Frequently Asked Questions

The move, first and foremost, is an expression of our commitment to the seminary’s mission and to its future. LTSS must become part of our operations in Hickory in order to be sustainable in the long run.

By moving the seminary, we will save about $2.1 million per year in operating costs and eliminate significant deferred maintenance costs on the 200,000 sq. ft. campus in Columbia. That campus is much larger than our current program requires, especially since, like other mainline seminaries, we now enroll many hybrid and commuter students. Although LR has invested in the seminary ever since our merger in 2012, right now, it accounts for 4.6 percent of LR’s faculty, 2 percent of its students, and 40 percent of its annual revenue loss. For the seminary to remain sustainable, we must move it to the Hickory campus.

We have our eye on an important upcoming anniversary: 2030 will be the 200th anniversary of the seminary’s founding in Pomaria, South Carolina, and the 500th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession. We want LTSS to be around to celebrate those anniversaries, and this move is our path to sustainability in 2030 and for many years beyond.
 

No. All current full-time teaching and library faculty as well as full-time LTSS staff will be offered employment at the seminary in Hickory, including some assistance with relocation.

No. This is not a downsizing or a change in the seminary’s curriculum or strategic plan, and all faculty have been offered their jobs on the Hickory campus. In fact, we expect that the seminary’s program will be able to expand in the years to come.

We envision LTSS in Hickory as a living laboratory for public ministry. Students will have opportunities to build their capacity for ministry with classes in Spanish language and culture; business; counseling; environmental and health sciences; and other disciplines that provide context and grounding for pastors in today’s church.

We also believe that being on campus in Hickory will make it possible to have more creative and robust lifelong learning opportunities for lay and clergy leaders.
 

We are committed to moving the seminary library to Hickory so that students continue to have access to theological materials and resources. We will work with Bishop Aebischer and other South Carolina Synod leaders to find an appropriate home for the Crumley Archives.

We have asked the seminary’s Advisory Council and Alumni Board to help us create thoughtful ways to integrate artifacts from the Columbia campus, including the library and chapel, into the Hickory campus. We are prepared to invest in dedicated space for the seminary in Hickory and want to develop those plans in conversation with faculty, staff, students and alumni.
 

We are excited about the opportunity to offer a better student experience to seminarians on the Hickory campus. That includes food service, more residential options, and all of the vibrant arts, culture and athletic opportunities on our main campus.

We also believe that the larger, more vibrant campus will allow the seminary to prepare leaders even more effectively for the church’s public ministry of reconciling diversity. We imagine that students discerning their vocation will be attracted to these possibilities and will want to come to LTSS, and ELCA congregations will benefit from the education we will be able to provide them.
 

The LR board of trustees has been considering various options to strengthen and ensure the seminary’s future for several years, but COVID relief funds provided assistance to us and many other institutions in 2021 and 2022. It wasn’t necessary to act then, just as people were just coming back together in person. But now the reality is upon us: for the seminary and its students to thrive, LTSS needs to be on the Hickory campus.

When we spoke with Dean Chad Rimmer about the possibility of this move shortly after he arrived at LTSS last spring, he helped us deepen our understanding of the ways in which embedding the seminary on the Hickory campus would build on the tradition of Lutheran education and the seminary’s particular call to train students for public ministry. The move was not his idea, but we are convinced that he is the rector and dean who can help us make this undertaking successful for the seminary, the entire university and the ELCA.
 

Moving the seminary to Hickory isn’t the only change underway at Lenoir-Rhyne. We are also consolidating our operations in Asheville and conducting academic program reviews this spring to address low enrolled programs and staffing to increase efficiency in operations and sustainability.

All of these strategies will help us contend with post-COVID enrollment trends, inflationary pressures, and the decrease in graduate enrollment that accompanies most strong economies. Moving the seminary is part of this larger initiative and is especially important as we respond to decline in Lutheran vocations.
 

No. As Dean Rimmer says, the seminary’s history is one of pilgrimage. Between the seminary’s founding in 1830 and when it came to Columbia in 1911, it was housed in locations all over South Carolina and even, for 12 years, in Virginia.

The seminary’s history as a peripatetic institution is inextricably tied to its call to teach, form and nurture students for public ministry. We have faith that the move to Hickory is just the next step on the way God has been calling Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary for nearly two centuries.
 

We anticipate that the plan to move the seminary to Hickory will become official at the March meeting of the board of trustees. The proposed relocation would be effective January 1, 2025.
 

Since LTSS merged with Lenoir-Rhyne University in 2012, we have invested heavily in LTSS by adding admissions personnel, a Lutheran studies chair, new support staff, a lifelong learning director, increasing marketing and creating the rector and dean position to lead the seminary. In addition, we have invested more than $3 million in infrastructure improvements on the campus. 

Unfortunately, enrollment has continued to decline at LTSS—and at virtually all mainline seminaries—and budget deficits continued to grow. By moving the seminary, we will eliminate the operating deficit and reduce the cost of deferred maintenance, and we can continue to invest in LTSS’s program and mission. We are committed to faithful stewardship and to the seminary’s long-term sustainability.

We have not yet discussed options regarding the property. These are sacred and blessed grounds, and we want to respect and honor the community that surrounds the seminary. 

LR will work with key stakeholders, including the city of Columbia and representatives of the Eau Claire community, so we maximum our collaborative efforts with the goal of benefiting the community. 
 

We are committed to the Columbia, South Carolina, location for our occupational therapy program and have no plans for relocation at this time. Like any organization, we continually evaluate all our programs to determine needs and respond to trends. Due to the dynamic nature of higher education, we cannot rule out the possibility of future relocation but do not have plans to move the OT program at present.