As students leave colleges, universities, and seminaries for the summer, ReconcilingWorks wants to take a moment and celebrate the witness higher education institutions have in our church.
One of the ways these schools do this is by extending a specific welcome to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities with their status as a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) community. This happens by including specific language: “gender identities and sexual orientations,” LGBTQ, or LGBTQIA+, in their welcome and/or non-discrimination statements. (See RIC Sample Affirmations for more ideas)
Right now there are:
50 Lutheran Campus Ministries
5 Lutheran Seminaries
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, United Lutheran Seminary (Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia will merge on July 1, 2017), Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Wartburg Theological Seminary
2 Lutheran Affiliated Colleges/Universities
which specifically name LGBTQ people with their Reconciling in Christ welcome.
If your Lutheran Campus Ministry names LGBTQ people in your welcome statement or your Lutheran-affiliated school includes “sexual orientation and gender identity” in your non-discrimination statement, you can add your community’s name to the RIC roster with this link: Reconciling in Christ Survey. For more resources on how to being a Welcoming & Affirming journey, visit Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Resources.
Note: If your community is already RIC and not on this map, please cross reference our complete RIC listing map at: Reconciling in Christ (RIC). This is the first time ReconcilingWorks has separately celebrated a campus ministry map and could have unintentionally left you out in the transfer. Let us know at info@ReconcilingWorks.org, and we can fix this.