Lutheran School of Theology at ChicagoLocation: Chicago, Illinois (Hyde Park)
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) is a lively community located in the vibrant and diverse Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago. Home to students, staff, and faculty from all over the world, LSTC fosters a unique sense of community and celebrates our life together through daily Chapel (Monday-Thursday when classes are in session), gatherings in the Refectory, and a variety of events that range from casual community barbeques and dance parties to large social justice actions. A Reconciling in Christ Seminary, LSTC seeks to welcome and learn from one another’s particularity- including but not limited to one another’s race, national or ethnic origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, physical ability, social status and theological diversity. The result is a community that knows one another, cares for one another, and that compels one another to live out their call to be leaders for a public church. |
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SERVICE-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS
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LSTC has many generous scholarships, including multiple full and half tuition scholarships. In light of the focus of our Leaders for a Public Church curriculum, service and a commitment to social justice are essential requirements for receiving these scholarships.
Word and Service Scholarships are available for students pursuing a call to the ELCA’s roster of Word and Service. These scholarships help fund field work opportunities and other costs associated with fulfilling degree requirements, such as travel to the Diaconal Ministry Formation Event. PUBLIC CHURCH FELLOWS PROGRAM In August 2015 LSTC launched the Public Church Fellows program, which combines academics with community service, non-profit partner mentorship, and spiritual reflection. Each Public Church Fellow will work side-by-side with community partners to serve our Chicago neighbors for up to 7 hours each week. Every month students will participate in spiritual formation with other students from local seminaries. A major part of the work of the Fellows is to connect other LSTC students to service opportunities. Public Church Fellows will receive $500/month ($5,000/academic year) for their work. |
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Social Justice Focus: Stewardship of the Earth
Environmental Ministry Education
LSTC has been a recognized leader in eco-theology and education for environmental ministry since the late 1980s, beginning with the pioneering work of Joseph Sittler, David Rhoads, and our Green Zone creation care team. Several faculty now teach environmentally themed courses and pursue scholarly research in theology, ethics, biblical studies, worship, preaching, and public ministry; some are widely published authors and well-regarded speakers on creation care. For MDiv, MAM, and MATS students, we offer the Study Emphasis in Environmental Ministry: a guided program of coursework, fieldwork, and a senior project that equips graduates with theological foundations and practical skills to address environmental issues in parish and community ministry. For ThM, PhD, and DMin students, we provide personalized advising to support emerging scholarship and innovative ministry at the intersections of theology and the environment. For all students, the Green Zone offers a variety of co-curricular opportunities to learn, act, and reflect upon environmental concerns, including a film series, field trips, lectures, conferences, and campus sustainability projects.
Campus Sustainability
LSTC is committed to environmental sustainability across our urban campus and throughout our community life. We’ve been recycling for more than 30 years, and in 2010 we started one of the first seminary composting programs in the nation; we now divert more than half of our solid waste from landfills. Our Refectory is one of the greenest campus dining services in Chicago, with a strong emphasis on local and organic foods, reusable and compostable tableware, and organic fair trade coffee and tea. Our student housing includes a large community garden where residents can grow their own wholesome organic produce, and our chapel is graced with a native prairie perennial garden. In the last three years we’ve invested more than $3 million in energy efficiency upgrades to our facilities—including state-of-the-art LED lighting and high-efficiency HVAC systems—and we aim to reduce our carbon footprint by 50% by 2020. As part of our commitment, LSTC is an active member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, the Blessed Earth Seminary Stewardship Alliance, the Green Seminary Initiative, and Lutherans Restoring Creation.
LSTC has been a recognized leader in eco-theology and education for environmental ministry since the late 1980s, beginning with the pioneering work of Joseph Sittler, David Rhoads, and our Green Zone creation care team. Several faculty now teach environmentally themed courses and pursue scholarly research in theology, ethics, biblical studies, worship, preaching, and public ministry; some are widely published authors and well-regarded speakers on creation care. For MDiv, MAM, and MATS students, we offer the Study Emphasis in Environmental Ministry: a guided program of coursework, fieldwork, and a senior project that equips graduates with theological foundations and practical skills to address environmental issues in parish and community ministry. For ThM, PhD, and DMin students, we provide personalized advising to support emerging scholarship and innovative ministry at the intersections of theology and the environment. For all students, the Green Zone offers a variety of co-curricular opportunities to learn, act, and reflect upon environmental concerns, including a film series, field trips, lectures, conferences, and campus sustainability projects.
