Fund to Provide Financial Support for Lutheran Seminary Students

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recently created a special fund to provide financial support for leadership development in the church. The initial goal of the "Fund for Leaders in Mission" is to raise a $200 million endowment to support tuition costs for the preparation of ordained and lay leaders, said Cynthia Halverson, fund director, Chicago.
The Fund for Leaders in Mission is a churchwide program maintained in the ELCA Foundation.
This fall the fund will provide three-year tuition scholarships to one student attending each of the eight ELCA seminaries, she said. Seminaries are nominating candidates for scholarship consideration, said the Rev. Donald M. Hallberg, executive director of the ELCA Foundation, Chicago, in remarks to the April 8-9 meeting of the ELCA Church Council.
The fund was created to insure men and women who accept the call to ELCA ministry can complete their educations with low debt loads, Halverson said. When fully endowed, the fund will provide full tuition support to every student who has made a commitment to ordained or professional lay ministry -- associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers -- within the ELCA, she said.
As more people learn about it, financial gifts to the fund have increased, said Hallberg. Through the fund the church is saying theological education is "key, important and vital" for the future of the church, he said.
Throughout the church, the ELCA continues to need trained leaders, Halverson said. Yet, over the past few years there has been little growth in the number of candidates for ministry, she said.
The cost of seminary education and the debt it creates is a barrier for many students considering a call to ministry, Halverson said. The average debt for students who borrow money to attend a seminary is $25,000, she said. The average salary package for pastors called to ministry after seminary is $33,000; the average for "mid- career" pastors is $43,000. The compensation package usually includes salary and allocations for housing, Halverson said.
Supporting students while they attend seminary classes creates "the opportunity to serve more freely," said the Rev. Sarah J. Stumme, Trevorton, Pa. Stumme and her husband, the Rev. John C. Berg, are recent seminary graduates from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. They serve three congregations: Zion Lutheran Church, Trevorton; St. Peter Lutheran Church, West Cameron, Pa.; and St. John Lutheran Church, Leck Kill, Pa. Stumme is also a member of the ELCA Church Council.
Many smaller congregations don't have the financial resources to pay more experienced pastors and are often served by those in their first call after seminary, Stumme said. These pastors often begin their work burdened with debts they incurred in seminary, she said.
"We want to be faithful to God's call, particularly in regard to smaller or struggling congregations," Stumme said, "but always in the back of our minds is the awareness of the heavy load of debt we must repay."
In addition, the fund aims to help leaders in their 20s and 30s who are spiritual and service-minded but discouraged from pursuing pastoral ministry because of the costs of seminary education and the debt they may carry, she said.
"If we don't find ways to support people considering seminary, we risk losing a generation of pastors" who simply cannot assume the debt, Stumme said. "We are a service-minded generation, but we have to feel that we can meet our financial obligations and responsibilities while following God's call." --------------------------
More information about the Fund for Leaders in Mission is available by contacting Cynthia Halverson at (800) 638-3522, ext. 2119, by e-mail at chalvers@elca.org, or by writing the ELCA Foundation, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631.

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