Concordia Theological Seminary is monitoring the COVID-19 situation during this unprecedented time. The Seminary is concerned about the safety of its entire community and we are committed to follow the directives of the government concerning reopening campus for academics. Training pastoral candidates for ministry is a very nuanced experience. It does require much more than class and text book learning. The place of community interaction, field exposures, worship life cannot be overstated.
However, while we hope to resume campus based education when we are able to do so, the seminary is exploring various possibilities to open the academic year 2020-21 online. The faculty meeting met via video conferencing on Friday 5th June 2020 decided to tentatively schedule the start of online classes from the second week of July 2020. The seminary will conduct postponed BD first year admission interviews on the 25th of June 2020 and the orientation for the new students on the 3rd of July 2020. All these events will be conducted via video conferencing.
There will be a variety of issues that need to be addressed, and plans are being developed. The challenges in relation to internet accessibility and making available library resources to support online learning are few among them. But we want to assure all our students that Concordia Theological Seminary is committed to accommodate students of various needs so that these do not become barriers to online theological education.