Michigan Lutheran Seminary, or MLS, provides an outstanding educational experience to equip students for Christian living and the public ministry. MLS is one of two schools owned and operated by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) with the specific purpose of encouraging students to consider becoming pastors and teachers in the WELS. Michigan Lutheran Seminary encourages and teaches students through the grace of the gospel, nurturing faith through regular and diverse worship opportunities and ministry experiences. Faculty, coaches, and staff teach and inspire each member of the Seminary Family as a redeemed child of God, using law and gospel through counseling, encouragement, and loving Christian discipline.
The expression Seminary Family is often heard on campus. It is used by students and faculty to describe the close bond that forms at MLS. Our common Christian faith ties our student body together in love and concern for one another. Students worship, study, practice, compete and eat meals together. Friendships become so strong that classmates consider each other brothers and sisters, members for life of the Seminary Family.
Faculty, administration, coaches and staff take seriously the great trust parents and guardians place in MLS, supporting and teaching each student in humility, acknowledging their God-given role as spiritual guides, educators, caretakers and parental representatives. The MLS faculty encourages each student to use his or her talents in academics, performance, competition, and Christian service to the glory of God.
MLS academics are focused on a balanced and challenging curriculum that includes religion, languages, science, technology, math, history, and the arts, with a special emphasis on vocal and instrumental music skills. Students experience a rich diversity of cultures through the admission and incorporation of international students into the student body. Students are encouraged to develop leadership, interpersonal communication skills, and sportsmanship skills through participation in team sports and other extracurricular activities. No matter what field or vocation graduates decide to enter, the education they receive at MLS prepares them to succeed.
MLS is a solid voice for confessional Lutheran doctrine and practice. Students who attend Michigan Lutheran Seminary receive an outstanding education that prepares them for life, higher education and the high calling of the public ministry of the gospel. Students are encouraged to attend Martin Luther College (MLC) through academics centered on the Word of God and the means of grace. For more than 100 years an average of 40 to 50 percent of graduates from MLS have gone on to study for public ministry in the WELS. Other graduates use their gospel-based education in secular professions and through active involvement in their congregations. Today, MLS graduates, together with graduates from our sister school, Luther Preparatory School in Watertown, WI, account for more than half of the pastors in our synod and about one-third of our teachers. The purpose of MLS from the beginning has been to encourage and train called workers and congregational leaders to proclaim God’s Word to His people and to the nations.