Mar 05, 2020 Print This Article
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Registration opens for 2020 Multiethnic Symposium

Event set for May 5–6 on campus

NOTE: The 2020 Multiethnic Symposium has been postponed until spring 2021 due to concerns about the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Registration is now open for the 2020 Multiethnic Symposium, which is set for May 5–6 on the campus of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

The symposium brings together missional leaders including pastors, congregational lay leaders and others from across The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) to explore what it means and what it will take to become a truly multiethnic church.

The theme of this year’s symposium is “The Rest and the West: What the West Can Learn from Global South Christianity.” Participants will explore the growth in Global South Christianity and how the church in the West can learn from their practices in music, worship, missions, ethics and teaching theology.

“Like the rest of Christianity, the fastest growing Lutheran churches are now in the Global South,” said Dr. Leopoldo A. Sánchez M., interim Multiethnic Symposium chairman and the Werner R.H. Krause and Elizabeth Ringger Krause Professor of Hispanic Ministries at Concordia Seminary. “Through migration and birth rates, the people of the Global South and their children also are in our communities and churches in the United States. What can we in the West learn from the rest? We are so excited to explore this question in our Multiethnic Symposium.”

Highlights of the event include the following:

  • Keynote presentation by Dr. Philip Jenkins, distinguished professor of History in the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University, Waco, Texas
  • 15th Annual Lecture in Hispanic/Latino Theology and Missions by Dr. Marcell Silva Steuernagel, assistant professor of Church Music and director of the Sacred Music Program in the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
  • Plenary by Dr. Vince Bantu, assistant professor of Church History and Black Church Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, Houston, Texas
  • Plenary by Dr. Samuel Deressa, assistant professor of Theology and Global South at Concordia University, St. Paul, Minn.>
  • Celebration Service of Holy Communion with Rev. Terrence Chan, pastor at Bethel Lutheran Church, Grace Lutheran Church and Christ for All Nations Lutheran Church, San Francisco, Calif.

In addition, recognitions will be held for retiring Seminary President Dr. Dale A. Meyer and for Rev. Kou Seying, associate professor of Practical Theology at Concordia Seminary and Multiethnic Symposium chairman who died in November 2019.

Attendees can manage their schedules, find speaker information and connect with others through the event’s free app, which debuts this year.

Registration is $50 per person and includes Tuesday lunch and dinner, and Wednesday breakfast and lunch. The registration deadline is April 6. On-campus housing is available for an additional fee.

For more information, visit csl.edu/multiethnic or contact Continuing Education at 314-505-7286 or ce@csl.edu.

About Concordia Seminary

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis provides Gospel-centered graduate-level theological education for pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars and other leaders in the name of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). To learn more, visit csl.edu.