Celebrating Student Discipleship!

(a few of our student leaders at leadership training in August of 2013)

Lutheran Campus Ministry-Twin Cities has long been committed to cultivating faithful leaders for both church and world.  We are excited to announce that we have been awarded a 5 year, $100,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment to deepen and strengthen our leadership development and vocational discernment work with undergraduate students at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.[1]

This initiative, the Theological Exploration of Vocation for Campus Ministries Initiative 2013, invited 30 campus ministries from various denominations across the country to apply for funding to “build up their capacities to play a more prominent role in identifying and nurturing a new generation of highly talented and religiously committed leaders for church and society.”   We are very excited to be a part of this cohort, to learn and discern together how we might nurture young adults to lead faithfully in the 21st Century.

Our particular project, The Discipleship Project will deepen and expand leadership opportunities for a core team of students, equip them as teachers of LCM-TC’s central faith practices, and will give them opportunities to share this learning with students and throughout the church.

This grant is significant because of the way it encourages and supports our work with student leaders (and through them the campus).  It does not replace any of our current funding needs, rather enhances our ability to train leaders in a more robust way.  In that, it highlights the importance of leadership in fundraising, governance, and strategic decision making as we stretch and grow on campus, and in the communities these students will impact. 

The Board of Directors of Lutheran Campus Ministry-Twin Cities is honored to have its ministry recognized by the Lilly Endowment and welcomes Lilly as a partner in the great work God is already doing on the campus of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. As we continue learning, it is our hope that we can also share the work that we are doing with the broader church, and invite others into sharing God’s boundless love with the world.

For more information, or to see the executive summary, please contact Campus Pastor Kate Reuer Welton by emailing kate@umnlutheran.org.