Summary Reports of Lilly Endowment Grants Programs
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Theological Education Volume 42, Number 1 2006 ISSUE FOCUS Summary Reports of Lilly Endowment Grants Programs Summary Report I Strategic Advances in Theological Education: Theological Programs for High School Youth, 1999–2004 Carol E. Lytch A Response to the Summary Report on Theological Programs for High School Youth Malcolm Warford Summary Report II Strengthening Congregational Ministry: A Report on a Program to Enhance Theological Schools’ Capacities to Prepare Candidates for Congregational Ministry, 1999–2003 Kathleen A. Cahalan Reflections on the Agency of Theological Schools: A Response to the Strengthening Congregational Ministry Summary Report Jonathan P. Strandjord OPEN FORUM The Churches and the Preparation of Candidates for Ministry Francis A. Lonsway ISSN 0040-5620 Theological Education is published semiannually by The Association of Theological Schools IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 10 Summit Park Drive Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15275-1103 DANIEL O. ALESHIRE Executive Editor JEREMIAH J. McCARTHY Editor NANCY MERRILL Managing Editor LINDA D. TROSTLE Assistant Editor For subscription information or to order additional copies or selected back issues, please contact the Association. Email: [email protected] Web site: www.ats.edu Phone: 412-788-6505 Fax: 412-788-6510 © 2006 The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any infor- mation storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act, or in writing from the publisher. 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Wacker Dr., Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60606; Email: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.atla.com/. Theological Education Volume 42, Number 1 2006 Editor’s Introduction. .iii Nancy Merrill Introduction. v Carol E. Lytch ISSUE FOCUS Summary Reports of Lilly Endowment Grant Programs Summary Report I Strategic Advances in Theological Education: Theological Programs for High School Youth, 1999–2004. 1 Carol E. Lytch The experiment. 2 Project designs Organizing themes Staffing patterns Institutional and constituent partnerships Research The spectrum of theological thought Hopes fulfilled?. 10 Goal #1: Theological learning and inquiry Goal #2: Encouragement of vocations in Christian ministry Best practices and obstacles to achieving goals Impact What undergirds success?. 30 Youth, theological study and practice, and exploration of Christian vocation. 31 Theological schools as agents of change. 34 Appendix A: Theological Schools Funded by Lilly Endowment since 1993 in Theological Programs for High School Youth. 39 Appendix B: Publications Related to Theological Programs for High School Youth. 45 Appendix C: 1998 Request for Proposals from Lilly Endowment Inc. 47 A Response to the Summary Report on Theological Programs for High School Youth. 55 Malcolm Warford Summary Report II Strengthening Congregational Ministry: A Report on a Program to Enhance Theological Schools’ Capacities to Prepare Candidates for Congregational Ministry, 1999–2003 . 63 by Kathleen A. Cahalan Introduction: Program overview. 63 Profile of the Congregational Ministry Program. 64 Understandings of congregational ministry and theological education in 1998. 65 An overview of the schools’ strategies . 68 Part One: Congregational Ministry Program findings. 71 Recruitment strategies . 71 Scholarships Finding partners to promote the call to ministry Exploring ministry as a vocation Increasing enrollment and welcoming younger students Enhancing education for ministry. 79 Educating about the congregation Forming spiritual leaders Lay leaders seeking theological education New delivery systems in theological education . 92 Beyond seminary: Placing and sustaining ministers in the field. 94 Part Two: Making strategic advances in theological education. 97 Strengthening essential capacities. 97 Great leaders Faculty involvement Strategic vision The bottom line Good grants Building capacities and making connections. 103 Partnerships matter Expanding opportunities for theological education Part Three: Conclusion. 107 Congregations serving seminaries. 107 Seminaries serving congregations. 109 Appendix A: Congregational Ministry Program Grantees. 111 Appendix B: 1998 Request for Proposals from Lilly Endowment Inc. 112 Reflections on the Agency of Theological Schools: A Response to the Strengthening Congregational Ministry Summary Report . 115 Jonathan P. Strandjord OPEN FORUM The Churches and the Preparation of Candidates for Ministry . 125 Francis A. Lonsway ii Editor’s Introduction Nancy Merrill Managing Editor his issue of the journal shares with readers the summary reports of two TLilly Endowment programs that, together, involved ninety-three member schools of the Association and the Commission. The reports were issued and a forum held in Indianapolis in January 2005 to share, discuss, and celebrate the work of the schools that participated in the two programs. The summary reports are reprinted here to provide a wider audience for the findings and to engage the imagination of all who work in and care about theological educa- tion. The first report, written by Carol E. Lytch, describes “the experiment” of the Endowment’s Theological Programs for High School Youth, undertaken by forty-eight theological schools beginning in 1999. Then coordinator of Lilly Endowment Programs for Strengthening Congregational Leadership (and currently assistant executive director of ATS), Lytch provides an overview of the range of programs developed by the schools, how the goals of the program were addressed (to engage high school students in theological learning and inquiry and to encourage them to consider Christian ministry as a vocation), indicators of success, and the role of theological schools in effecting change and identifying and recruiting future leaders for the churches. Malcolm Warford of Lexington Theological Seminary responds to Lytch’s re- port by reflecting on youth as a time of searching questions about what really matters and his own experiences in youth ministry as a young person and as a pastor. The second report in this volume by Kathleen A. Cahalan describes the Lilly Endowment program for Strengthening Congregational Ministry: A Program to Enhance Theological Schools’ Capacities to Prepare Congregational Lead- ership. Conducted from 1999–2003, the program awarded grants to forty-five theological schools that enabled them to undertake projects for strengthening the Christian ministry by better preparing future pastors and priests. Cahalan reports on the efforts of some schools to enhance their curricula, the work of others to address infrastructure needs, advances in student recruitment, tech- nology, and continuing education programs. She notes, “I hope my summary and analysis give due credit to the enormous commitment, hard work, and courage to risk and experiment that are part of the story of these schools.” Jonathan P. Strandjord of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America discuss- es the import of the capacity-building grant projects and what he considers to be “the very considerable implications of this report for the work, identity, and vocation of theological schools.” He offers eight observations on the agency of iii theological schools to effect change and to interrelate more significantly with church bodies and other partners as “learning communities of peers.” In the Open Forum section of this issue, Francis A. Lonsway, retired ATS di- rector of student information resources, shares differences and similarities in expectations for beginning clergy among seventeen denominational families. The data were gathered via a 330-item survey conducted as part of the Profiles of Ministry program, which began as Readiness for Ministry in 1973. The 2003 survey provided an unprecedented thirty-year comparison of the attitudes of clergy and lay persons regarding the characteristics most needed by those be- ginning professional ministry. Introduction Carol E. Lytch “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) hat would you do if someone gave you “risk money” to try a bold new Wstrategy for advancing theological learning and vocations in church ministry? Essentially that is what Lilly Endowment offered all accredited theo- logical schools in Canada and the United States in March 1998, when it invited them to submit proposals in two grant competitions: (1) Theological Programs for High School Youth, and (2) A Program to Enhance Theological Schools’ Capacities