A more expansive view: a blog about encounters with Presbyterians and seminaries

Why Does an Educated Clergy Matter?

Carol Howard Merritt has written and argued that we can no longer afford an educated clergy. I am grateful for her inviting the PC(USA), in particular, and the church of Jesus Christ, in general, to be intentional about financially supporting seminarians and pastors, especially as they begin their ministry. It is true that many congregations opt out of calling a seminary trained pastor for practical and financial reasons and fewer, if any, for theological ones. However, I question the diagnosis and the prescription.

Saying we can no longer afford an educated clergy is like saying hospitals can no longer afford doctors, schools can no longer afford teachers, or construction companies can no longer afford engineers. Highly skilled, educated, formed leaders in all of these fields are essential to mission of their organizations and institutions. The same is true about churches; without well-educated pastors and other leaders the whole project begins to crumble, ministry becomes obsolete, and the church fails to accomplish its mission. Each congregation is unique and some can be faithfully served by those trained in alternative ways. However, the whole church needs leaders educated in theology, the Bible, and a wide variety of practical pastoral skills for it to be relevant in these days.

Why? Ministry of Word and Sacrament is a demanding, multi-cultural, and multi-dimensional calling that requires a good theological education. Our church, among other things, needs leaders who are skillful exegetes of scripture and society, adept spiritual mentors for congregations and individuals, gifted guides in ministry analysis and practice toward the justice God calls us to seek, adaptive and energetic leaders for our complex and ever-changing times, faithful and non-anxious theological translators and sense-makers in the midst of our confusing contemporary situations, authentic and passionate daily witnesses to God’s love and grace in Jesus Christ, responsible, responsive and ecumenical community organizers for the good of the gospel, articulate and provocative proclaimers and preachers of the good news, and more! It is no wonder that educated leaders who are healthy emotionally and spiritually are best able to answer this high calling.

The formation that takes place in the midst of educational settings provides a place and space for this formation to take place. Ministry education can take the form of reading a book, enrolling in a seminary degree program or continuing education event, participating in a ministry cohort, among other ways. The Carnigie Foundation's 2006 comprehensive study, Educating Clergy,  points to the pastoral imagination formed through competent teaching practices.

Now is the time, more than ever, for us to work together on creative solutions including possible new ways of funding theological education and meeting the terms of call an educated clergy requires. The Committee on Theological Education is talking about this in some generative ways.

We are wondering about the role of scholarships for seminarians and undergraduates. We are looking at how heavily endowment dependent seminaries with funds designated for certain projects and not others can best be financially supported by the larger church. We are asking if congregations and individual Presbyterians really know the depth and breadth of these issues and, if they did, would they reprioritize their stewardship of funds entrusted to their care? We are investigating partnership models of transition in to ministry that include funding of ministry from local, regional, outside and national sources especially for smaller congregations in rural and urban settings.

Even in these tight financial times, our seminaries are doing their part by inviting gifted leaders to consider ministry as a vocation and providing needed scholarships and grants to students. Seminaries and their supporters underwrite the vast majority of students expenses when need is proven. They do that by keeping tuition low through the responsible raising of funds and management of their endowments or other funding streams. Those endowments, by the way, are not slush funds but economic generators that power theological schools.  They are invested and, due to the down market, have been reduced.  Prudent plans are in place and we all all hopeful that new life will emerge there.  In the meantime, denomination-wide funding only accounts for 1-2% of most PC(USA) Seminary budgets. We can do better and our Theological Education Fund Seminary Support Network is working hard in presbyteries and congregations to invite them to participate.

Our proposed New Form of Government reclaims the title of the minister of Word and Sacrament as a "Teaching Elder." Teaching Elders make ancient texts, written over hundreds of years in multiple settings, relevant for today in particular communities and situations. It is no wonder an educated clergy has been, I believe will continue to be, essential to discipleship and mission in the Presbyterian Church.

Carol and I have written blogs, others have written comments and responses, the God Complex Radio program including me as a guest, hosted by Carol and Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow. Now, I’d like to know what you think. What are your ideas?

Lee from Louisville.

$30 Million Gift to Univ. of Dubuque

Any time someone gives so generously from such passion to a worthy cause I am called to reexamine my own stewardship of resources entrusted to my care.  However, during these difficult financial times this tremendous gift made me gasp, not unlike many on the University of Dubuque campus did on Tuesday of this week.  I arrived in Dubuque yesterday with a delegation of Committee on Theological Education (COTE) members along with Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk and Linda Valentine, Executive Director of the General Assembly Council.  The glow from gift was shining bright and many remained stunned, as I did, about the magnitude of it and it’s transformational nature.

