By Bishop Ann Svennungsen

In 1900, my grandfather, David Svennungsen, was a member of St. Olaf’s tenth graduating class. I’m not sure what he paid for tuition, but I know something about the funds needed to start the college. Pastor Jacob Muus went to each of his members – mostly farmers – and asked for a $100-500 gift. They raised $22,000 which, with the donated land in Northfield, was enough to break ground.

What is it about Lutherans that we build schools – that we sacrifice and dream and plan so that children and youth receive an education? Perhaps it’s because the Lutheran movement began in a university. Perhaps it’s because Luther was one of the first to advocate that both boys and girls receive an education. A primary reason, in my mind, is the Lutheran understanding of vocation and the common good.

“What is it about Lutherans that we build schools – that we sacrifice and dream and plan so that children and youth receive an education?”

Not unlike Pastor Jacob Muus, Archbishop Musa Filibus is calling his flock to dream and sacrifice to build the first Lutheran University in Nigera. On Sunday, November 21, every Nigerian congregation will be taking a special offering to launch the university. Already, donors have given time, in-kind offerings, almost 500 acres of beautiful land adjacent to the church hospital, attended countless meetings, and prepared 800 pages of required documents for the National University Commission. And they did much of this during the pandemic.

Wisely, the National Commission also requires a start-up fund of 200 million Naira – or 500,000 dollars – to ensure stability for the institution. And, for that, we asked Archbishop Filibus to consider us – Nigeria’s only ELCA companion synod – as part of his flock.

 

JUST AFTER GRADUATING from two Lutheran educational institutions, Concordia College and Luther Seminary, I read Ron Sider’s book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. In 2010, I read Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save. I’ve never been quite the same. As a person of means while 14,000 children under age 5 die each day from poverty, I have tried to follow Singer’s modest proposal that 5-10% of our annual household income be given to address global poverty. This year, my husband and I are thrilled that this commitment can be part of the launch of something so remarkable – the first ever Lutheran University in Nigeria.

In today’s dollars, the $22,000 Pastor Muus raised equals about $500,000. That’s what our synod is committed to raising. In today’s dollars, the $500 gifts from farmers equal about $10,000. Perhaps, that’s what many of us can give.

“We asked Archbishop Filibus to consider us – Nigeria’s only ELCA companion synod – as part of his flock.”

Like many other synod congregations, the small Lao Evangelical Congregation in Robbinsdale will take an offering this Sunday. Pastor Thiem Baccam said, “We don’t have lots of resources. But we each have food and shelter, so we will give to this important work.”

Archbishop Filibus once told me that because mustard seeds aren’t native to Nigerian soil, Christians there talk about “having the faith the size of a mango.” Indeed, this audacious endeavor to build a Lutheran University will require faith the size of a mango.

So many of us look back fondly and in awe on the growth of the “mustard seeds” that various of our ELCA colleges – St. Olaf, Luther, Gustavus Adophus, Augsburg, Luther, Concordia, and 20 others – have sprouted into. Now is a time where we can share in the work of Pastor Muus by joining with Archbishop Filibus in dreaming on the education of desirous students. We can see visions of a 100 years from now when Nigerians reminisce about the establishment of their university and the tremendous impact it has had on all aspects of their country.

[To review the Lutheran University Nigeria case statement or to view a video with compelling insights from Archbishop Musa Filibus, Dr. Paul Pribbenow, Rev. Mark Hanson, and Bishop Ann Svennungsen, visit the synod’s LUN web page. You can also make a contribution toward this audacious and ambitious project on that page.]