wfn.org | ELCA Sponsors Horizon Internships for 28 Seminarians

[NEWS@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 19, 2003

ELCA Sponsors Horizon Internships for 28 Seminarians
03-211-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) helped arrange seminary internships in 28 churches and
other ministry settings from Nome, Alaska, to New Amsterdam,
Guyana, this academic year.  The ELCA Horizon 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 the third year.  Horizon interns complete that
third year of seminary education with rural, urban,
multicultural, mission development or international ministries.
     Twenty-three ELCA congregations across the United States are
participating in the Horizon Internship Program during the 2003-
2004 academic year:
     + Our Saviors Lutheran Church, Nome, Alaska
     + Central City Lutheran Mission, San Bernardino, Calif.
     + Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Denver
     + Luther Place Memorial Church, Washington, D.C.
     + New Hope Lutheran Church, Shoshone, Idaho
     + Cristo Rey Lutheran Church, Chicago
     + Shepherd of the Prairie Lutheran Church, Huntley, Ill.
     + First Lutheran Church, Cresco, Iowa
     + Good Samaritan Lutheran Church, Lexington Park, Md.
     + St. Olaf Lutheran Church, Minneapolis
     + Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, Minneapolis
     + Bethany/St. John Lutheran Church, Jersey City, N.J.
     + Grace Chinese Lutheran Church, Elmhurst, N.Y.
     + Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan, New York
     + House of Prayer, Syracuse, N.Y.
     + Salem Lutheran Church, Toledo, Ohio
     + Redeemer Lutheran Church, Portland, Ore.
     + St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bethlehem, Pa.
     + Reformation Lutheran Church, Philadelphia
     + St. Mark Lutheran Church, Philadelphia
     + Trinity Lutheran Church, Blanco, Texas
     + San Miguel Lutheran Church, Forth Worth, Texas
     Horizon internship sites in the United States and Caribbean
are approved for a two-year cycle, which may be renewed following
the second year with an updated application.
     The ELCA Division for Ministry and Division for Outreach
review and approve Horizon internship applications in
consultation with a site selection team.  They recruit and screen
seminarians and congregations to match the needs of each.
     The divisions and site selection team work closely with the
church's 10,721 congregations through 65 synods, eight seminaries
and the ELCA Division for Global Mission.
     Interns earn a stipend and may require housing, and that
could be a financial hardship for some congregations.  The
responsibility for funding a Horizon internship is normally
divided equally between the ministry site, the synod where it is
located and the divisions.
     The ELCA Division for Ministry committed $150,000 and the
Division for Outreach contributed $95,000 this year to support
the Horizon Internship Program.
     The ELCA Division for Global Mission (DGM) placed interns at
five international sites:
     + Buenos Aires, Argentina -- Iglesia Evangelica Luterana Unida --
which includes working with the Martin Luther Parish, the Office
of Women and a program for street children.
     + Copenhagen, Denmark -- International Church of Copenhagen, an
ecumenical congregation with members of about 25 nationalities.
     + Berlin, Germany -- the American Church in Berlin, an
English-speaking congregation.
     + New Amsterdam, Guyana -- Ebenezer Lutheran Church, a
congregation of the Lutheran Church in Guyana.
     + Moscow, Russia -- Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy, an English-
speaking congregation with members from nearly 30 different
countries; almost two-thirds of its members are African.
     The DGM budget for the Horizon International Internship
program this year is $83,150.  It pays the intern's expenses for
international travel to and from the site and medical insurance.
The division provides the intern's stipend.
     DGM also provides 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
internship site provides housing and utilities.
     DGM selects the international sites and interviews
seminarians to match the students with the sites.
-- -- --
The ELCA Division for Ministry maintains information about
the Horizon Internship Program in English at
http://www.elca.org/DM/ethnic/English/horizon.html  and in
Spanish at http://www.elca.org/DM/ethnic/Spanish/horizon.html on
the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news