Campus clips: Kicking off a new academic year

(Unsplash/Dylan Gillis)

The monthly “Campus Clips” column includes brief reports submitted by LCMS day schools, campus ministries, universities and seminaries.

Keeping students connected

Moving away to college can be a scary time, with many transitions and decisions. LCMS U seeks to make connecting with a campus ministry or LCMS congregation as easy as possible. Here are a few pointers:

Find a map of active LCMS U campus ministry chapters at lcmsu.org. While all LCMS congregations will welcome students, these locations have ministry specific to college students. Each listing also includes contact information to learn more.

Fill out a Student Information Form on the same site, and a local campus ministry will get in touch. Students, parents or supportive adults with permission may submit information that will be shared with a local campus ministry leader.

If there is not an LCMS U chapter near the school, look for a nearby LCMS congregation using the LCMS Locator.

Interested in becoming an LCMS U chapter? Email lcmsu@lcms.org to have your chapter listed and to receive tools for connecting students to congregational life.

Christ in all seasons

This year, the Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) at Concordia University Chicago (CUC), River Forest, Ill., celebrates 50 years of excellence in education. Since its opening in 1976, the ECEC has grown from a single classroom into a state-of-the-art education center where more than 200 children are cared for year-round. The center also serves as a place for CUC’s education students to gain firsthand teaching experience alongside certified professionals.

“For 50 years, [our] ECEC has been a place where children grow, teachers are formed and community takes root,” said Stephanie Toms, ECEC co-director. “Through every season, one truth has remained: Our work is centered in the Gospel, and our strength is the people who share Christ’s love with children every day.”

CUC’s commitment to serving the next generation extends beyond early childhood. This October, CUC will host Careers for Christ, a three-day event designed for high school students considering ministry to explore CUC’s pre-professional church work programs. Learn more.

Intent to serve

Concordia University, Nebraska (CUNE), Seward, Neb., will welcome more than 110 incoming church work students for the 2026–2027 academic year — the largest incoming class of future church workers in the university’s history. “We praise and thank God as He continues to raise up people for lives of service to their neighbors near and far,” said Aaron Rohde, CUNE’s LCMS church work recruiter and admissions counselor. “To share the love of Jesus through a church work vocation carries eternal significance. It is humbling and exciting to see strong numbers as we enter this new school year.”

To encourage and celebrate students answering God’s call to church work, CUNE launched its Church Work Letter of Intent program in 2024. Through the program, admitted church work students receive a letter affirming their commitment, and their home congregation is invited to pray for and celebrate their journey into church work.

50 years of CUI

In 1976, 36 students arrived on a campus consisting of a single building, with five professors and two full-time staff members. Together they took a leap of faith, trusting that God had guided this humble beginning and would bless it. The college’s original name was Christ College Irvine, and from day one, it proclaimed a dedication to the Great Commission of Christ Jesus as recorded in Matthew 28:17–20.

The Great Commission continues to guide the university today, now known as Concordia University Irvine, (CUI), Irvine, Calif. CUI invites everyone in the LCMS to pray and praise God with the university community as it celebrates 50 years of preparing wise, honorable and cultivated students to serve God’s Word and God’s world. In honor of CUI’s mission and God’s unchanging promise, the celebration theme is “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Learn more about CUI’s history and upcoming 50th-anniversary celebrations.

Taking heart

Each academic year, Concordia University, St. Paul (CSP), St. Paul, Minn., adopts a Bible verse and theme to shape its life together as a university community. The 2026–2027 theme, “Take Heart,” is drawn from John 16:33.

When Jesus says, “Take heart,” He calls all who believe in Him to take courage. This is not an empty courage, but a courage rooted in Jesus’ death and resurrection. We have hope because Jesus is victorious over sin, death and the devil — the trials and tribulations we face in this world.

Both higher education and college students continue to face daunting challenges. However, CSP stands in Jesus’ courage to serve students with a Christ-centered, Lutheran education that assists them in living out their callings in service to God and humanity.

Uncommon story

For more than two years, a team of faculty and staff at Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW), Mequon, Wis., have worked to preserve an important chapter of the university’s history through the NetVUE-funded project, Reframing the Institutional Saga.

Supported by a $40,000 grant, the project documents CUW’s transformation, 2000–2023, through 35 oral history interviews with faculty and staff, many of whom are alumni. The research also includes scholarly essays and personal reflections exploring the university’s identity, mission and growth.

As researchers reviewed interviews and historical records, three themes consistently emerged: Concordia’s mission-centered culture, the central role of worship and spiritual life, and leadership rooted in faithful stewardship.

“As the university was experiencing change, we found ourselves studying change,” said Dr. Sandra Jahns, one of the project leaders. “That forced us to ask deeper questions about identity, mission and what it means to be a Lutheran university today.”

The resulting book, Living Uncommon: Retrospections on Lutheran Identity and Mission at CUWAA, will soon be available through Amazon, and a companion digital archive will preserve these stories for future generations.

Summer Greek wraps up

Thirty-five new pastoral ministry students at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW), studied Greek with the Rev. Dr. John Nordling, professor of Exegetical Theology, June 15–Aug. 21. This is the largest summer Greek class CTSFW has had since 2007.

The students spent most of their summer intensively studying Greek in preparation for their studies, but they also found time to gather for chapel, coffee and even a Fourth of July picnic, where they connected with faculty, fellow students and their families. The 181st academic year at CTSFW begins Sept. 8, at which point the Greek summer cohort will be joined by even more first-year students.

New academic year

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (CSL), marked the start of its 188th academic year on Friday, Aug. 21, in the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus. CSL President Rev. Dr. Thomas Egger preached on the new academic year theme, “Let the Word of Christ Dwell in You Richly,” based on Colossians 3:16.

The service concluded a week of orientation for the seminary’s new students, which includes residential and distance students in the Ministerial Formation and Advanced Studies departments. During the service, one new faculty member was installed: the Rev. Dr. John Genter, associate professor of Exegetical Theology. Additionally, three current faculty members were installed into new positions: the Rev. Dr. James Fickenscher as director of Certification, the Rev. Dr. Kevin Golden as dean of Ministerial Formation, and the Rev. Dr. Stephen Pietsch as dean of Theological Research and Publication.

Posted Aug. 26, 2026