Bernhard M. Seter scholarship to support church work students in Africa

The Rev. Dr. Walter Steele, LCMS missionary to Kenya, talks with Matongo Lutheran Theological College student Kelvin Lenaseyan following chapel on Feb. 21, 2022, in Nyamira County, Kenya. The newly created Rev. Bernhard M. Seter International Student Scholarship for Africa Seminaries will fund financial assistance to eligible indigenous African students attending their local or regional Lutheran seminary. (LCMS/Erik M. Lunsford)

The Rev. Bernhard M. Seter, longtime chairman of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) Board for International Mission (BIM), died on March 22 at the age of 69. Now, a newly created scholarship in his name will fund financial assistance to eligible indigenous African students attending their local or regional Lutheran seminary.

Seter had a deep and abiding passion for Africa mission work. He was instrumental in the creation of Project 24, part of an LCMS-led child care program that provides schooling, residential care and the Word of God for children in Kenya. He made several trips to Kenya as part of his work on the program.

Recipients of the Rev. Bernhard M. Seter International Student Scholarship for Africa Seminaries must be studying to become Lutheran pastors, deaconesses or Christian evangelists serving in Africa LCMS partner churches. First preference for scholarship aid will be given to students, especially pastors in training, who are enrolled at seminaries in East Africa, especially the Matongo Lutheran Theological College of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya.

The scholarship account itself, and all gifts added to it, are managed on behalf of the LCMS by the LCMS Foundation. Scholarships awarded from the Foundation account are administered by the LCMS Office of International Mission through the LCMS Africa regional office.

The Seter family invites others in the LCMS who share Rev. Seter’s passion for work in the Africa region to make these scholarships possible. Through this scholarship, the Synod honors Seter’s legacy as a faithful LCMS pastor and a leader on the BIM.

Learn more

• Obituary: Rev. Bernhard M. Seter, former chairman of the LCMS Board for International Mission

• To learn more or ask questions about the Seter Scholarship, please contact LCMS Mission Advancement at 888-930-4438 or mission.advancement@lcms.org.

• To help build the Rev. Bernhard M. Seter International Student Scholarship for Africa Seminaries:

– Give online.

– Send the keyword LCMSSETER to the number 41444.

– Send a check payable to the LCMS Foundation and write “Seter Scholarship” on the memo line. Mail to LCMS Foundation; 1333 S. Kirkwood Road; St. Louis, MO 63122.

– Send a check payable to Mission Central (memo line “Seter Scholarship”) and mail to Mission Central; 40718 Highway E 16; Mapleton, Iowa 51034.

Posted Dec. 1, 2022