2007 Southeastern Minnesota Synod Assembly
Called Into God's Marvelous Light...To tell the story!
2007 Synod Assembly > Resolutions > 2001-02

Resolution 2007-02A:

Congregational Support for Seminarians

Passed

1 WHEREAS, every congregation in the
2 Southeastern Minnesota Synod has
3 an interest both in nurturing
4 pastoral leadership from their
5 midst, and attracting capable
6 leaders to serve their
7 congregations, and ELCA pastors
8 are to "seek out and encourage
9 qualified persons to prepare for the
10 ministry of the Gospel" (ELCA
11 Model Constitution for
12 Congregations A9.03.c2); and

13 WHEREAS, the Lutheran tradition
14 emphasizes rigorous academic
15 preparation for ministry, and
16 includes a tradition of paying
17 seminary tuition for those who will
18 be pastors in the church, a tradition
19 which some congregations
20 continue for their members; and

21 WHEREAS, the current rate of tuition
22 in ELCA seminaries is over
23 $10,000 per year; and some
24 students leave seminary with a
25 debt load in excess of $30,000
26 (cited from the Fund for Leaders in
27 Mission); and

28 WHEREAS, some seminary
29 candidates are urged by seminary
30 leadership to postpone theological
31 education in order to pay down
32 undergraduate debt in excess of
33 $25,000, losing valuable years of
34 potential ministry until the debts
35 are reduced;

36 THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,
37 that a vision and a goal of the
38 Southeastern Minnesota Synod is
39 that the tuition of M.Div. (Master
40 of Divinity degree) students from
41 the synod who are enrolled in
42 ELCA seminaries will be paid for
43 them; and

44 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that
45 during the candidacy process the
46 candidate will have the
47 opportunity to invite a member or
48 representative of the Synod
49 Candidacy Committee to meet
50 with the Congregational Council to
51 discuss how the student's tuition
52 obligation may be met; and

53 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that
54 each Conference Dean will be
55 asked to appoint a representative
56 or representatives from their
57 Conference who will coordinate
58 tuition support in the conference
59 by:

60 a. receiving information from
61 the Southeastern Minnesota
62 Synod Candidacy Committee
63 about candidates in their
64 conference and about the
65 support they receive from their
66 congregations

67 b. contacting congregations
68 that do not have a seminary
69 candidate from their parish,
70 and asking them to put a line-
71 item in their annual budget or
72 in some other way contribute
73 to the support of a specific
74 student from their Conference,
75 or to the Southeastern
76 Minnesota Synod's Endowment
77 for Seminary Debt Relief

78 c. reporting the status of this
79 work to the conference
80 assembly each year, affirming
81 the candidates, their progress
82 in preparation and the
83 congregations supporting
84 them; and

85 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that
86 at each synod assembly the bishop
87 of the Southeastern Minnesota
88 Synod will affirm the people in the
89 candidacy process and those
90 congregations supporting them.
91 And every year that the tuition of
92 all the candidates from the synod
93 has been fully funded the bishop
94 shall announce the good news at
95 the synod assembly.

This is a substitute resolution submitted by Rev. Tamara Dahlvang with the approval of the Committee of Reference & Counsel.

Originally submitted by Rev. Tamara Dahlvang, and petition signed by: Revs. Linda Gunderson, Patricia Hinkie, John Malm, Edward Nieman, Margaret Sander, Peter Soli, Richard Spande, Todd Walsh and Curtis Zieske; voting members from the Blue Earth River Conference.

Continue to Resolution 2007-03

Return to 2007 Resolution List