ELCA Fund for Leaders in Mission Awards First Eight Scholarships

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
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