Continuing Education classes are open to all Lay School of Ministry participants who have completed their first two years of basic studies.

Each year the Lay School Board chooses a theme and invites instructors from around the country to cover our topics. We seek out instructors from our ELCA seminaries and colleges, as well as experts at public and private universities, colleges and other institutes.

The theme for our Continuing Education year for 2011-2012 is Lutheran Answers to Real Questions. Faculty from across the ELCA will be invited to share their areas of expertise as the class wrestles with current issues from a Lutheran perspective. The LSM Board is pleased to announce that ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson will be one of our Cont. Ed faculty persons. He knows of our lay school and was excited to be invited. You get Bishop Hanson and 8 other excellent faculty persons! Registrations are now being accepted for the 2011-12 Cont. Education year.

Lutheran Answers to Real Questions

2011

Sept 9-10       Susan McArver (Southern Seminary)
Topic: Why do Lutherans make such a big deal about our baptism? What do we mean when we say that all the baptized are called to live out their vocation in the world? What does ministry in daily life look like through the many stages of our lives?
 
Oct  7-8        Eli Hernandez, Assistant Director for Outreach, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Topic: As an immigrant church, should Lutherans be a part of the national debate over immigration? Does the Biblical perspective on the “sojourner in our midst” help shape what Lutheran’s bring to the conversation? What has been our own history with immigration? Do we have an ethical perspective on the pressures that drive immigration, and the administrative bottlenecks that contribute to the rising tide of undocumented immigrants?

Nov 11-12      Carol Schersten Lahurd (LSTC)      
Topic: What is the role of Lutheranism in a religiously pluralistic society? How should the ELCA relate to the varied Jewish traditions represented in the USA? What should our role be towards our Islamic neighbors? Should we work together with other faith traditions on social issues?
       
Dec 9-10       David Fredrickson (Luther Seminary)
Topic: What should the church say regarding the criminal justice system? Does the fact that the vast majority of people incarcerated are minorities go against our own Scriptural roots? Does criminalizing everything actually lead to a safer society? What should we say about rehabilitation of those who are incarcerated?

2012

Jan 13-14      Bishop Mark Hanson (Presiding Bishop)   
Topic: What is the calling of the church, and what is the best way to organize it? As a church committed to becoming a more missional church, how should we be structured? Does the current structure of our ELCA make sense in the 21st century? What does the emerging church movement have to teach us?
        
Feb 10-11      Ralph Klein (LSTC)                 
Topic: Why do so many people fight about how to interpret the Bible? What did Martin Luther think about the Bible? Do Lutherans believe “in the Bible?” What do Lutherans have to say about inerrancy, infallibility and authority? Does the Left Behind series fit with a Lutheran understanding of the Bible?

March  9-10     Jim Martin-Schramm (Luther College)
Topic: If heaven is our home, why should Lutherans care about ecological issues? Should we get involved in current scientific debates over cosmology, evolution or genetics? Does our Lutheran confessional heritage call us to care for the earth and what humans are doing to it? Do Lutherans offer a unique perspective in the debates over the interlocking problems of global warming, energy consumption, water availability and usage, and the loss of species?

April 13-14     Gary Simpson (Luther Seminary)    
Topic: Why should Lutherans care about the culture wars going on in our country? What is the vocation of the church in a polarized society? Should the church work for the common good of the society it finds itself in? Should the church be concerned about the growing economic inequality in the USA? How dangerous is the declining civic engagement and why should Lutherans care?
   
May 11-12       Phil Ruge Jones - (Texas Lutheran)        
Topic: Why do Lutherans emphasize the theology of the cross so much? Doesn’t God want to bless us? Why do Lutherans reject the very popular “prosperity gospel” movements? Does the theology of the cross leave any room for a theology of glory? What difference does this actually make in our own lives of faith?