One of our church's great
challenges is finding qualified pastoral leaders for our churches in the
future. As you know, United Methodism historically has some of the highest
educaitonal and character standards for our new pastors of any church. Our
rigorous educaitonal requirements are expensive to maintain. But we think our
congregations are worth it.
You may also know that we have
the lowest percentage of young clergy (only about 4.5% under 35) of at any time
in our history. Each year, when I ordain new clergy, I ordain close to a
million dollars in educational debt along with them -- money they have had to
borrow to prepare for our ministry. It grieves me that most of our precious
conference resources go into financing yesterday's church -- clergy pensions
for older clergy, subsidies for maintaining congregations and institutions that
trived in the past but not now. Ought we be surprised that we have trouble
obtaining a future for our church when so much is expended on our past?
Patsy and I have therefore
established clergy scholarship funds at two of our seminaries (Emory and Duke)
and I have pled for more assistance for our newest clergy. I am therefore so
excited about a recent gift that we received from two dedicated laypeople, Jim
and Betty Tucker, who are members of Central UMC in Decatur. A generous series
of gifts by the Tuckers will enable grants to be made to seminarians who are
serving in the Northwest District. It will provide aid to students with
expenses incurred while going to seminary. Jim Tucker has seen first hand how
even generous scholarships are not enough for seminarians, particularly those
who are serving student appointments while in seminary. Mike Stonbraker, Jim's
District Superintendent, has been a great leader in cultivating new, young
leadership for our church. (Mike also wants me to tell you that Jim is a
Marine, Mike forbidding me to say "retired Marine.")
Jim Tucker has been a successful
business person in Decatur and is not only a loyal member of Central, but is
also grateful for the high quaility pastoral leadership who has served Central
over the years. He knows that fine pastoral leaders like Gary Formby, his
current pastor, required quality seminary training. We are so grateful to Betty
and Jim for leading the way with their generous gift.
God means for us to have a bright
and vital future, I'm sure of that. But we must do our part. As I've often
said, with Jesus Christ, we have more tomorrows than yesterdays, for we serve a
living, resurrected God who leads us into the future. Let's go with him!
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Will Willimon
1 comment:
That's definitely a big help for students.
Any chance for further support at the seminary forming more UM Elders than any other? (Asbury)
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