Concordia Theological Seminary, Nagercoil (CTSN)
Concordia Theological Seminary trains pastors for the India Evangelical Lutheran Church. Founded by the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod on 8 September 1924, it was the first confessional Lutheran seminary in South Asia.
A brief history
The seminary opened in Nagercoil on 8 September 1924 with seven pastoral candidates and three teachers, after the missionary conferences of 1922 and 1923 resolved to train Indian pastors for the growing church. Classes began in a missionary house before moving to the present campus, whose H-shaped main building was begun in 1932.
Over the decades the seminary grew from a three-year pastors’ course into a college of the Senate of Serampore (affiliated in 1959), offering the L.Th., then the B.Th. from 1969, and since 2012 the Bachelor of Divinity. Deaconess training, in-service courses for pastors and an extension Bachelor of Christian Studies programme serve the wider church.
After Cyclone Ockhi damaged the campus in 2017, the buildings were restored with the help of LCMS Disaster Response and rededicated in 2022, and the seminary celebrated its centenary in 2024.
What we believe together. The seminary holds to the same beliefs that are confessed by the IELC and our confessional Lutheran partner churches throughout the world, especially our mother church, the LCMS.