United Lutheran Seminary

09/24/2026

Join us for an afternoon of conversation and reflection with award-winning author Ayana Mathis as Kindling Faith’s “Aging Grace-Fully” series continues on October 8 at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Mathis is the acclaimed author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie and The Unsettled.

Attend in person on the Philadelphia campus or via livestream. A reception and book signing will follow.

Learn more and register at kindlingfaith.com.

09/23/2026

What does it mean to spend a life forming faith in others?

In the latest episode of Seminary Explores, Paul Lutz, a lifelong religious educator and ULS alum, reflects on a career shaped by mentors like A. Roger Gobbel, Mary Boys, and Tom Groome, and his five years at the ELCA churchwide offices shaping adult formation resources across the church.

He talks about the challenges religious education faces today: the need for more resources, stronger pastoral support, and congregations equipped for the cultural moment they're in. For anyone wondering whether this is their calling...he has some thoughts on that too!

Listen to the full conversation on the Seminary Explores page of our website or at https://seminaryexplores.uls.edu/e/the-formation-work-and-hope-of-a-religious-educator/

09/18/2026

What does 200 years look like?

Last night, it looked like a room filled with people whose lives and stories are connected to this seminary.

The United Lutheran Seminary community gathered for our Bicentennial Gala to celebrate two centuries of theological education, formation, scholarship, service, and faith.

We remembered those who came before us. We celebrated the people carrying that legacy today. And we looked toward the generations still to come.

A bicentennial gives us a remarkable opportunity to look back. This celebration has never been only about our past. It is about what those 200 years prepare us to do next: form leaders, strengthen the Church, and serve the world.

This is pursuing our vision at ULS.

09/17/2026

What does faithful leadership look like in an increasingly digital world?

That's the conversation happening today at United Lutheran Seminary's Bicentennial Fall Convocation in Philadelphia.

Under the theme “The Double-Edged Sword: How the Digital World Hurts and Heals,” our community is exploring the ways technology shapes human connection, community, learning, work, and ministry.

For 200 years, theological education here has meant engaging the questions facing the Church and the world. The questions change. The commitment to wrestling with them faithfully continues.

This is staying on mission at ULS.

09/17/2026

Today is about reconnecting with the people who are part of our story.

Alumni have returned to our Philadelphia campus for a day of fellowship, historical reflection, Bicentennial worship, reunions, and time together as a seminary community.
There are stories being remembered today, friendships being renewed, and connections being made across generations of theological education.

Two hundred years of history is ultimately a history of people: those who learned here, taught here, worshiped here, and went from here to serve the Church and the world.

This is reconnecting at ULS.

09/16/2026

Today, our Philadelphia campus brought together theology, history, music, and community through the Urban Theological Institute.

The day included the UTI Fall Lecture with the Rev. Dr. Mark Kelly Tyler, Historiographer of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and former pastor of historic Mother Bethel AME Church, followed this evening by the UTI Sacred Music Concert featuring the Philly Remembers Choir.

For generations, UTI has created space for scholarship, formation, worship, and the voices and experiences of the Black Church. Today was another chapter in that continuing story.

This is sustaining community at ULS.

09/10/2026

"If God calls you, he gives you the capacity to follow the process."

Those are the words of Rev. Deivis Ventura: ULS alum (M.Div. '26), former human rights and LGBTQIA+ activist in the Dominican Republic, and now mission developer for Caminos de Jesús in New York City.

Caminos de Jesús serves Spanish-speaking LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers, who are a community that has too often heard the message that God hates them. Ventura's message is different: "We love you. You can worship here and take communion."

His vision goes beyond a single congregation. As he told Living Lutheran: "I want to create a model for churches and congregations, a systematic process to promote Lutheran ideas about grace, salvation, sacraments and community.”

"My intention is to create not only a congregation but a system for supporting people." Read why Ventura's mission and the ULS graduate behind it matters now more than ever through the link in our bio or at livinglutheran.org/living-faithfully/i-want-to-create-a-model/

09/08/2026

What if the most impactful medicine isn't in a syringe, but in a conversation?

Dr. Susan Cole joins Katy Giebenhain on Seminary Explores to share her experience with the Honduran Running Club, an annual healthcare mission to a remote region of Honduras. Alongside doctors, dentists, nurses, and volunteers, she witnessed what happens when simple health education meets dignified, compassionate presence.

Listen to the full conversation on the Seminary Explores page of our website or at https://seminaryexplores.uls.edu/e/the-honduran-running-club-a-healthcare-mission-to-honduras/

Content note: This episode contains a reference to su***de. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 for support.

09/03/2026

We carry the world in our pockets. Endless information. Instant connection. Is all this technology healing us or hurting us?

The Bicentennial Fall Convocation at United Lutheran Seminary tackles that question head-on. Dr. Deanna Thompson and Dr. Michael Hanegan lead a thoughtful day of learning on "The Double-Edged Sword: How the Digital World Hurts and Heals."

Join us in Philadelphia or via livestream on Thursday, Sept 17 for honest conversation about the ethical means by which we engage with technology that is rapidly changing our fragile world community.

Register at https://ulsforms.wufoo.com/forms/r1x91s91st0fni/

09/02/2026

Only nine days left before we welcome Pulitzer Prize - winning author Geraldine Brooks to our Gettysburg campus. Ms. Brooks will be discussing her latest book "Memorial Days", a heartrending and beautiful memoir of sudden loss and a journey towards peace. There will be an audience Q & A and book-signing after. This event is being offered via livestream or in person.
Please register prior to the event at kindlingfaith.org.

04/06/2026

A little unexpected coordination at the Easter potluck.

Andrea Oslikova and MDiv student Georgia Salvaryn accidentally twinned and gave us one more reason to smile.

This is life together at ULS.

05/31/2023

Wentz Library will be closed on June 1 but will reopen on June 2.

06/13/2022

Registration deadline extended to June 20th!

What does worship look and sound like on this side of the pandemic? This question is asked by both those who have already returned to “normal” in-person worship and those who continue their adapted practices. It would be an understatement to say that the pandemic did not profoundly affect our wo...

03/24/2021

Today the church commemorates the martyrdom of St. Oscar Romero. This is his portrait which is currently hanging in the chapel on the Gettysburg campus (and will travel to Philadelphia in the fall of 2021). It was commissioned as part of the For All the Saints series in 2019. https://www.unitedlutheranseminary.edu/.../for-all-saints...

06/15/2020

Proud of ULS students peacefully taking a stand.

ULS students proteesting in Gettysburg - Andrew Berdahl, Taylor Berdahl and Elizabeth Peter

12/23/2019

For anyone who hasn’t had a chance to see Rev. Dr. Angela Zimmann’s Christmas greeting, please take a moment to hear her message of peace and hope. ULS is blessed to have her as our Interim President.

A Christmas Greeting from Rev. Dr. Angela Zimmann, Interim President of United Lutheran Seminary.