Opening Service and Installation Set for September 8

Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW), will open its 179th academic year with a special service on Sunday, September 8, at 3 p.m. (EDT) in Kramer Chapel. The service, which will be livestreamed, will include the installation of the Rev. Dr. Jon S. Bruss as CTSFW’s seventeenth president.

The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), will serve as preacher for the service, and the Rev. Dr. D. Richard Stuckwisch, president of the LCMS Indiana District, will preside over the installation. Bruss will deliver a brief address after he is installed.

“Our Lord, in His miraculous grace, has sustained this seminary in the true confession of His name for 178 years,” said Bruss. “As we look forward to opening our 179th academic year, we rejoice in this rich history of His grace and pray His continued blessing on all who teach and learn here. May He keep us firm and steadfast in His Word and faith!”

Bruss, who joined the CTSFW faculty in 2022 as associate professor of systematic theology, accepted the call to serve as president after he was elected May 18. Prior to his arrival in Fort Wayne, he taught classics at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato Minnesota; St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota; the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee; and the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He then served for nine years at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Topeka, Kansas, first as assistant pastor (2013–2015), then senior pastor (2015–2022).

A community reception celebrating the opening of the new academic year and the presidential installation will follow the service. 

To view the livestream, visit the Daily Chapel page at ctsfw.edu/daily-chapel. You can also find the service on CTSFW’s Facebook and YouTube pages.

About Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne

Founded in 1846, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, forms servants of Jesus Christ in a vibrant, Christ-centered theological community that engages and resources the church and the world, domestically and internationally, with distinctively Lutheran teaching, practice, and worship. To learn more, visit ctsfw.edu.
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