Concordia Nebraska’s Institutes: Resources that Serve the Church and World

Concordia University, Nebraska is home to several institutes that provide outreach, service and educational efforts that align with and advance the university’s mission by engaging audiences beyond the campus while serving as resources to the LCMS church at large. These institutes identify specific needs in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, providing resources that work to address these needs.  

Institutes at Concordia Nebraska are not the same as departments or programs; they are organizations that receive outside funding through gifts and endowments while intentionally engaging on- and off-campus communities. These currently include the Center for Liturgical Art, the Institute for Ethical Leadership, the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Institute for Religious Education, the Institute for Rural and Small Town Ministries, Trinity Academy and the Institute for Literacy.  

We’re called to go out, serve and preach the Gospel to the world. And I love that we can on campus and the students can see how Concordia is doing that through the institutes.

Deborah Jurchen ‘06 is Concordia Nebraska’s Director of Institutes. Each institute associated with the university must uphold a set of guiding principles.  

The five guiding principles for institutes at Concordia Nebraska include: 

• The institute’s purpose aligns with and advances Concordia’s mission and vision.  

• The institute will serve as a resource to the church at large, focusing on engaging populations outside the Concordia community relative to critical issues such as research, outreach and service.  

• The institute will be able to clearly define one or more target audiences, a clearly defined theme or area of focus, all of which fill a recognized need.  

• The institute will intentionally engage Concordia students.  

• The institute will be financially self-sustaining.  

“While serving as a resource to the church at large, [an institute] is an outward-focused service that resources those in the field, turns them back to our offerings here on campus and continually keeps them connected to our community and resourced in their specific needs,” Jurchen said.  

On the campus side, Concordia Nebraska’s institutes commit themselves to engaging the university’s students at all levels.  

“Engaging Concordia students depends on the institute itself,” said Jurchen. “We have some student workers who work alongside the artists [in the CLA]; Trinity Academy will have some students doing field work there...We’re called to go out, serve and preach the Gospel to the world. And I love that we can do that on campus and the students can see how Concordia is doing that through the institutes, they can become involved and as they graduate, they will have a continual connection back to and resourcing from Concordia.” 

As the Director of University Institutes, Jurchen said that one of her goals is to help raise awareness about the varied missions of these unique parts of Concordia’s mission.  

“Concordia's institutes are filling incredible needs within the church and a lot of people don’t know they exist! Raising awareness of the services and resources provided by the institutes is a joy-filled task. These institutes are far-reaching in their work to advance those working in their vocations in service to the Lord,” she said.   

Institutes at Concordia Nebraska provide outreach, service and educational efforts that align with and advance the university’s mission and vision by engaging audiences beyond campus while serving as a resource to the church at large. Learn more about institutes here.