wfn.org | ELCA 'Horizon' Internship Program Benefits the Whole Church

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 4, 2000

ELCA 'HORIZON' INTERNSHIP PROGRAM BENEFITS THE WHOLE CHURCH
00-190-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Churches and other ministry settings from Alaska
to the U.S. Virgin Islands and around the world are providing
educational settings for Lutheran seminarians through the Horizon
Internship Program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
     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, multicultural, mission development or
international ministries.
     "If we were to identify who benefits from the program, it would be
the whole church," said the Rev. Gregory J. Villalon, ELCA director for
multicultural leadership development.
     Thirty-four sites in the United States and Caribbean are
participating in the ELCA's Horizon Internship program during the 2000-2001 academic year:
 + Our Savior Lutheran Church, Nome, Alaska;
 + Resurrection Lutheran Church, Oakland, Calif.;
 + Central City Lutheran Mission, San Bernardino, Calif.;
 + Chinese Lutheran Church of Honolulu, Hawaii;
 + Bethany Lutheran Church, Chicago;
 + Iglesia Luterana Santa Cruz, Joliet, Ill.;
 + Abundant Life Lutheran Church, Plainfield, Ill.;
 + University Lutheran Church, Cambridge, Mass.;
 + Gracious Saviour Lutheran Church, Detroit;
 + Revelation Lutheran Church, Detroit;
 + Goodridge Area Lutheran Parish, Goodridge, Minn.;
 + Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, Minneapolis;
 + Nordland Lutheran Church, Paynesville, Minn.;
 + Grace Lutheran Church, Camden, N.J.;
 + Transfiguration Lutheran Church, Bronx, N.Y.;
 + Emanuel and St. Luke Lutheran Churches, Valatie, N.Y.;
 + Sheyenne-Oberon Area Ministry, Sheyenne, N.D.;
 + Trinity Lutheran Church, Canton, Ohio;
 + Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Carey, Ohio;
 + Faith Mission (Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio), Columbus,
Ohio;
 + St. Timothy Lutheran Church (Lutheran Social Services), Columbus,
Ohio;
 + Salem Lutheran Church, Toledo, Ohio;
 + Church of Living Waters Lutheran Church, Burns, Ore.;
 + Redeemer Lutheran Church, Portland, Ore.;
 + St. Peter Lutheran Church, Bethlehem, Pa.;
 + Iglesia Luterana Nueva Creacion, Philadelphia;
 + Reformation Lutheran Church, Philadelphia;
 + Emanuel's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Pittsburgh;
 + Christ the King Lutheran Church of the Deaf, West Chester, Pa.;
 + Attoway-Kimberlin Lutheran Church, Rural Retreat, Va.;
 + Saron Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hoquian, Wash.;
 + Christ the King Lutheran Church, Combined Locks, Wis.;
 + Cross Lutheran Church, Milwaukee; and
 + Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas,
U.S. Virgin Islands.
     The ELCA Division for Global Mission placed four interns in
international sites:
 + Hong Kong -- part-time in a local congregation and part-time in the
Filipino Guest Worker ministry;
 + Berlin -- the American Church in Berlin, an English-speaking
congregation;
 + Bratislava, Slovak Republic -- an English-speaking congregation,
while teaching religion and providing pastoral care at the Lutheran high
school, Evangelicke Lyceum; and
 + Jerusalem -- Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, the English-speaking
congregation in the Old City of Jerusalem.  Redeemer houses several
language-specific congregations -- Arabic, Danish and German -- and the
offices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan.
     "All of these programs are designed to give the seminarians an
added tool for when they go out into ministry," said Villalon, and the
seminaries get valuable "classrooms."  Making sure these ministries have
the help of an intern supports the ELCA's goal of including people of
all races and economic conditions, he said.
     "International internship sites are a win-win program for the
ELCA," said Kathy J. Magnus, associate director for international
personnel, ELCA Division for Global Mission.  "Not only does an
international site benefit from the ideas, energy and care of an intern,
but a seminarian's world view is forever changed and will forever have
an impact on their ministry," she said.
     "The benefits to ELCA congregations who are served by someone who
has done international service are significant.  These pastors are able
to expand the horizons of the congregation and, through personal story,
broaden the parish's view of 'neighbor,'" said Magnus.
     An African American seminarian who served a congregation in New
York through the Horizon Internship Program decided it would benefit her
to learn Spanish, said Villalon.  "Now she has been called to a
congregation in the Bronx that is both African American and Latino, so
her Horizon experience was truly a blessing for her," he said.
     In mission development, an intern works with a pastor who is
starting a new congregation.  "The Division for Outreach has found that
interns serving in mission development settings gain valuable experience
and insight into reaching the unchurched with the gospel of Jesus
Christ," said the Rev. Kathie Bender Schwich, the division's executive
for leadership.
     An average of about 27 interns have participated in the program
each year since it was established in 1988, said Schwich.
     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.
     Villalon administers the program for the ELCA Division for
Ministry, and Schwich administers it for the ELCA Division for Outreach.
They work closely with the church's 10,862 congregations through 65
synods, eight seminaries, Commission for Multicultural Ministries and
Divisions for Church in Society and Global Mission.
     The Division for Ministry commits about $150,000 and the Division
for Outreach contributes about $100,000 each year to support the Horizon
Internship Program.
-- -- --
     Villalon said improvements to the ELCA Web site will soon make it
possible for congregations to download the necessary information and
forms to apply for a Horizon grant.  A page linked to the ELCA
Commission for Multicultural Ministries site <http://www.elca.org/CMM/>
will describe the partnership between congregations, supervisors and
interns.  The site will also list the internship directors of the eight
ELCA seminaries.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html