History

Lutheran Campus Ministry began at Duke University in 1924, when the first full-time pastor of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Rev. J. Lewis Thornburg, presided at services on campus while also serving Lutheran students at UNC-Chapel Hill. The Rev. Henry A. Schroder continued to minister to students at Duke and UNC when he became the pastor at St. Paul’s in 1931. Throughout the 1930s, Pastor Schroder held Sunday night worship services on campus.

By 1947 there were nearly 200 Lutheran students at Duke, and because of the ministry’s growth, Duke Divinity School students were hired to assist Pastor Schroder in his work. In June 1948, the Rev. Charles J. Shealy was called as the first full-time Lutheran Pastor at Duke.  In the 1950s, Chaplains led the ministry, including the Rev. Wade Hook and Melba Taylor (Holt), the first female Duke Lutherans Chaplain.

Lutheran Campus Ministry continued to evolve and adapt. Other Lutheran churches joined St. Paul’s as campus ministry partners, including Grace Lutheran Church, enabling the pastors and members to also serve the Lutheran students at North Carolina Central University. In 1978, Deaconess Darlene E. Grega was called to minister to Duke and NCCU students; she served from 1978-1983. Lutheran campus ministry at Duke and NCCU continued to grow and flourish under the stable leadership of the Rev. Hugh Beck who faithfully ministered to students full-time from 1984-1996.

For much of the twentieth century, Lutheran Campus Ministry was financially sustained by the combined efforts of the American Lutheran Church (ALC), the Lutheran Church in American (LCA)—which have since merged to create the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)—and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). However, as church membership and giving declined over the years, institutional support for campus ministries decreased. When Pastor Beck retired in 1996, Lutheran Campus Ministry in Durham lost its full-time pastor, and the funding sources it long relied upon continued to significantly decline.

In response, St. Paul’s began arranging for Duke Divinity School students to lead the ministry, followed by a succession of seminary interns, each assigned to St. Paul's for a year but directed to devote half their time to campus ministry. This pattern lasted from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Rostered leadership returned in 2005 when ELCA Deacon William Dahl accepted the call to serve as campus pastor. Under his faithful leadership, the Duke Lutherans community enjoyed another period of healthy growth and faithful engagement on campus, as students shared in regular worship, fellowship, service-learning, and alternative spring break trips. After Deacon Dahl retired in 2011, Lutheran Campus Ministry at Duke returned to a mix of non-rostered leadership and rapid turnover.

However, one significant bright aspect of this period was the growth of a deep cooperative relationship between St. Paul’s (ELCA) and Grace (LCMS). Both congregations remain faithful Duke Lutherans supporters and partners. Members from both congregations serve on the Duke Lutherans Committee, care for students through the Adopt a Duke Lutheran program, attend Sunday Evening Prayer, provide dinner, and generously give their time and financial resources.

After Deacon Dahl retired, an anonymous donation was made in 2015 (see Financial Overview) to sustain the program. After serving as St. Paul’s and Duke Lutherans’ intern from 2017-2018, the donation supported Rev. Alexandra Tranvik’s full-time call in 2018. In June 2020, the Rev. Amanda Highben was called by St. Paul’s to serve as the Duke Lutherans Campus Pastor.

Also an Associate Pastor at St. Paul’s, Pastor Amanda occasionally preaches and presides in worship and participates in the life of the church. She has an office at St. Paul’s with access to office supplies and administrative assistance. St. Paul’s is the fiscal agent for Duke Lutherans, processing donations, grants, and expenditures. However, Pastor Amanda’s salary and benefits are paid entirely from the Duke Lutherans budget, which is primarily funded by individual donations.