Linda and JoeChalpaty have made this contribution to build a fine arts center, renovate student housing, and endow three faculty chaires including one at the UD Theological Seminary.   

I shook hands with Mr. Chlapaty last night, a UD alum and current chair of their Board of Trustees.  He talks about humility in light of this gift.  The Rev. Dr. Jeffery Bullock, President of UD, talks about it in theological terms.  “There is something holy about it and beyond our ability to comprehend.”  Humble holiness…. what a beautiful thing to witness!

That spirit of humility and holiness; deep stewardship of a mystery grounded in the good news was just as clear last night at the annual Faculty Hall of Fame dinner.  Three awards for excellence in teaching and advising were awarded and those faculty members spoke.  An English teacher who coaches soccer and teaches a Bible study, an aviation professor who takes on way beyond her fair share of advisees, and a librarian who recently edited a newly released history of UD.   Child of the Church: Univ. of Dubuque 1852-2008 is the most comprehensive history of the University to date… and even now it is being rewritten in amazing ways.  Thanks be to God!

I was asked to give the benediction at the dinner and after thanking UD and quoting David LaMotte, offered a prayer something like this:

“I have a lot of hope for the future. I have a lot of faith things are going to work out fine.  I have a lot of dreams for a better world.  I have a lot of work to do if I am going to make them mine.”  We have a lot of work to do in service to God.  So may we go now giving thanks for a connectional church, for colleagues (board, staff, students, and faculty), for classmates, confirmation classes, a clear call in service to God, this university (college and seminary), and especially the gifts of those we have honored tonight (John, Polly, and Samuel).  And may the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of Christ be with us now and always.  Amen.

May we find ways to give of ourselves in transformative ways today and the days to come.

Lee from Dubuque, Iowa

Addressing Seminarian Debt by Auburn Seminary

This is a great video for anyone considering seminary or in seminary to consider as they plan financially.  I encourage you to share it.  PC(USA) Seminary Financial Aid Officiers and others have worksheets that can be shared as well. It is especially timely in the current state of the economy! Thanks Auburn Seminary!

Student Loans and Seminary Costs: How to keep from mortgaging your future from Auburn Theological Seminary on Vimeo. Lee from Louisville

We Can't Afford to Not Educate Pastors

Shift Happens

View more presentations from Jeff Brenman.

This presentation, in various forms, has been circulating around thein board rooms, class rooms, social networking websites like Facebook, and the blogosphere.  I wonder what you think about it? 

The research presented talks about the shift from West to East and from a paper to a digital age, among other things.  I wonder if theological education in the PC(USA) and the larger Church will become more valuable as if, when, and as shift takes place and gaps widen?  Will we not need gifted interpreters with sharpened skills to exegete and make sense of the culture through scripture and theology more than ever.

I firmly believe that we need good pastors, analytically trained in our seminaries, to make sense of the global shifting taking place.  This has been true in the past and the present.... and surely will be in the future. 

It has been posited by a Presbyterian, blogger, and author Carol Howard Merritt that "We no longer can afford an educated clergy."  After making this case based on growing educational debt, fewer churches willing to play a living wage, and the increased use of Comissioned Lay Pastors, Merritt asks some pointed questions worth considering:

[W]ill we begin to figure out ways to pay our seminary graduates? Will we begin to shift our resources, so that they are no longer feeding their families with food stamps? Will we stop shaming the clergy for being greedy, and calling on them to make more and more sacrifices, when they already made an incredibly huge sacrifice to Sallie Mae?  When will we acknowledge that we can no longer afford an educated clergy, and do something about it?

She does not seem to be so much a critic of educated clergy as much an advocate for fair pay and sound and accountable financial habits.

One thing seems clear, there is a lack intentionality about addressing these and other leadership and funding issues as the world changes all around us.  I agree with people like Dan Aleshire, the long time Executive Director of the Association of Theological Schools, there will be more change in theological education in the next 25 years than in the previous 25 and that we as the church would not be wise to abandon our theological schools.  It would resemble, as he says,

a farmer's decision to sell the seed corn because he needed the money.  In the short run it may help; in the long term, the results could be disastrous for the church.(Earthen Vessels (2008),133).

Adam Copeland, among a dozen or more other commented on this blogpost by Carol by asking another good question: "...How about CPM's carefully limiting the numbers of candidates and then getting them more funding?" 

Carol wrote her post on Holy Saturday, at the end of a long Holy Week.  I wonder if we might be able to find Easter resurrection in this story?  Thanks for the questions!  What do you think?