Campus Sustainability
LSTC is committed to environmental sustainability across our urban campus and throughout our community life. We’ve been recycling for more than 30 years, and in 2010 we started one of the first seminary composting programs in the nation; we now divert more than half of our solid waste from landfills. Our Refectory is one of the greenest campus dining services in Chicago, with a strong emphasis on local and organic foods, reusable and compostable tableware, and organic fair trade coffee and tea. Our student housing includes a large community garden where residents can grow their own wholesome organic produce, and our chapel is graced with a native prairie perennial garden. In the last three years we’ve invested more than $3 million in energy efficiency upgrades to our facilities—including state-of-the-art LED lighting and high-efficiency HVAC systems—and we aim to reduce our carbon footprint by 50% by 2020. As part of our commitment, LSTC is an active member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, the Blessed Earth Seminary Stewardship Alliance, the Green Seminary Initiative, and Lutherans Restoring Creation.
ENGAGEMENT ON CAMPUS
LSTC offers students a variety of resources to nurture their spiritual lives, find companions in their faith journeys, and strengthen their skills as citizens and leaders both inside and outside the classroom. Students who “ask, seek, and knock” will easily find guides, mentors, and friends to nurture the academic, spiritual, civic and professional dimensions of their lives. LSTC has a number of campus organizations and groups that are open to all students:
Seminarians for Justice is a powerful coalition of seminarians whose mission is to enact God’s love by organizing for social justice in Chicago in collaboration with local Chicago community organizing networks.
Thesis 96 is a student organization of LSTC that works toward the full inclusion and acceptance of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the Church and at LSTC.
Intramural Athletics and Luther Bowl provide opportunities for seminarians to work together and build community through athletics, primarily flag football, ultimate frisbee, and softball. LSTC is one of approximately ten seminaries that compete in Luther Bowl, a flag football tournament that takes place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania each fall.
LSTC’s Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice, Multicultural Center, and Zygon Center for Religion and Science provide a variety of opportunities for engagement and immersion in the wider community.
Seminarians for Justice is a powerful coalition of seminarians whose mission is to enact God’s love by organizing for social justice in Chicago in collaboration with local Chicago community organizing networks.
Thesis 96 is a student organization of LSTC that works toward the full inclusion and acceptance of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the Church and at LSTC.
Intramural Athletics and Luther Bowl provide opportunities for seminarians to work together and build community through athletics, primarily flag football, ultimate frisbee, and softball. LSTC is one of approximately ten seminaries that compete in Luther Bowl, a flag football tournament that takes place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania each fall.
LSTC’s Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice, Multicultural Center, and Zygon Center for Religion and Science provide a variety of opportunities for engagement and immersion in the wider community.
COMMUNITY LIFE
LSTC is a lively community located in the vibrant and diverse Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago. Home to students, staff, and faculty from all over the world, LSTC fosters a unique sense of community and celebrates our life together through daily Chapel (Monday-Thursday when classes are in session), gatherings in the Refectory, and a variety of events that range from casual community barbeques and dance parties to large social justice actions. A Reconciling in Christ Seminary, LSTC seeks to welcome and learn from one another's particularity- including but not limited to one another's race, national or ethnic origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, physical ability, social status and theological diversity. The result is a community that knows one another, cares for one another, and that compels one another to live out their call to be leaders for a public church.
FIELD EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES
The Director of Field Education works closely with students to arrange field work opportunities that meet the passion and interests of the student, especially those with a declared emphasis such as Urban Ministry or Hispanic/Latin@ Ministry. Field work placements are possible all over the United State and select international locations that provide experience in congregational and non-profit settings. In the past, LSTC students have completed field work within congregations, non-profit organizations, hospitals, prisons, and schools, directly impacting marginalized populations such as the urban poor, the homeless, at-risk-youth, and migrant workers.
MDiv students are required to take 400 hours (1 unit) of CPE as well as complete a 12 month internship in the third or fourth year of their studies. MDiv students are also required to complete a class called Ministry in Context in their second year of study, where they participate in congregational life at a local congregation for 7-8 hours/week.
MAM students seeking to become Associates in Ministry, Deaconesses or Diaconal Ministers must complete 600 hours of field work and a final project that correlates to their chosen area of study.
MDiv students are required to take 400 hours (1 unit) of CPE as well as complete a 12 month internship in the third or fourth year of their studies. MDiv students are also required to complete a class called Ministry in Context in their second year of study, where they participate in congregational life at a local congregation for 7-8 hours/week.
MAM students seeking to become Associates in Ministry, Deaconesses or Diaconal Ministers must complete 600 hours of field work and a final project that correlates to their chosen area of study.
