The official website of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the branch of Lutheranism with which St. Olaf is affiliated.
Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities (NECU)
A network that includes the ELCA churchwide organization and the 26 colleges and universities with an ELCA affiliation.
Founder and President of Interfaith America Eboo Patel visited St. Olaf College in September, 2022 to give his keynote speech on his new book We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy. Eboo shared his stories of building and leading his organization Interfaith America and how along the way, he has come to construct as much as critique and collaborate more than oppose.
In 2019 St. Olaf was one of ten colleges and universities accepted into the Institute for Teaching and Learning for Campus-wide Interfaith Excellence, where our St. Olaf team spent a week with Interfaith Youth Core staff in beginning to craft a vision for becoming a more religiously-inclusive campus that is simultaneously nourished by Lutheran tradition. St. Olaf’s participation in the Institute also comes with funds to support campus work around religious inclusivity, as well as assistance in strategic planning around incorporating religion more comprehensively into our campus’ equity and inclusion work. The launch celebration of the Lutheran Center in October 2019 featured IFYC senior staff member Jenan Mohajir who helped us imagine what it means to be religiously inclusive, and in October 2020 St. Olaf will host IFYC Founder and President Eboo Patel for two days dedicated to working with students, faculty, staff, and administration on our commitment and implementation of a plan for religious inclusivity on campus.
The Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) is a nationwide network of colleges and universities sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), whose purpose is to enrich the intellectual and theological exploration of vocation among undergraduate students. St. Olaf joined NetVUE in 2019, giving the college access to professional development opportunities, grant funding, and program support resources.
Vocation of Lutheran Higher Education Conference
Each year, members of Lutheran colleges gather to explore the distinctive roles our schools play in higher education. St. Olaf regularly sends a team of faculty, staff, and administrators to the conference, and as of 2019, Lutheran Center director Deanna Thompson is part of a faculty working group on the Vocation of Lutheran Higher Education. As a peer professional group, this faculty group allows participants—all of whom will have formal responsibility in some way for the Lutheran identity of their institutions—to share best practices, challenges, and initiatives across Lutheran-affiliated institutions.
This one-year service corps rooted in Lutheran tradition upholds core commitments very similar to the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community. It embraces the values of living in a community where faith and values are embraced and explored, and where volunteers commit to a year of simpified living and working for justice in their communities.
ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission
Young Adults in Global Mission, an ELCA year-long oversees service program, upholds core commitments very similar to the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community. It places volunteers in communities around the world where they share their gifts of service and receive gifts of their hosts’ hospitality, engaging in relationships of mutuality, interdependence, solidarity and trust.
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