wfn.org | ELCA Fund for Leaders in Mission Awards First Eight Scholarships

[news@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 27, 2000

ELCA FUND FOR LEADERS IN MISSION AWARDS FIRST EIGHT SCHOLARSHIPS
00-224-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA)   The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
awarded more than $52,000 in scholarships to provide full tuition for
eight women and men studying at ELCA seminaries.  The ELCA's Fund for
Leaders in Mission handed out its first scholarships here Sept. 27.
     "Support for the preparation of leaders has long been a priority
of the people and congregations of the ELCA," said Cynthia Halverson,
Fund director, ELCA Foundation.  "The Fund for Leaders in Mission is a
creative effort to build on this tradition of support with a commitment
of tuition assistance and a resounding 'yes' of affirmation and
encouragement to those who want to respond to the call to serve," she
said.
     "With increasing costs related to higher education and the growing
challenge of attracting people to ministry leadership, direct support of
our ELCA seminaries and to the students who make great sacrifices to
attend them has never been more urgent," said Halverson.
     Living expenses for a single student are about $10,000 plus
tuition, said Halverson.  A second-career student with a family can have
living expenses of $20,000 per year plus tuition, she said.
     "Students must often incur significant debt to complete four years
of theological education," said Halverson.  "That debt can make it
difficult for them to accept calls to smaller or struggling
congregations, because they cannot repay their loans on the smaller
salaries those churches can afford.  The Fund addresses this concern by
reducing debt loads and allowing graduates to more freely serve where
they are called," she said.
     The ELCA formed in 1988 from the merger of three Lutheran church
bodies and brought together eight seminaries.  The church has 5.15
million member in 10,851 congregations, organized into 65 synods, across
the United States and Caribbean.
     "While seminaries raise scholarship money for their students, in
addition to receiving subsidies from the church at large and from
synods, much of the cost of theological education still falls on the
students themselves," Halverson said.
     The Fund's long-term goal is to support full tuition for every
qualified student at an ELCA seminary who has a commitment to ordained
or lay ministry.  Lay ministers of the ELCA are associates in ministry,
deaconesses and diaconal ministers.
     To reach its long-term goal, "the Fund seeks to raise $200 million
in endowment over the next 25 years, while funding a current scholarship
program," said Halverson.  "The early and future success of the Fund is
tied directly to the power of partnerships -- partnerships between the
seminaries, the synods, the ordained and lay leaders, the congregations
and individuals of the church," she said.
     The financial partnership of two fraternal benefit societies --
Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), Appleton, Wis., and Lutheran
Brotherhood, Minneapolis -- made it possible that all other gifts to the
Fund might go immediately toward tuition support, she said.  Lutheran
Brotherhood and AAL each underwrote the Fund with $500,000.
     In August an anonymous donor pledged $1 million of appreciated
securities to the Fund.  Halverson said this is the largest gift to the
Fund and will endow another eight full-tuition scholarships every year,
beginning in 2001.  More than $5 million in current and planned gift
commitments have been made in support of the Fund, she said.
     "The hope and promise of this initiative comes from the support of
individuals and families who want to have an impact on the preparation
of future leaders through support to students.  The Fund provides this
opportunity for people who may not have previously been connected with
theological education," Halverson said.
     Seven scholarship recipients are studying to become ELCA pastors,
and one is preparing to become a diaconal minister:
+ Carol J. Book, a member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Naperville,
Ill., attends Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif.
+ Ross Ian Carmichael, a member of Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church, Saint
John, Ind., attends the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa.
+ Andrea Jean Marie Johnson, Frankfort, Mich., is studying for the
ELCA's diaconal ministry.  She is a member of Grace Lutheran Church,
Hendersonville, N.C., and attends Lutheran Theological Southern
Seminary, Columbia, S.C.
+ Paul Koch, Golden Valley, Minn., a member or Mount Olive Lutheran
Church, Minneapolis, attends Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.
+ Charles Vernon Newman, a member of Ascension Lutheran Church, Los
Angeles, attends the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
+ Kevan Dale Penvose, a member of Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd,
Brooklyn, Ohio, attends Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio.
+ Laura Elaine Sinche, a member of St. Peter Lutheran Church, Stafford,
Va., attends the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.
+ Lynnae I. Sorensen, a member of Abiding Presence Lutheran Church, San
Antonio, Texas, is a student at Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque,
Iowa, attending the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest, Austin,
Texas.
     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 of seminary.
     Scholarship recipients demonstrated potential for leadership in
the church and financial need.  Potential for leadership is determined
by academic performance and by volunteer experience in the congregation
and community.
-- -- --
     The ELCA Foundation maintains current balance amounts and donor
information for the Fund at http://www.elca.org/fo/fo_flim1.html on the
ELCA Web site.

EDITORS: "Kevan" and "Lynnae" are spelled correctly.

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