Peace to you,

Lee in Louisville

Meeting tomorrow with the Presbytery and Synod leaders of the Theological Education Fund Seminary Support Network.

 

Life on Shifting Sand: Our Journey of Faith in Lent and Beyond

Church on Sundays and a week at the beach each Summer are two of the most sacred times ingrained in me from an early age.  If I miss either one, which I have from time to time, my whole life seems out of order.  I spend much more time recovering from the disorienting experience than if I would have made the sacred time a priority.  Many of the same things happen from week to week, in the case of church, and year to year, in the case of the beach, but none are exactly the same.  People change, the context changes, and other circumstances change. 

When we begin to get geared up for our beach trip we become big fans of the Weather Channel.  Hurricane forecasts are watched closely and travel plans adjusted accordingly.  When we get to the same beach house we have visited for close to three decades, we tune in even closer to the weather.  A handy dandy weather alert radio is on hand and gets turned on just after the air conditioning unit. 

We also watch the tide charts closely to plan the best time to swim, walk, or chase minnows.  We catch a few... but do more chasing than catching!  Sand castles, sand hideouts and other sand sculptures are a daily ritual as well.  My now nine year old son really like to play and build in the sand.  Like me, he takes pride in his work and grieves when the waves wash them away.  After dinner we usually visit our sand creations one more time for we are certain they will be washed away overnight.

Lent is rightfully framed as a journey.  Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and the cross and we move along with him in the Gospel story.  Life in faith is really always a journey.  Some of the territory may seem familiar, the structures may appear to be the same, but we must find ways to accommodate our faith and life to changing times.  As I listened to Brian McLaren and Louisville Seminary recently this truth became abundantly clear.  Author, speaker, networker, and Christian activist, McLaren talks about the deep shift we are going through globally in society, in the religious world, and especially in the Church.  He talks about the hurricane of changes that take place about every 500 years and we are in one now. 

So as we celebrate the Calvin 500 year Jubilee in multiple ways in the PC(USA) and beyond, it seems right that we are beginning to re-envision ourselves as a church, allow ourselves to be reformed by the Word of God and calling of the Holy Spirit. 

The economic recession may be the symptom, but I believe that deeper and more systemic issues are being raised in these days that are social, political, environmental, organizational, vocational, epistemological, among others, as much or more than they are economic.  Most of all, the issues we face in our day are theological ones.  For whatever our frame of reference, who we, as people of faith, understand God to be and to be calling us to do and be is our primary text.  All others are secondary.

Seminaries are talking about his in classrooms, residential buildings, refectories, chapels, and even board rooms.  Adjustments are being made as the tide and weather changes.  They are becoming now, as much as ever, adaptive and mission driven in service to God and the Church.  No, it is not easy times and programs and staff may be cut here and there, but the core will remain.  The journey on the shifting sands may make us all, including our beloved theological schools, all the stronger.

Lee in Louisville, as Spring begins to bloom. 

P.S.  Stay on top of the "weather!"

Sara P. Little: Celebrating the Life of a Legendary Theological & Christian Educator

Sara Little died on March 4th in Charlotte, NC with services being held yesterday (March 10th) at Sharon Presbyterian Church.  She was 89 years old.  Forrest Palmer, Executive Associate Presbyter for Greater Atlanta Presbyteryand Educator himself may have said it best:  "Sara Little was a pioneer in the field of Christian Education. As one of her students, she provide an important foundation in my understanding of Christian Education. Her books and teaching reached out to many across the world. I am grateful for her ministry and legacy."  In 1979 she was the Educator of the Year for the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators.  On June 19, 2002 she was recognized by the General Assembly of the PC(USA) with the life time achievement Award for Excellence in Theological Education by the Committee on Theological Education (COTE).  Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel responded to the report and recommendation by inviting the Assembly to stand and recognize a "hero."  She is the only person to date to be recognized by both APCE and COTE with their top awards.

 

Hero, pioneer, educator, author, and legacy are just a few of the ways Sara Little will be remembered.  Professor Emerita at Union Theological Seminary and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education, Dr. Little's "teachings in Christian education theory and practice are still lifted up as the gold standard in many a classroom."  (Candace Hill, Coordinator for Educational Ministries, Theology Worship and Education, GAC) 

Laura Mendenhall, President of Columbia Theological Seminary placed the Award for Excellence in Theological Education around Dr. Little's neck at the April 2001 meeting of the COTE.  Dr. Mendenahall, like Dr. Little, was a Christian educator and a theological educator... and part of a cadre of women that are true heros for the PC(USA) that includes other seminary presidents Cynthia Campbell at McCormick and Barbara Wheeler at Auburn. 

