ELCA Fund for Leaders in Mission Awards Sixteen Scholarships

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) awarded more than $163,000 in scholarships to provide full tuition for 16 women and men attending ELCA seminaries. The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, presented the scholarships here Sept. 26 from the church's Fund for Leaders in Mission.
In addition to the new scholarships, the Fund is financing tuition for eight second-year students who received scholarships in 2000.
"The ELCA needs a new generation of gifted people to study and prepare for leading, teaching, helping and healing here at home and throughout the world," said Cynthia Halverson, Fund director, ELCA Foundation. "The Fund for Leaders in Mission was created to encourage this new generation to come forward and provide support, so that they can serve, without burdensome debt, where they are needed most," she said.
"We are thrilled that in just the second year of the Fund scholarship program we are able to provide full-tuition support for 24 students. We can do this because the people and congregations of the ELCA understand the significance of supporting future leaders for the ministry and mission of our church," Halverson said.
"Good theological education that truly equips people for effective service to the world requires adequate financial resources. The ELCA seminaries work hard to provide this education on behalf of the whole church and often struggle to keep up with significant funding challenges," Halverson said. "After income from endowment, tuition and churchwide grants, ELCA seminaries must raise an additional $6,000 per student just to meet educational costs. The Fund for Leaders in Mission is a creative effort to bring a new funding source to theological education in the ELCA," she 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 ministries of the ELCA are associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.
The ELCA formed in 1988 from the merger of three Lutheran church bodies and brought together eight seminaries. The church has 5.13 million members in 10,816 congregations, organized into 65 synods across the United States and Caribbean.
To reach its long-term goal, "the Fund seeks to raise $200 million for endowment while supporting a current scholarship program," Halverson said.
"The start-up costs of the Fund, which included the first three years of operations, are covered by initial grants of $500,000 each from Aid Association for Lutherans and Lutheran Brotherhood, which allow for 100 percent of all gifts made before January 1, 2004, to go directly to scholarship assistance." As of July 30, 2001, more than $9 million in gifts and deferred gift commitments has been received, she said.
Aid Association for Lutherans is a fraternal benefit organization based in Appleton, Wis. Lutheran Brotherhood is a fraternal benefit organization based in Minneapolis.
"The Fund for Leaders in Mission continues to receive strong support from individuals, congregations and synods," Halverson said.
The sixteen scholarship recipients, who received this year's scholarships and are studying to become ELCA pastors and seminary- trained lay leaders are: + Suzanne M. Beauregard, First Lutheran Church, East Greenwich, R.I., attends the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa. + Rachael Charlene Ridenour Dietz, St. Luke Lutheran Church, Richmond, Va., attends the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C. + Sean L. Forde, Advent Lutheran Church, Boca Raton, Fla., attends Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. + Meghan Calhoun Johnston, Emanuel Lutheran Church, Lodi, Calif., attends the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. + Aaron Klink, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Eden Prairie, Minn., attends the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. + Sally Mitchell, St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Cottage Grove, Minn., attends Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa. + Brad Wayne Otto, United Evangelical Lutheran Church, Schulenburg, Texas, attends the Lutheran Seminary Program of the Southwest, Austin, Texas. + Jo Quanbeck, Zion Lutheran Church, Fairview, Mont., attends Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. + James Alan Pike, Sierra Evangelical Lutheran Church, Sierra Vista, Ariz., attends Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio. + Erik Samuelson, University Congregation, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Wash., attends Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif. + Crystal Schrader, Christ Lutheran Church, Des Moines, Iowa, attends the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. + Matthew Allen Short, Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., attends Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio. + Darcy Skarsten, St. John Lutheran Church, Linthicum Heights, Md., attends the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa. + Heather Stenberg, Bethel Lutheran Church, Greenbush, Minn., attends Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif. + Heidi L. Torgerson, Martin's Lutheran Church, Casselton, N.D., attends the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. + Alexander H. Twedt, Mt. Horeb Lutheran Church, Chapin, S.C., attends the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C.
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/fundsforleaders/index.html on the ELCA Web site.

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