating those anniversaries by welcoming new classes of students who are formed for ministry in the world. 全球网赌十大网站搬到Hickory将使这一目标以及其他许多目标成为可能.

和平的朋友.