wfn.org | ELCA Horizon Internships Approved

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 23, 1997

HORIZON INTERNSHIPS APPROVED

At least 32 congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
are providing educational settings for seminarians through the church?s
Horizon Internship program -- from Los Angeles to Goodridge, Minn.,
from Boston to San Antonio, Texas.  Another 10 congregations are on a
waiting list.  A master of divinity is the minimum degree required of ELCA
clergy.  Earning the degree usually requires a bachelor's degree and four
years of seminary education, including a parish internship during the third
year.  Horizon interns complete that third year of seminary education
with rural, urban or multicultural congregations.   Some internships are
arranged with Lutheran churches in other countries, such as the
English-speaking Lutheran congregation in Ngaoundere, Cameroon, and
the Warsaw International Church in Warsaw, Poland.  Interns earn a
stipend and may require housing; and that could be a financial hardship
for some congregations.  Horizon provides some funding; and
seminarians and congregations are recruited and screened to match the
needs of each.  The program ?helps train pastors for the 21st century?
and gives congregations a needed boost, said the Rev. Carla J. Nelson,
Gracious Saviour Lutheran Church, Detroit.  The ELCA Division for
Ministry oversees the program, working closely with the church?s 65
synods, eight seminaries, Commission for Multicultural Ministries and
Divisions for Church in Society, Global Mission and Outreach.