ISSUE INTEGRATED ACADEMIC COURSES
LSTC’s curriculum allows students to integrate faith and service within a deeper context of community engagement, public witness, and social transformation. All students are required to take the Public Church course which equips students with the foundational skills required to be leaders for a public church, such as ethnography, oral narrative, and community organizing methods. Additionally, students are introduced to agencies and congregations who are engaged in public ministry in a variety of ways, utilizing Chicago as our greatest classroom. Some students choose to complete Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) with the Urban CPE Consortium, which places students in non-traditional settings such as homeless shelters, nonprofit agencies, and transitional homes. Students also have opportunities for integrating faith and service through courses such as Ethics and Politics in the African American Community, which is offered during the U.S. presidential election year. Church and Society: A Lutheran Perspective is another course where students become familiar with faith-based organizations and Lutheran congregations engaging in community oriented ministry.
ALUMNI PROFILES
Pastor Tom Gaulke didn’t come to seminary intending to be an activist. That came a few years after he’d been serving at First Lutheran Church of the Trinity in Chicago. It was 2011, and all of the texts he was preaching on from Matthew were about sharing and economic justice. He put together their message and what was happening in cities across the US. “I had been invited to some demonstrations before that, but just before the onset of the Occupy Movement, SOUL, a southside organization reached out to me to get involved,” he says.
Pastor Tom says he was “equipped with good tools” at LSTC where he was exposed to biblical studies, systematic theology, church history, and womanist theology. Getting connected with community organizing gave him the additional tools needed to take his values and ideas and to more deeply engage the community around him. “Organizers were able to agitate me – to call me out about living out my values, and encourage me to act on them. They asked me to consider what it would cost to do something and what it would cost for me NOT to act.”
Pastor Tom continues to serve with First Trinity, and is now back at LSTC as a PhD student in systematic theology. He says that the shorthand version of what he wants to work on is “existential and liberation theologies: where does the ‘courage to be’ meet the courage to fight the ‘powers that be?’”
Pastor Tom says he was “equipped with good tools” at LSTC where he was exposed to biblical studies, systematic theology, church history, and womanist theology. Getting connected with community organizing gave him the additional tools needed to take his values and ideas and to more deeply engage the community around him. “Organizers were able to agitate me – to call me out about living out my values, and encourage me to act on them. They asked me to consider what it would cost to do something and what it would cost for me NOT to act.”
Pastor Tom continues to serve with First Trinity, and is now back at LSTC as a PhD student in systematic theology. He says that the shorthand version of what he wants to work on is “existential and liberation theologies: where does the ‘courage to be’ meet the courage to fight the ‘powers that be?’”
People tell Michelle Townsend de Lopez that she is a teaching pastor. She tries to connect Scripture to what’s happening in people’s lives. Pastor Michelle says, “You realize as you’re proclaiming the Gospel in a way that makes sense for everyday life that it’s an awesome responsibility. It’s daunting, especially in these times. I feel supported by LSTC and our national church in being a prophetic preacher. It’s also true to the way I was taught to be a pastor.”
Pastor Michelle almost didn’t go to seminary. For years, her pastors tried to convince her, but she was headed for law school. Before entering Tulane, she took a six-month detour as a missionary in El Salvador. Six months stretched into three years. When she returned, her pastor finally convinced her to take one more detour: to seminary.
Seminary wasn’t always easy. At the outset, one of her professors told her that there were still a lot of congregations who would resist having a female pastor. “It prepared me for what came after seminary,” she says.
God is full of surprises. Pastor Michelle is now the first female lead pastor at Cross Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, Wis., the congregation where she grew up. “I understand both the dynamics and the ministries here,” she says.
Pastor Michelle is also committed to using her experience to advise and guide others as they make their way to and through seminary.
Pastor Michelle almost didn’t go to seminary. For years, her pastors tried to convince her, but she was headed for law school. Before entering Tulane, she took a six-month detour as a missionary in El Salvador. Six months stretched into three years. When she returned, her pastor finally convinced her to take one more detour: to seminary.
Seminary wasn’t always easy. At the outset, one of her professors told her that there were still a lot of congregations who would resist having a female pastor. “It prepared me for what came after seminary,” she says.
God is full of surprises. Pastor Michelle is now the first female lead pastor at Cross Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, Wis., the congregation where she grew up. “I understand both the dynamics and the ministries here,” she says.
Pastor Michelle is also committed to using her experience to advise and guide others as they make their way to and through seminary.
Life in Hyde Park, Chicago, ILLSTC is located in the heart of the historic Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. Within walking distance of McCormick Theological Seminary and The University of Chicago, LSTC students benefit from rich and diverse resources and the opportunity to take courses at a number of partner schools. A few minutes from the Lake Michigan waterfront, and a few more to the downtown Chicago loop, students can explore all that Chicago has to offer.
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