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THE LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
AT PHILADELPHIA
A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
IN THIS ANNUAL REPORT WE SAY, THANK YOU. Because of your generosity, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Philadelphia (LTSP) attracts a diverse and extraordinarily gifted student body year after year. Our curriculum receives high
marks from our alumni for its effectiveness. Our worship and community life on campus is faithfully rich and filled with
diversity. Our library and librarians are a treasure. After 30 years, our Urban Theological Institute (UTI) has renewed itself
once again and is thriving. We teach urban ministry practitioners well. Recently a Lutheran college president came to see me
and proclaimed, You have beautiful buildings and a gorgeous campus! We do, and we thank God for this gift. We are
grateful for all of you who have given so generously of your resources and for all the faculty and staff who work so hard to
make LTSP such a wonderful school.
Of course, we need you to continue your support especially at this time, when the economic climate of the church and the
nation has rendered us unusually vulnerable. As The Rev. Louise Johnson, our Director of Admissions likes to say, We have
held our own in admissions, which, with few exceptions, is an accomplishment in seminaries these days. I am grateful for the
hard work and imagination of the admissions staff, who recruit students for leadership in the church and help countless other
candidates discern their baptismal vocations. I am also most grateful for the synods, dioceses, and other judicatories that
entrust their leaders to us.
Despite ongoing efforts to maintain low tuition rates, the cost of theological education continues to grow, and the number of
financial requests for student aid made by LTSP students grows in kind. LTSPs scholarship aid is double what it was ten
years ago, but less as a percentage of a students cost to study here. Today, student indebtedness averages over $30,000
according to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). If the seminary cannot provide additional financial aid as
needed, student debt will continue to get worse. Importantly, persons discerning their vocations as future leaders of the
church could be discouraged from pursuing seminary studies. Theologically, this adds a disturbing element to the process of
discernment, to the notion of vocation, and to the understanding of call.
With your continued and generous help we will have the capacity to prepare students for our current and future ministry
needs. We plan to prepare candidates who can be mission developers and congregational redevelopers as many congregations
need redevelopment, and the church needs new starts in a variety of settings. We would like to make it possible for
candidates to take a call in challenging urban, suburban, and rural settings with little or no debt. We would like to make it
more affordable for pastors and non-ordained leaders to return for graduate degrees and be able to afford them. We would
like to prepare through certificate programs a cadre of laypersons who will work as leaders in witnessing and ministering in
their communities.
Of course, we will continue to have a strong Lutheran and ecumenical residential student body that will prepare for thriving
congregations that have adapted to their new contexts. We covet our wonderful relationships with the synods of Region 7
and the ELCA and will, of course, continue this strong tradition. We will also develop our relationships with ecumenical
partners and constituencies especially in the Philadelphia metropolitan region.
God has given us a new day. To greet this new day we need to be good stewards of our resources and reach our target for the
150th anniversary initiative of over $30 million, the largest portion of which will be for scholarship aid. Recently I have
heard more and more of the seminarys friends say that God and the church have been good to them when they prepared for
their leadership roles and that it is time to give back. The time has never been more urgent to give to the churchs future
leadership needs. You have given because you value theological education. We thank you in advance for your continued
leadership gifts that are a witness to our students who will proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a world that is in desperate
need of a grace-filled and hopeful message.
In Christ Jesus,
Philip D.W. Krey
President
Greetings fromthe LTSP Office for PHILANTHROPY!
Yes, its a new name. Same people, same phone numbers,
but a new name. Why the change.
Over the years our work has been described as
fundraising, then development, and more recently,
advancement. By contrast, the word philanthropy may
seem a bit abstract, but the meaning is rock solid: the
desire to promote the welfare of others.
In other words, philanthropy is more about what is at the
heart of what you are doing than it is about our work, our
plans, or even our institution. It is gratifying to hear about
what our donors care about, and we are blessed as we listen
to those dreams.
The others that we hear about in those conversations
include:
The Church, that it remains strong in its saving mission;
The Congregation, that it continues to nurture and serve;
The Leaders of the church, that they preach, teach and
minister boldly;
The Seminary, that it has resources to carry out its mission
to prepare public leaders;
The Students, that their gifts for ministry will grow in this
learning community; and
The Faculty, that it finds joy in helping to shape lives of
meaning and service;
All who are included in this list are strengthened through
your philanthropy, and to those of us in the Office for
Philanthropy, there is nothing more satisfying than to help
deliver the blessings of your gifts.
So to you, our philanthropist friend, we send our thanks.
Feel free to call (215.248.6316) or stop by YOUR office at
LTSP!
Sincererly,
The Rev. John V. Puotinen
Vice President, Office for Philanthropy
. o f
CENTURY CLUB
The
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
Century Club honors those who have given
$100,000