At our Board of Directors Meeting last weekend, which included the annual President’s Dinner to thanks our donors and friends, we had a special celebration: the dedication of the Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl classroom. Andrea, a 1977 graduate of Wartburg Seminary, is the second female bishop elected in the ELCA.
If you don’t know who Andrea is–and you really should–here is her bio, which you can find online:
Bishop Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl served two terms as bishop of the South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) from 1995-2007. She retired from active ministry in 2015, but continues to serve in interim roles or other settings.
Some of DeGroot-Nesdahl’s positions include interim bishop of the Northeast Iowa Synod, synod minister of the Southwestern Minnesota ELCA Synod, coordinator of the ELCA Malaria Campaign and HIV AIDS Strategy in Chicago, Illinois, interim pastor at Lutheran Memorial Church in Pierre, South Dakota, assistant to the bishop of the Western North Dakota Synod/ELCA, supervisor of pastoral care at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Minot, North Dakota, pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in Surrey, North Dakota, interim pastor at Glenburn and Lansford Lutheran Churches in Lansford, North Dakota and pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Madison, Wisconsin.
DeGroot-Nesdahl’s current and past board service includes board member of the Good Samaritan Society and Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, vice chair of ELCA Conference of Bishops, Wartburg Theological Seminary Board of Directors, chair of the Board of Trustees of Wartburg Seminary and vice chair of South Dakota Faith in Public Life Board. Other awards and recognitions include the Women in Leadership Award from Sioux Falls Area Women in Business and Healthy Leaders Leadership Training in Sioux Falls.
Speaking for myself, I have to say how much I adore Andrea, truly. She is a mentor and friend–a person with deep wisdom combined with a great sense of humor, honesty and compassion. She is fierce and loyal and beautiful in every way. She has been a fantastic board member, and Wartburg Seminary is better because of her leadership–and so is the church!
This celebration was also a celebration of all women in ministry. All of us stand on the shoulders of our foremothers in the faith who did the hard work of paving the way for us, giving us strong examples of ministry such that we never had to wonder if we could be pastors, too.
Here are my remarks from the dedication: it was fun to go back and do a little research, and to remember the steps that got us to where we are today.
The Dedication of the Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl Classroom
Tonight, as part of our evening of celebration and gratitude, we are privileged to be able to make a very special presentation, as we dedicate the Reverend Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl classroom.
To begin our recognition, I want to say a brief word about the history of women and theological education at Wartburg Theological Seminary. As I begin my remarks, I went to acknowledge the Reverend Dr. Norma Cook Everist, former Professor of Christian Education. She, along with student assistants, compiled a history of the first female students at Wartburg Seminary—of which Dr. Cook Everist was one—titled And the Women Came 100 and More. I’m grateful to her for her research, and her own pioneering spirit, about which much more could be said.
Women have been part of the Wartburg story since the beginning.
William Loehe, founder of Wartburg Seminary, also established a mother house for deaconesses in Neuendettelsau, Germany, which played a key role in the flourishing of the Deaconess movement in Germany—to which the vibrant deaconess community in the United States can trace its origins.
Additionally, the space in which we sit is the Auguste Von Schwartz Refectory, named for Tante Auguste, a woman who was born in Riga, but was in Saint Petersburg when Professor Sigmund Fritschel came on a visit to raise funds for Wartburg Seminary—and also find a housemother. The Holy Spirit stirred her to respond to that invitation, and she traveled back to Wartburg Seminary with Professor Fritschel in 1861. She cared faithfully for the students until ill health forced her retirement in 1874.
In 1967, the church council requested the division of theological studies of the Lutheran Council of the United States to address the question of the ordination of women; and when the seminaries were invited to offer their perspective, Wartburg’s report was positive. The Executive Committee of the ALC Church Council then recommended to the general convention, which met in San Antonio in October 1970, that women be eligible for call and ordination in the American Lutheran Church. The convention adopted this recommendation, 560 yeses to 414 nos.
But, as Dr. Cook Everist notes, “Women students quickly realized that more than a church convention resolution was necessary to change attitudes toward women in the ministry.”
I imagine that every female pastor in the room can testify to that truth.
In the fall of 1970, Carol Olson became the first woman accepted in a degree program at Wartburg Seminary, and more soon followed. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl was one of these early women, beginning her studies in 1973. More will be said about Bishop Emerita DeGroot-Nesdahl shortly, but I want to share just a brief excerpt from her call story. She remembers visiting with her campus pastor about a church profession in her last year at the University of North Dakota; and he told her he had just returned from the national convention of the ALC in San Antonio and had a dynamite idea for an occupation for her—ordained ministry. She was interested, then intrigued, then committed to that suggestion. And the church is so much richer, better for it.
Andrea’s own remarks were funny, poignant and gracious–her stories and memories were positive and encouraging, but we know that she had plenty of doubters, discouragers, and disparagers. But she didn’t dwell on that. She spoke instead about the community of support she experienced at Wartburg, and those who encouraged her along the way. She is an extraordinary person who has had an extraordinary career. It was a joy and blessing to be in her presence, and rejoice in all God has done in and through her.
