About Concordia Seminary St. Louis, MO

• a. History
• Concordia Seminary was founded in 1839 in Perry County, Missouri, by a group of emigrants from Germany. In 1849 the preparatory division and the school of theology of the young institution were moved to St. Louis and relocated on a site at South Jefferson Avenue and Winnebago Street. The preparatory division was moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1861.
  In 1926 the campus was moved to its present 72-acre site in suburban Clayton. Concordia Seminary is owned and operated by the 2,600,000-member Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The Seminary is maintained by the church to prepare men for ordination as parish pastors, chaplains, and mission workers to help carry on the task of ministry in its districts in the United States, and in partner churches and missions in Canada, Europe, Asia, Central America, South America, Africa, and the Pacific Islands.
  Since its inception, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, has provided more than 12,000 professional workers in the church.
  
  
• b. Function & Purpose
• Concordia Seminary's major function is to prepare men for the holy ministry of Word and Sacraments in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. However, successful completion of the Seminary curriculum with conferral of the Master of Divinity degree does not guarantee eligibility for ordination or placement into the church's ministerium.
  Those graduating students endorsed by the faculty for the pastoral office are awarded the theological diploma in addition to the Master of Divinity degree and thereby become eligible for a call into the holy ministry (see 1995 Handbook of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Bylaw 2.13 a, 1-2).
  Since The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod does not admit women to the pastoral office, none are enrolled in the Master of Divinity or the Doctor of Ministry programs.
  The Seminary also offers advanced degree programs to qualified students of theology and serves as a center for theological research, scholarship, and continuing education of the clergy.