Lilly Grants Help ELCA Seminaries Create New Programs

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.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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