Master of Arts in Ministry

If you’re wondering if there is a place for you at seminary even if you’re not feeling called to pastoral ministry, the answer is definitely “Yes!” The master of arts in ministry (MAM) degree is designed for students who are pursuing a call to the Ministry of Word and Service roster (deacons) or preparing for ministry in secular settings. The MAM is a practical, professional degree that incorporates both coursework and fieldwork and allows you to concentrate your studies on a particular ministry discipline or passion.

Whether you’re a distance learner or living on or near campus, your MAM degree enables you to be a public church leader who will engage your community through public witness and social transformation. This theological degree equips graduates for various ministries in daily life and leadership positions within congregations and communities, across rural, suburban and urban contexts, both nationally and internationally.

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LSTC MDiv Program Advantages

Leading Lutheran urban seminary

Residential and distance learning

Generous financial support

Dedicated to diversity, equity, inclusivity & justice

Accredited by ATS and HLC

Graduates serve a global community

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Four women studying and smiling together

Public church curriculum

Renowned faculty

ACTS consortium

Areas of Study Concentration

MDiv, MA and MAM students may seek expertise that goes beyond the core curriculum and allows students to gain confidence and discipline in a designated scholarly area. LSTC’s long-held strengths and commitments in the areas of biblical studies, urban ministry, interfaith studies, religion and science, culture-specific, and environmental ministry have led faculty members to create emphases in these areas. MDiv, MA and MAM candidates may develop an area of concentration in any discipline represented by the LSTC faculty.

African American/African Descent Studies

LSTC’s location, distinguished faculty, and ACTS cross-registration provide excellent resources to prepare students for ministry in African American and African descent communities. The Pero Center for Intersectionality Studies offers opportunities for deepening knowledge and celebrating African American and African descent religious and theological experience.

Womanist Studies

LSTC in partnership with other ELCA seminaries and the ACTS consortium provides a rich set of course offerings in Womanist studies, as well as opportunities for collaborative learning.

Biblical Studies

Students gain the tools, confidence, and discipline to make Bible study a lifelong activity and to interpret biblical texts creatively for contextual preaching, teaching, and worship.

Interfaith Emphasis

LSTC has a long history of engagement in interfaith relations, supported by A Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice and an endowed professorship of Christian-Muslim Studies and Interfaith Relations. Collaboration with faculty and students from other theological schools and our many interfaith partners in the Chicago area deepen this emphasis.

Latinx Ministry and Theology

Students committed to serving effectively in Latinx communities will find vital resources at LSTC and the surrounding ACTS schools, as well as from shared courses offered through the ELCA and cross-registration with Seminário Evangélico de Puerto Rico. Courses taught in Spanish and English within a bi-lingual context fulfill required or elective course requirements.

Religion and Science/Environmental Ministry

This emphasis establishes competency in various aspects of the dialogue between theology and science with a focus on the urgent issue of climate crisis. Students gain the knowledge and experience to address environmental issues from a theological and a practical perspective in the congregation and other ministry settings.

Community Organizing and Public Leadership

Students will develop skills in public leadership for today’s church in areas as community organizing, social analysis and local narrative theology, antiracism work and evangelism, and stewardship and self/family care.

From our students

“What a blessing it is to put theory and theology into practice, to put into action one’s love of God and love of neighbor, to be a public church. This experience has prepared me for professional ministry. It’s given me what I need to move forward in the process of becoming a board-certified chaplain.”

– Lora Salley (2020, MAM; hospital chaplain)

From our faculty

“Letting students see what gets you excited and why you think a topic is really cool is important… Somebody showed me Luther is fascinating, for instance…. His ideas are totally revolutionary and literally changed the world. I don’t know of another figure with that level of impact.”

– Candace Kohli, assistant professor of Lutheran Systematic Theology and Global Lutheranism

Four students walking up to the LSTC entrance from 55th Street

History of LSTC

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) was formed Sept. 4, 1962, when four seminaries consolidated: Augustana Theological Seminary, Grand View Seminary, Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary and Suomi Theological Seminary. Central Lutheran Theological Seminary joined the merger prior to LSTC dedicating its Hyde Park campus on Oct. 22, 1967. In 1983, 10 members of the faculty of Christ Seminary-Seminex, St. Louis, Mo. (1974), relocated to LSTC and the two schools merged in 1987 just prior to the 1988 formation of the ELCA. LSTC’s prior locations, mergers and history are a reminder that we have always been a seminary that moves and changes, leaning into a future with confidence in its possibilities and promise.

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