Transition into Ministry Project
ELCA to Study 'First Call' Congregations with Lilly Endowment Grant

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.

Information about Lilly Endowment's "Transition into Ministry" programs is at www.lillyendowment.org on the Web.

Source ELCA News Service, February 20, 2006, 06-023-JB