Welcome to Concordia Theological Seminary!

From the Principal

I am pleased to welcome you to Concordia Theological Seminary, Nagercoil (CTSN). Our seminary was founded in 1924 by the Missouri Evangelical Lutheran India Mission (MELIM), a missionary organization of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). CTSN and the IELC administration continue to work closely with the LCMS, and is one of the oldest theological institutions in India.

CTSN is a place of pastoral training and formation. We exist to train pastors, leaders, and other church workers for the Lutheran church in India and South Asia. As an institution affiliated with the Senate of Serampore College (University), we also contribute to the life of the church at large in India by training students who come to us from other denominations. As a leading theological institution in India, we are committed to academic excellence and spiritual discipline, prompted by sincere spiritual devotion to Christ and His Church.

We are blessed to have a well-qualified and experienced faculty who are committed to teaching the Word of God in its purity and a syllabus according to which students receive thorough training in Holy Scripture, the Lutheran Confessions, Church History & Mission, Comparative Religion and Society and Practical Theology. We are concerned with the holistic approach of mission and ministry. Our curricular and co-curricular programs and activities are meant to shape every aspect of student’s life to become better pastors who are visionaries and leaders for the church in India.

To our students, who come to CTSN, our deepest hope and prayer is that this seminary becomes a place where you can grow in your faith, call and commitment toward God and His people. To all our friends, prayer partners, and supporters, our digital presence through this website might help you better know us, so you can meaningfully pray for and support us. The digital resource we offer through this website might help you better understand God’s word and communicate his love to this generation with clarity and purity.

The CTSN is in its ninety-ninth year of formation and is passionately waiting to celebrate its one-hundredth year of ministry in 2024. It is our earnest prayer that CTSN continues to grow and serve the church in India and beyond to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the world.

With God’s Richest Blessings!
Yours in His Ministry,

Rev. Dr. P.R Selvaraj,
Principal CTSN.

About the Seminary

Concordia Theological Seminary, Nagercoil (CTSN) is a unique educational institution in that it is entirely owned and governed by a single church, the India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC). CTSN exists to provide higher academic training in theology for pastors and other church workers.

CTSN is distinguished from other Christian educational institutions in India since it focuses intentionally on being:

  • Scriptural. The Word of God, as it is contained in the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, is heavily emphasized in our programmes of study. CTSN treats the Bible as the foundational authority of all our teaching and practice.
  • Confessional. We believe, teach, and confess the writings contained in the Book of Concord because they are in agreement with Holy Scripture. For more information, see What We Believe.
  • Liturgical. In keeping with the history and heritage of the Lutheran Church, indeed, of the Christian Church of the last two millennia, students worship God together and receive his gifts in regular chapel services, which follow a form and order that is founded on the Word of God.
  • Sacramental. In keeping with the Bible and our Lutheran Confessions, we recognize and emphasize that the Holy Spirit produces faith where and when he wishes in those who hear the Word of God that he washes away sins in Holy Baptism and further grants the forgiveness of sins to all who repent and have faith, in the words of absolution, and the Lord’s body and blood, in the Lord’s Supper.

In this way, CTSN, in an intentionally and boldly confessional, Lutheran institution of higher education, is equipped by God’s grace to provide the kind of training necessary to produce able and faithful leaders for the church of the twenty-first century.

More about our campus and facilities.

More about academics at CTSN.