Colleges: Rootes and Branches — A Very Brief History of the ELCA Lutheran Colleges - Presenter: Phil Holtan

Pastor Phil Holtan, campus pastor and woodturner, will make a presentation on the ELCA Lutheran Colleges, especially the Midwestern ones, with special interest to the reasons for their founding and how they featured in the changes of their sponsoring churches. Some of those stories are pretty wild. Why did the Lutherans start their colleges?  To train pastors for the hordes of arriving immigrants, to keep their ethnic identity, and to prepare their children for the new society. The ELCA’s story, all the ethnic streams and the series of changes, growth, splits and mergers, can be well illustrated by the colleges’ stories. These Lutheran schools continue to have an excellent reputation for academic excellence, service to their regions, and a close but free relationship to the church that includes a strong prophetic, educational and cultural presence.