wfn.org | ELCA Supports Five International Internship Sites

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 13, 2002

ELCA SUPPORTS FIVE INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIP SITES
02-263-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) helped arrange seminary internships in Argentina, Denmark,
Ethiopia, Hong Kong and Slovakia this academic year.  The ELCA Horizon
International Internship Program provided the necessary funding for the
internships.
     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
their third year.  Horizon interns complete the third year of seminary
education with rural, urban, multicultural, mission development or
international ministries.
     The ELCA Division for Global Mission (DGM) placed interns at five
international sites:
+ Argentina -- La Congregacion San Pedro in Posadas, a Spanish-speaking
congregation of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church;
+ Denmark -- International Church of Copenhagen, an ecumenical
congregation with members of about 25 nationalities;
+ Ethiopia -- International Lutheran Church, a member congregation of
the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus in Addis Ababa;
+ Hong Kong -- Filipina Fellowship, a ministry of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Hong Kong that serves Filipina domestic workers in
Hong Kong; and
+ Slovakia -- part-time with the English-speaking worship community in
Bratislava, part-time religion teacher at the Evanjelicke Lyceum, high
school of the Slovak church.
     The DGM budget for the Horizon International Internship program
this year is $78,450.  It will pay the intern's expenses for
international travel to and from the site, medical insurance, and travel
expenses of a seminary director to visit the intern.  The division
provides the intern's stipend.	DGM will also provide for the interns'
participation in the division's orientation program for new mission
personnel just prior to the start of their service and a re-entry
program for interns in the fall after they have completed their service.
The site provides housing and utilities.
     DGM selected the international sites and interviews seminarians to
match the students with the sites.
     "There are a number of things that I think make an international
internship placement a potentially valuable part of a student's
preparation for ministry," said the Rev. Randolph A. Nelson, director
for contextual education, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.
     "First, there is generally a certain kind of mission mentality at
work in the international congregation.  It cannot take a whole lot for
granted.  It needs to be accessible, flexible and responsive to an
ecumenical and a multicultural congregation.  Students can benefit from
being a part of such a congregation and helping its leadership think
through the implications of mission," Nelson said.
     "Second, the fact that most international congregations are
ecumenical and multicultural puts a premium on being able to present the
gospel clearly and in its basic form.  Third, being in a different
cultural context usually leads to a lot of personal growth as well as
professional growth.  Fourth, the horizons of the student are expanded
by getting a sense of the global character of the church," he said.
     Nelson added that the congregation hosting the intern "benefits in
several ways.  First, by hosting an intern they are serving the church
at large in helping prepare future leaders of the church.  Second, the
intern adds to the overall ministry of the congregation even as he or
she is the recipient of the congregation's hospitality."
-- -- --
     Information about the Horizon Internship Program is maintained at
http://www.elca.org/dm/ethnic/English/horizon.html on the ELCA Web site.

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