ELCA provides 20 seminarians with scholarships

​            CHICAGO (ELCA) – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has awarded 20 students attending ELCA seminaries with full-tuition or mission developer scholarships for the 2014-2015 academic year through ELCA Fund for Leaders – a scholarship program that attracts men and women of promise to study at one of eight ELCA seminaries.

            "As we face 4,000 clergy retirements in the next 10 years, it is ever more important that we do all we can to open the doors for these gifted individuals to come to seminary and lead our congregations," said Rachel Wind, director for the ELCA Fund for Leaders. "The ELCA Fund for Leaders seeks to do just that. And we thank you for your support along the way."
            Wind spoke at an Oct. 4 banquet here to honor 16 first-year seminarians who received full-tuition scholarships through ELCA Fund for Leaders and four seminarians who received mission developer scholarships.
            "This evening, we celebrate the future," Christina Jackson-Skelton, executive director, ELCA Mission Advancement, said of the annual banquet attended by synod bishops, synod vice presidents, seminary presidents, churchwide ministries' leaders, donors and supporters.
            "We celebrate the fact that within this room we have 20 candidates for leadership who will have tremendous impact on the church," she said. "Tonight, amidst conversations surrounding where the ELCA has been, we dare to venture into the future, and these individuals will be the ones to guide us there."
            Students receiving full-tuition scholarships are:

+ Erin Branchaud, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

+ Cassandra Chavez, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif.

+ Ellen Clough, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C.

+ Justin Ferko, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio

+ Preston Fields, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

+ Nicole Harvell, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia

+ Lauren Heywood, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia

+ Alexandra Hjerpe, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa

+ Benjamin Hogue, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary

+ Branden Hunt, Trinity Lutheran Seminary

+ Jamie Jordan-Couch, Wartburg Theological Seminary

+ Emily Kuenker, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.

+ Joshua Parris, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary

+ Chris Schaefer, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg

+ James Vitale, Luther Seminary

+ Ariel Williams, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg

            Students receiving mission developer scholarships are:

+ Laurel Midthun, Luther Seminary

+ Kwame Pitts, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

+ Paul Theiss, Wartburg Theological Seminary

+ Lecia White, Trinity Lutheran Seminary

            ELCA Fund for Leaders began in 2000 with the intention of helping to support seminary students complete their studies without taking on sizeable debt. Since then, the fund has grown at a "tremendous" rate, "allowing for hundreds of students to feel the support of the larger church as they venture into the unknown. The leap is due to the generosity of our donors," Jackson-Skelton said, who thanked guests who have made significant gifts to the ELCA Fund for Leaders.
            "Your generosity has sustained the ELCA Fund for Leaders and grown it to the point that it can support students at our seminaries in such a significant manner. Thank you for your gifts, and for your faith, as many of you were early supporters before the fund was up and running," she said.
            Jackson-Skelton also acknowledged "the exceptional leadership" of the Rev. Eric Wester, who helped create the new ELCA Federal Chaplaincy Scholarship Endowment. This endowment – which is part of Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA – has been launched to raise $300,000 to support candidates for ministry who will be pursuing a federal chaplaincy ministry career path. To date the endowment has earned more than $17,000.
            "This is a truly exciting initiative and an example of utilizing the overall Campaign for the ELCA to leverage other new and innovative programs," Jackson-Skelton said.
            This academic year, the ELCA Fund for Leaders as a whole will award $1.45 million in scholarship funds to 235 students studying at all eight ELCA seminaries. This includes students who are receiving full, half or partial tuition scholarships from the general ELCA Fund for Leaders, and others receiving scholarships of varying amounts from ELCA synod partners.
            Providing full-tuition support to every qualified ELCA seminarian remains the long-term goal of ELCA Fund for Leaders, Wind said. To accomplish that, the fund will need to raise a total of $300 million. "At just over $44 million, we have a long ways to go, but it is clear from the commitment of many that this is not an impossible goal," she said.
            For example, the ELCA Fund for Leaders is poised to grow by $15 million within the next five years as part of Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA, allowing for around $600,000 in new scholarship money, totaling more than $2 million, to be awarded each year. "Can you imagine the impact?" Jackson-Skelton said. "We are nearing the point where scholarships from the ELCA will touch each and every student at each seminary in the ELCA. Join us in the movement to support our future leaders. We are ready to work with your synod, your congregation, your family."
            Information about the ELCA Fund for Leaders is available at www.ELCA.org/fundforleaders on the ELCA website.
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with more than 3.8 million members in nearly 10,000 congregations across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.
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