 Sara joins a cloud of witnesses that have died in recent we will all miss in the PC(USA) and especially the theological education world: John Evans, Jack Stotts and others.

Lee in Louisville hoping for Spring to bloom soon!

Tor read more:

• Richmond Times-Dispatch

 Charlotte Observer

• Union-PSCE Tribute 

Don Shriver Speaks This Week

Ordained over forty years ago and honorably retired over ten years ago, the Rev. Dr. Donald W. Shiver, Jr.’s journey of faithful of service to the church, the world and the academy is storied.  That story has a new highlight, the 2009 Grawemeyer Award in Religion  Established in 1985 by a Presbyterian, H. Charles Grawemeyer, these  five annual $200,000 prizes given in the fields of music, political science, psychology, education and religion are designed to help make the world a better place.  Free public lectures by winners are delivered each year.  The award in religion is given as a cooperative effort between the University of Louisville  and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, March 4^th  at 7:00 p.m. in the Caldwell Chapel at Louisville Seminary Don Shiver will receive the award and deliver a lecture based on his award winning book from 2005, Honest Patriots: Loving a Country Enough to Remember Its Misdeeds.   Shriver posits that The United States must own up to past sins such as slavery and taking land away from Native Americans before it can be a truly great nation.  In addition to the lecture, Shriver will preach on Thursday, March 5^th in the Chapel at 10:10 a.m. Watch for the podcast later, if you cannot make it.

This book feels like a follow-up with a plan on the 2007 Grawemeyer winner, Blood Done Sign My Name.  This Timothy Tyson book was also a landmark book and probably the book that has moved me the most this decade.

 

Don Shriver, a former Union Seminary president, is the epitome of a theologian for the church.  Thanks be to God!

Lee, recovering from the flu in Louisville!

Katharine Henderson: New Auburn President as Wheeler leads Study Center

The Rev. Dr. Katharine Rhodes Henderson, Executive Vice President of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City, has been elected its next president effective July 1, 2009.  Barbara Wheeler has led Auburn for thirty years will continue as the Director of the widely respected Center for the Study of Theological Education at Auburn as the demand for research and consulting increases.

The Committee on Theological Education has no better partner than Barbara Wheeler.  Her voice, research, wisdom, and faithful counsel has and will continue to have an extremely positive and expansive effect on the ministry and mission of seminaries together and individually.   We also welcome a friend and colleague to our table in Katharine Henderson.  A gifted leader and visionary theologian, Dr. Henderson will strengthen our common work in theological education in the PC(USA).  For that, I am grateful.

Mark Hostetter, chair of Auburn’s Board of Directors, said of Katharine Henderson’s appointment, “Recognizing in Katharine a person of international reputation who has all the qualities and commitments we seek, we are proud to appoint her as president. We are excited that Auburn is poised to have even deeper transformational impact on religious leadership. Under Barbara Wheeler’s extremely successful 30-year leadership, Auburn has built a reputation for excellence in many areas. The Center for the Study of Theological Education is a special source of pride and a permanent part of Auburn’s mission.  We are very pleased that Barbara will devote full-time to its vital work as Katharine leads the whole institution into the future.”

Author of God’s Troublemakers: How Women of Faith are Changing the World, Henderson said: “Building on Barbara Wheeler’s distinguished presidency, it is my vision that Auburn emerges as a premier center for religious leaders to find theological depth, multifaith understanding, media savvy and literacy about the moral dimensions of public issues. Between the poles of secularism and religious fundamentalisms, Auburn stands boldly as a Presbyterian institution with multifaith commitments, convinced of the power of religion to promote the progressive values of peace and justice, inclusion and interdependence.” In addition to strengthening Auburn’s programs for Christian leaders, Henderson has attracted a multifaith staff. Among the program leaders are a Reform rabbi who leads Auburn’s multifaith work and a Palestinian Muslim director of Face to Face/ Faith to Faith, a program that brings together teenage leaders from religious conflict zones around the world and the U.S. to learn how their religious traditions can be resources for making peace. Henderson’s longer term vision entails harnessing state-of-the-art technology to build a virtual campus.

James A Forbes, former Senior Minister at Riverside Church said of Dr. Henderson’s book “Troublemakers identifies a latent power in each of us to help change the world from ‘what it is to what it could be.’ It describes a process of character formation, which released the power in some remarkable women of faith and action, and it’s certain to move us from silent complacency to conscientious commitment to peace, justice, and compassion…a primer for bold and fruitful progressive witness!”

