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Seminary Class Project Raises $1,755 to Buy Cows for Congo
CHICAGO, IL (September 20, 2004) - What started as a lesson in stewardship
turned into an opportunity for ministry as a group of North Park
Theological Seminary (NPTS) students raised more than $1,700 to assist
Covenanters in Congo.
Last fall, Professor Richard Carlson divided his stewardship class into
four teams and gave each $400 to work with. Their assignment was to
decide how to spend the $400 in a way that reflected their values.
A team made up of Jean Gouwens, Amanda Olson, Adria Willett Pearson,
Paul Corner, Lon Hider, Peter Norland, and Mark Swanson decided to
support a cattle replacement program of the Covenant Church of Congo
(CEUM). The program assists CEUM farmers by providing a herd of cattle
(four cows and one bull) at a cost of $1,200. One of the cows is
dedicated "to the Lord's work" and when that cow's offspring are sold,
the profits benefit the farmer's local church. The program is
coordinated by Congo Technical Support, a ministry directed by Covenant
missionary Bob Thornbloom.
The team began the stewardship process by their values about money and
how it should be spent. In their report, they stated that they prayed
about how to corporately decide on a project and "soon found out that
one idea stood out from all the others, making our final decision a
joyful unanimous one."
"The option was a great fit with the values we held," the report
continued. "We knew giving to an international cause was going to
stretch our dollar much more than if given to a local cause. We also
wanted to give where the need was great. We recognized that this was a
project that was sustainable, not simply a quick fix. It had the
potential to dramatically affect things within the community as a whole."
Some of the project team met with Thornbloom to gain further information
about the program's logistics. Once the group was convinced of the
viability of the project, they began asking friends, classmates, and
others to give money, turning their $400 into $1,755. The team stated
that their work did more than help a cause-- it gave them much food for
thought about a Covenant ministry, about a needy people, and about the
Congo church, which has remained faithful despite the tragedies of a
civil war that had raged for years. Their work was significant to
Carlson, who is happy to see such substantial fruit from his classes in
recent years.
Carlson had the original idea for the stewardship project in 1985, and
began having students work with small amounts of money. Three years ago,
he received additional funds that were designated for stewardship
education, which allowed students to work with larger amounts of money.
"The benefits are not only the learning the students get about money
and handling things entrusted to them," Carlson said, "but the learning
they get about how to be a team and coming to a consensus. One of the
surprises for me is that this team took $400 and gave away $1,755. Other
teams have more than doubled their money but quadrupling it is
significant - and they did this in 13 weeks by asking people for it."
Carlson's latest stewardship class, which meets on Monday nights this
fall, is currently coordinating its own efforts and the final results
are due in December.
For more about the cattle resettlement program, contact Thornbloom at
Covenant World Mission, 5101 N. Francisco Avenue, Chicago IL 60625.
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