The Seminary Today

by REV. GAYLIN SCHMELING, President BETHANY LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, Mankato, Minn.

As one views the Minnesota River Valley from the seminary atrium, he is reminded of Psalm 121. The cliffs and hills bordering the Minnesota River Valley illustrate the power and majesty of God our Helper and Redeemer, as this psalm points out: I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth (121:1-2). The seminary is located in these hills protected by the Lord; it is a city set on a hill which cannot be hidden and a light proclaiming the Gospel in a world covered with darkness. Here our students can study safe and secure in our Bethany fortress, preparing for the public ministry.

The cost of such education continues to increase. It has become almost impossible for students to attend college without student loans or outside support. These same trends have influenced the seminaries of this country, our seminary included. Also, more and more students are married and have families. This entails many financial responsibilities. Often students and their families are at a subsistence level economically.

Considering these financial issues, the seminary has been striving to cover as much of the tuition costs as possible with scholarship funds. This has been a blessing for our students. It allows them to work fewer hours to provide for themselves and their families financially, giving them more opportunity to prepare for the important task of proclaiming the Gospel of the Savior. This has only been possible through the generous support of the congregations and individual members of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

No student can function without a library and the same is true of a seminary student. Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary has been blessed with a fine library where our students are able to study and engage in theological research. Today, the seminary library is found in two locations. The larger part of the collection is located on the lower level of the seminary building, and the other part of the collection and the rare books are found in the Memorial Library on the college campus. The seminary library holdings include 16,000 volumes and 100 periodicals. The seminary library catalog is accessible on the Internet. It is the hope of the seminary that the library may function as a media center for our students and for area pastors. It is intended to be a center of scholarly research.

The seminary was not necessarily on the razor’s edge of technological advances, but in September 1997, the seminary developed its website, www.blts.edu, and later became involved in social media. The website provides updates and information concerning student life and seminary activities. The catalog and admissions materials are also available there. For the benefit of the members the synod, all the past issues of the Clergy Bulletin and the Lutheran Synod Quarterly have been made available on the website. In addition, the website has an essay file.

Most of the seminary notes, essays, and other materials are shared online for student use in the classroom and for personal study. This has made it possible for the seminary to be virtually paperless. The seminary is in the beginning stages of providing online classes. At present, the technology is being used for international students in need of certain classes and for other special situations. In spring 2020, all of the students attended classes online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seventy-five years ago, our Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary held its opening service. Five students were enrolled during the first year. Today, there are seventeen men enrolled in the seminary. We praise God for blessing our seminary over the past seventy-five years, and we thank everyone who has so generously supported our seventy-fifth anniversary fund.