Letty Cottin Pogrebin of Ms Magazine said of the book, “Through her probing interviews with twenty change-makers, Katharine Henderson has illuminated the path to ethical action and personified the transformative possibilities of leadership. This book of practical strategy and pure inspiration proves that one person can change the world by using power differently—not to control but to empower, advocate, and ignite the passions of others.”

Barbara Wheeler has ignited passions and empowered others and Katharine Henderson has as well.  May we give thanks that each will be doing this in a newly empowered ways in these days.

Lee from Louisville.

More Time to Reflect: Looking out the Window

The pastor of the “Mayberry” Presbyterian Church/ First in Mt. Airy, NC, Steve Lindsley  encouraged me this past Sunday to start blogging again.  I was there to preach for morning worship and had the added bonus of connecting again with my college and summer camp friend Steve. 

Well, Steve is right:  it has been almost a month since my last entry.  I apologize to you faithful readers out there.  On January 20^th I wondered about a “new way forward.”  With the financial crisis hitting our seminaries I was very concerned about what would be our next steps.  Some plans are being put into place, but it will not be easy.  I guess I needed a mini-sabbatical, of sorts, from writing.  So thank you for your patience. 

Well, I did have some time with my a cohort group of mine that began with the Union-PSCERehoboth Project in the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic and my presbytery, Coastal Carolina, in particular.  A Sustaining Pastoral Excellence project, Rehoboth, gathered presbytery staff, pastors, educators and college staff together to rest and reflect in a wide open and freeing way.  Although our grant money provided by the project and the Lilly Endowment has run out, our group continues to gather no less than annually.  It always feels like a mini-sabbatical… one I needed.  I believe all church leaders need time away with a cohort of colleagues.    

So after preaching at First Presbyterian in Mt. Airy, I was able to easily make the transition into another SPE project of the Office of Theology and Worship: Reforming Ministry.  A group of Presbyterian seminary and college folk along with presbytery executives and pastors gathered for three days of intense reflection on a Healthy Pastoral Eco-System.  I and others were renewed by the forward thinking ideas discussed.

It's teacher conference time at our house and my eight year old son’s teacher asked my son, Garrison, to fill out a report on his progress.  Last night I reviewed that report.  He marked areas he felt he had mastered and other areas where he needed to grow.  The last question asked about what he wished he had more time to do.  He responded in this way: “Read, write, and look out the window.” 

This morning I asked him what he meant by looking out of the window?  Although he is fairly introverted and able to stay quite focused on any given project he answered in a profound way.  “When I look out the window, things are not moving so my thoughts are not interrupted.” 

Take time today or soon… for a moment or for a few days to “look out of the window” to “get in the balcony” as Ron Heifetz says… to rest, reflect, and imagine… to take a mini-sabbatical.  It is not an act of laziness; it is a practice of leadership. 

Lee in Louisville.

PS.  The picture above was taken today from my desk chair... my place to look out a window and see the real world, a crumbling warehouse building behind the Presbyterian Center.  I, for one, hope it is not renovated when the new arena goes in a block away!  It is a symbolic reminder of where ministry is needed.

Seeking a New Way Forward

Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States today.  In his historic address he suggests that leaders need to "see a new way forward."  On the global, national, and local poltical front this is true... as well as in the church.  Obama also talked about a changing world that requires us to adapt.  I could not agree more.

On questions of leadership in the church and in theological education the possibilities are endless.  Seminaries have strategic plans that they hope address the needs of the church that they evaluate and revise regularly.  The current economic crisis has seminaries thinking even more creatively than ever.  Since most of our PC(USA) Seminaries are endowment driven the market downturn is having and will have a dramatic effect on the three year averages they use on the percentage of funds they draw from those investments. There is no doubt they each are striving to work even smarter with less money.

Fortunately none of our schools has been impacted yet like some other seminaries affiliated with the Disciples of Christ and Episcopal Church.  An article in Louisville, KY's Courier-Journal summarizes this impact and talks specifically about one school.

It is time for us all to pray and rededicate ourselves to funding theological education in PC(USA).  Future generations are depending on us as we have depended on them. 

I remember a few years ago when the PC(USA) responded to Hurricane Katrina by giving over $40 million in gifts.  I wonder how we might get the news out about this disaster that is blowing and risks severe damage to PC(USA) Seminaries?  I wonder how you might support this mission cause today? 

Lee in Louisville

Filled with hope.