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'Making Connections' Already Making a Difference
CHICAGO, IL (May 16, 2006) - The high school students who had been paired with
their youth pastors had come from as far away as Eagle River, Alaska,
and Clay, New York, to deepen their faith in fresh ways at North Park
Theological Seminary during the first offering of Youth Nexus.
Missionary Paul Deneui, who teaches at the seminary, traveled to St.
Paul, Minnesota, to help a pastor organize a funeral for a Hmong member
of her congregation. And, North Park University students have availed
themselves of spiritual direction, many of them for the first time.
These and other examples help illustrate how the first year of a $2
million Lilly Endowment grant has made a significant difference in
connecting the seminary with Covenanters in a variety of ways, says Mary
Miller, director of the Making Connections Initiative that is funded by
the grant.
The Indianapolis-based endowment awarded the grant in 2004 to help
address a number of concerns, including declining numbers of young
people entering the ministry, the dropout rate among young ministers,
and the often felt "isolation" of practicing pastors.
Programs directed by University Ministries on the North Park campus have
greatly expanded as the result of the hiring of seminary interns with
grant funds, notes Miller. This has included the number of small groups
available to undergraduates as well as more personal ministry initiatives.
The number of university students using spiritual directors funded by
the grant comes as a pleasant surprise to Miller, who says, "it's just
amazing how many students wanted to do this."
Youth Nexus is a weeklong institute that pairs youth pastors with their
students for worship, theological reflection, learning projects, and
community building recreational activities. The second year already is
booked.
The grant also is funding a professors-in-residence program, which
allows seminary faculty to visit local churches and meet with members of
the congregations to identify ways in which the school can better
respond to their needs. A program that enables pastors and
superintendents to spend time at the seminary to enhance their spiritual
development also is funded through the grant. While at the seminary,
they also meet with current students and sometimes preach in the chapel,
Miller says.
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