ELCA to Study 'First Call' Congregations with Lilly Endowment Grant

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) will study the characteristics of congregations that call
new pastors to their "first call" into ministry following
completion of their seminary educations. Lilly Endowment Inc.,
Indianapolis, a private philanthropic foundation, is providing a
$525,000 grant for the project, "The Vocation of First Call
Congregations."
The new four-year project builds on a "Transition into
Ministry" (TiM) grant Lilly Endowment made to the ELCA in 2001,
said Dr. Connie Leean Seraphine, TiM project director, ELCA
Vocation and Education, and director of the new project. The TiM
project focused on leaders in their first ministry calls, ELCA
synods, seminaries and continuing education centers, and it was
aimed at learning what it took to be well prepared and supported
as a person went from the seminary into public ministry,
Seraphine said.
In addition the ELCA recently reached a 10-year milestone
with its commitment to First Call Theological Education (FCTE), a
three-year structured program of theological and practical
education designed to assist newly called leaders in their
transition into public ministry. Nearly all of the ELCA's 65
synods have FCTE programs.
In a recent survey on the progress of FCTE programs, a
common theme was that there was a need to work more effectively
with congregations on how to support their newly called pastors,
Seraphine said.
Helping a seminary graduate move from being in school to
being a pastor can be a difficult transition, said Gretchen
Wolfram, communications director, Lilly Endowment Inc. The
purpose of this latest grant is to learn what attributes
congregations have that lead to early successes for new seminary
graduates, she said.
"From a congregational standpoint, (the ELCA) would know
where these successes are, and help seminary graduates have a
first experience that is helpful and encouraging," Wolfram said.
Results of the project are normally shared with other churches by
the grantee -- the ELCA -- or the Endowment, she added.
When it comes to a first call into ministry, "congregations
matter," Seraphine said.
"We haven't necessarily worked directly with congregations
in how they see their roles with first-call pastors," Seraphine
said. Nearly half of new ELCA pastors' first calls are into
congregations located in small towns and rural areas or multi-
point parishes in which one pastor serves several congregations
in nearby but different locations, she said.
"We know that the congregation plays a significant role in
the first call process," Seraphine said. The project team wants
to know if these congregations see themselves as part of the
wider church's responsibility to raise up and develop leaders,
and if the congregation sees its work with new pastors as a
"vocation," she said.
The project team will start by working with ELCA synods and
other partners to identify and study congregations that have "an
exemplary history" of helping support and form newly called
pastors, Seraphine said. Research shows that some ELCA
congregations have consistently welcomed new pastors right after
completing their seminary educations. Case studies will be
developed with 20 selected congregations, in diverse settings,
and the team will examine factors, values, perspectives and
theology that contribute to positive experiences for the new
pastor.
To develop the case study stories, the team will visit the
congregations, study their histories and documents, and observe
the congregations, both in worship and in service to the pastor,
members and the community.
What is learned from the project's initial phase will guide
the next steps and phases of the project, Seraphine said. Next
steps will likely include development of resources, pilot testing
of resources, coaching congregations and ministry candidates,
exploring new ways for seminaries to prepare new leaders, working
with local committees that support seminary students (known as
candidacy committees), and evaluating and disseminating what is
learned through the project.
The team will focus on three ELCA seminaries and several
synods for the training/coaching phase of the project. The
seminaries to be involved in this phase are Trinity Lutheran
Seminary, Columbus, Ohio; Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago;
and Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa. The ELCA has eight
seminaries.
Synods in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin will be involved in the
training/coaching phase.
Further steps could include development of a congregational
leadership educational series, online training courses, seminars
and a consultation on the vocation of congregations that call new
church leaders.
"Lilly Endowment is excited about probing the concept of
vocation in terms of an organizational identity," Seraphine said,
adding that other church bodies with grants from Lilly Endowment
are also focusing on congregational support of pastors in the
transition from seminary to pastoral leadership.
"The ELCA is the only church in which the whole denomination
is involved," she said. The ELCA is one of three denominations
taking part in the TiM project; others are the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
While the project will focus on best practices and positive
experiences involving congregations and new pastors, the project
team is also committed to study some congregations where new
pastors and their members had negative experiences, to obtain "a
clear and full picture" of congregational dynamics, Seraphine
said.
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Information about Lilly Endowment's "Transition into
Ministry" programs is at
http://www.lillyendowment.org/religion_tim.html on the Web.
Information about First Call Theological Education is at
http://www.ELCA.org/firstcall/ on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog