For the second August in a row I’ve been privileged to be a guest instructor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) in Baguio, Philippines. This seminary serves the Lutheran Church in the Philippines (LCP), a full altar-pulpit fellowship church with the LCMS.
This year instead of two courses I taught three – one to each of their years of students currently in residence. I taught the first-year students an overview of the Old Testament. The second-year students studied Christian Stewardship, and the fourth-year students studied the Gospel of John. It’s an honor to be entrusted with the education of these seminary students studying for work as pastors and deaconesses.
It was a lot of fun with the fourth-year students. Not that the others weren’t enjoyable (especially the second-year students, who I taught the Old Testament review course to last year). But by your fourth year, a year away from graduation, there’s a growing confidence (and nervousness!) about what God the Holy Spirit has Called you to do with his Church. They’ve survived a year of vicarage and two years of coursework and are a bit more willing and able to engage. We had some great theological discussions in class as we moved through John’s Gospel.
The tall student above visited with us for the last few days of class. He’s a visiting seminary student from a Lutheran church body in Bavaria, Germany. He was enjoying seeing how ministry was done and studied in the Philippines. The young lady in the photo is a deaconess student with years of service already behind her but who wanted to return for additional theological study.
Baguio is a gorgeous place for a seminary. The elevation is about 5000 feet so there are pine trees as well as palm trees and the temperature is in the low 70’s during the day. August is also in the rainy season so I enjoyed rain almost every day, ranging from light evening showers to downpours. Fortunately they sell umbrellas in Baguio!
The seminary lost one of it’s instructors the week before classes began, so I know my time there was appreciated. I intend to return (if there is still a need) for the next set of class starts in late February or early March, and again next August. Hopefully I can arrange for one or more others to accompany me to provide additional assistance in teaching.
Please keep the students & faculty of LTS in your prayers as they continue to prepare workers for the church of tomorrow!
The Nelson Family Indonesia 