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Seminary Awarded $2 Million Lilly Grant
CHICAGO, IL (December 9, 2004) - North Park Theological Seminary has been
awarded a $2 million implementation grant from the Indianapolis-based
Lilly Endowment Inc. as part of the endowment's Making Connections
Initiative, a national effort to expand and energize collaborations that
will foster excellent clergy and engaged congregations.
"Making Connections is the latest endowment initiative to address issues
facing many Christian denominations in recent decades," states the award
notification from Lilly Endowment. Those issues include "declining
numbers of young people entering the ministry, the 'dropout' rate among
young ministers and the often-felt 'isolation' of practicing pastors."
The North Park grant will fund three programs that over the next five
years will focus on effective connections between the seminary, North
Park University and the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). The programs
are part of a seminary effort "to call a new generation of promising
young people into Christian ministry, improve the seminary's programs of
theological education and enhance the ministry of pastoral leaders,"
according to a seminary spokesperson. Highlights of the three programs
are as follows:
- Youth Nexus: the Center for Youth Ministry Studies will oversee a
project that brings high school juniors and their youth pastors to
campus for week-long summer institutes called "Youth Nexus," to engage
both groups in theological reflection, worship, experience learning
projects and community building recreational activities.
- Connecting the Seminary and University Ministries: the grant will
facilitate additional collaboration between the seminary and the Office
of University Ministries, which engages undergraduates in worship, small
groups, spiritual formation and a variety of ministries within the
community, the city, the nation and the world. "The seminary's resources
in theological studies and spiritual formation, the leadership potential
of seminary students and the future ministry potential of these
undergraduates makes this a collaboration that promises to be
particularly fruitful, both for seminary students and for undergraduates
who should consider theological study and ministry," the spokesperson says.
- Pastor in Residence/Professor in Residence: the grant also provides
funding to expand significantly the seminary's Pastor in Residence
program to connect the seminary more fully with ECC pastors and, as much
as possible, to involve them more effectively in the seminary's
educational process. Funding also will allow implementation of a program
that will send selected faculty to key congregations to learn from them
how best the seminary can serve them and their developing ministries and
to present the resources of the seminary to congregations.
"The schools receiving grants in this initiative (20 to date) have, for
the most part, decided to focus their attention on several key issues,"
says Craig Dykstra, the endowment's vice president for religion,
including "establishing and strengthening connections with
congregations, creating programs for beginning pastors to benefit from
the wisdom of established ministers, involving congregations in both the
calling of young people to ministry and of supporting young seminary
graduates, establishing or expanding programs for urban or rural
ministries, and setting up denominational cooperative programs.
"We anticipate that the partnerships established or enhanced through the
Making Connections Initiative will strengthen the ecology of
institutions necessary to call and equip a new generation of church
leaders, just as it seeks to sustain excellent ministry going on today,"
Dykstra continued. "We are pleased to offer resources to help forge the
partnerships needed to strengthen ministry in congregations in this
country. It is an exciting journey."
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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