wfn.org | Lilly Grants Help ELCA Seminaries Create New Programs

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 27, 1999

LILLY GRANTS HELP ELCA SEMINARIES CREATE NEW PROGRAMS
99-214-LS

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- New programs for youth leadership development,
contextual education and congregational ministry are some of the
projects under way at six seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA), funded by grants from the Lilly Foundation, the
endowment arm of the Lilly Pharmaceutical Corporation, Indianapolis.
     At the end of 1998 the Lilly Foundation gave more than $5 million
in grants to Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.; The Lutheran Theological
Seminary at Philadelphia; Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary,
Columbia, S.C.; Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif.;
Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio; and Wartburg Theological
Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, said the Rev. A. Craig Settlage, associate
executive director, ELCA Division for Ministry. Grants are being
implemented this year, he said.
     Some grants were "full grants," which included full specifics of
programming, said the Rev. Jonathan P. Strandjord, director for
theological education, ELCA Division for Ministry. The remaining grants
were "planning grants" which introduced a strategic plan, he said. The
Lilly Foundation will give additional funds to planning grant recipients
when seminaries'  specific programs are developed, said Strandjord.

YOUTH MINISTRY
     Grants will help fund programs designed to encourage youth
leadership in churches. "It's a concrete example of the interest in
trying to help seminaries connect with youth and young adults," Settlage
said.
     Seminary programs will "help youth reflect on Christian vocation,"
he said. "The projects are in the context of the larger church."
Seminaries are working with the ELCA Division for Ministry to develop a
churchwide strategy to encourage youth leadership, Settlage said.
     This summer Trinity Lutheran Seminary sponsored two three-week
"Seminary Summer Samplers." More than 30 youth participated in sessions
inviting them to consider a Christian vocation and how they might serve
the church, said the Rev. Ruth Fortis, pastor to the community and
director of mentoring ministries, Trinity Lutheran Seminary. Fortis
developed the curriculum and made arrangements for the sessions.
     "This is an age when youth are searching and need to be engaged
theologically," Fortis said.
     The curriculum centered on "knowing, being and doing," where youth
experienced academic sessions, service projects and worship, Fortis
said. Youth served in places such as Ronald McDonald House, Habitat for
Humanity and Lutheran Social Services food pantries; they worked with
mentors such as rural and urban pastors, hospital and prison chaplains
and ministers at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, and Wittenberg
University, Springfield, Ohio, she said. Capital and Wittenberg are
higher education institutions of the ELCA.
     Fortis said she and the participants were pleased with the success
of the program. "It couldn't have been better. One youth said, 'It
changed my life.'"
     The program will be an annual event, Fortis said.
     Wartburg Theological Seminary and Pacific Lutheran Theological
Seminary received full grants for high school youth development and
leadership training programs. The Lutheran School of Theology at
Philadelphia and Luther Seminary received planning grants to develop
strategies for youth programs.

CONTEXTUAL EDUCATION
     Seminaries will use grants to strengthen contextual education
programs. Contextual education helps seminarians learn about the
cultures and communities in which they will do their ministry.
     Pacific Lutheran Theological School (PLTS) hired Dr. Stephen
Ellingson as assistant professor of the sociology of religion and as
director of the Lilly Program for Congregational Ministry. Ellingson
will begin Sept. 1.
     The Lilly Program for Congregational Ministry will initiate
research on the nature and vitality of Lutheran congregations in western
states and develop courses to help seminarians "read their congregations
and their communities," said the Rev. Michael B. Aune, academic dean,
PLTS.
     "We're on the cusp of some new and exciting things, thanks to the
Lilly grants," he said.
     Contextual education is the focus of Lilly grants for Luther
Seminary and Trinity Lutheran Seminary.
     Luther Seminary received a full grant for "Learning Leadership in
the Context of Congregations," a five-year program designed to expand
contextual education.
     The program will have two components, said the Rev. David L.
Tiede, president. Staff will expand seminarians' internship experiences
to include "careful reflection and interpretation of the mission
contexts," Tiede said. In addition, a pilot project will establish a
"teaching and learning center" where seminarians can take classes
through the World Wide Web and focus on the congregational settings in
which they work, he said.
     The revised contextual education program will "move toward a
strong emphasis on pastoral and lay leadership," Tiede said.
     "The church is in a time of change. We must find a sense of
mission beyond maintenance. Contextual work is really mission work," he
said.
     Trinity's "Transformational Leadership Project" will help
seminarians lead congregations in evangelical outreach and involvement
in social issues, said the Rev. Allan H. Sager, the seminary's
contextual education director. This month 14 seminarians began one-year
internships in "transformational learning sites," he said. Each site was
selected for its involvement in imaginative and intentional outreach and
evangelism, Sager said.
     The project will include faculty visiting "transformational
learning sites" and "transformational leaders" visiting and teaching at
the seminary.
     Sager said the program will help shape "leaders who will make a
difference tomorrow," as church membership is declining and one-fourth
of U.S. congregations are at risk of dying out.
     Church leaders must "make disciples out of joiners," Sager said.
"We learn anew what it means to be a missional church."

OTHER PROGRAMS
     A focus on spiritual formation is the basis for a Lilly Grant to
Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (LTSS). The four-year grant
established the "Pastor to the Seminary Community for Spiritual
Formation" position, filled June 1 by the Rev. John G. Largen.
     "The grant enables us to call someone to this position to provide
programming funds to experiment with different modes of enhancing
spiritual development," said the Rev. H. Frederick Reisz, Jr, president
of LTSS.
     Program possibilities include spirituality speakers and directors
on campus, retreats, and trips to spirituality centers, such as Taize,
France, he said.
     The primary focus of a spiritual director is on "the presence of
God in our lives," said Reisz, adding that they are not "counselors."
     Reisz said the focus on spirituality is uncommon in Protestant
churches and called Southern's program "explorational and pioneering."
     Lilly grants were also given to Luther Seminary's "Word and World"
theological quarterly magazine for research, planning, marketing, fund-
raising and an editorial fellowship for a graduate doctoral student.
Wartburg Seminary's Lilly grant for "Cultivating Pastoral Leadership
Grounded in Wisdom and Directed Toward Mission" will help revise
leadership curricula.

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