Media Contact: Kerry Traubert

(404) 727-1170
ktraubert@thefund.org

Innovative Congregations Selected to

Receive “Cultures of Call” Grants

FTE grants provide money to churches and organizations nationwide

for cultivating call to ministry among future leaders

ATLANTA, January 22, 2009 – To tap the imagination of congregations in finding the
next generation of leaders for the church and society, The Fund for Theological Education (FTE)
is awarding nearly $98,000 in new “Cultures of Call” grants.

Nine grants will be awarded to eight congregations—representing four different

denominations—and to one federation of Asian-American congregations. Each will receive
funding for local programs to be implemented over the next 18 months. The awards are part of
FTE’s Calling Congregations initiative. The program equips churches and church-related
organizations to play a leading role in the vocational discernment of young men and women—
and to increase the number of gifted young people considering ordained ministry as a
profession. Fewer than seven percent of clergy in most denominations are under age 35.

FTE launched the grant program with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. in 2007 and will award
a total of $350,000 in “Cultures of Call” grants through 2009. Each award ranges between
$10,000 and $15,000. February 2, 2009 is the deadline for submission of letters of intent for the
next grant cycle for interested congregations and other groups.

“These congregations are designing imaginative new ways to nurture young people with gifts for
leadership,” said Jim Goodmann, FTE Calling Congregations Regional Director and Grant
Program Administrator. “More than ever, communities depend on strong local churches—and
churches depend on strong leaders who can navigate multiple challenges. These grants help
congregations find the future leaders the church needs.”

Grant recipients are:

• Asbury Temple United Methodist Church, Durham, N.C.—$ 12,000 for Leading
Change: the Harriet Strong Wright Leadership Initiative for Young Women and the
Norman Hanner Leadership Initiative for Young Men. This initiative seeks to impact
church and community through mentoring, service, study, dialogue and reflection on the
call to ministry with youth in high-risk neighborhoods in Durham. Young people will
explore how they may be leaders in the church as well as leaders in the world for the
church.

• C.N. Jenkins Memorial Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Charlotte, N.C.—$ 8,115 to

provide a nine-month supervised ministry experience for young people in partnership
with Union (PSCE) Theological Seminary and designed as a catalyst to deepen the
“ecclesial vocation” of this church as a calling congregation.

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FTE Calling Congregations—page two

• First Congregational United Church of Christ, Greeley, Colo.—$ 12,000 for the
creation of a spirituality program for children based on a Montessori model and a youth
discernment initiative served by a church-based Calling Congregations Ministry Team.

• Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity, New York, N.Y.—$ 12,000 to
support Calling Chinese American Youth into Ministry, a program that will offer summer
internships in five Chinese-American congregations to high school and college youth
considering pastoral ministry. This project responds to the need to cultivate future
leaders among second-generation, English-language ministries of immigrant Chinese
churches.

• John Knox Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Greenville, S.C.—$10,000 for Connecting

Hearts: Holy Listening in a Congregational Circle of Trust, a congregation-based practice
utilizing Parker Palmer’s adaptation of the Quaker “clearness” model, enabling
vocational and life discernment for young people and their mentors. This pilot project is
a cooperative effort with Foothills Presbytery, Louisville Presbyterian Theological
Seminary and Courage to Lead for Clergy and Congregational Leaders, a program of
the Center for Courage and Renewal

• Oak Grove United Methodist Church, Decatur, Ga.—$ 12,000 to create the Oak
Grove Pastoral Scholar Program for a recent seminary graduate, serving Oak Grove
UMC with a focus on the congregation’s role in vocation and the call to ministry.

• Reveille United Methodist Church, Richmond, Va.—$ 10,000 for Still Calling, which
builds on the congregation’s strong history of members entering ordained ministry.
Adults will engage with youth and young adults from the neighboring Swansboro
community through mentoring, internships and group activities to recognize and nurture
their gifts for ministry.

• St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, New York, N.Y.—$ 11,348 to begin Watering Roots and
Branches, a project that connects members of the St. Mary’s congregation with
neighborhood youth and interns of the New York Intern Program in a reflective process
that weaves the parish’s commitment to social justice with the calling of young people.

• St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland Heights, Ohio—$ 10,000 for Young Adult
Vocational Internships, which will give college-age young adults an introduction to
ministry, the support of mentors and the participation of the congregation in interns’
discernment.

For more information about Cultures of Call grants, visit www.thefund.org/programs/calling.

Information about what previous grant recipients are doing can be found at
www.thefund.org/programs/congregations_map.

Calling Congregations seeks to establish a national network of 500 congregational and church-
related partners. It offers regional workshops; a national conference; teaching tools; Web-based
resources and up to 40 fellowships annually which match a congregation’s financial support
toward tuition and expenses for a young church member’s first year of seminary.

The Fund for Theological Education supports the next generation of leaders among pastors and
scholars, providing more than $1.5 million annually in fellowships and a network of support to
gifted young people from all denominations and racial/ethnic backgrounds. For more
information about FTE, visit www.thefund.org.