(MINNEAPOLIS) — A grant of more than $445,000 was awarded by Lilly Endowment Inc., in a highly competitive grant process, to Augsburg College’s Youth Theology Institute. The award means the Youth Theology Institute can, among other things, develop a fellowship program for youth ministers, including from multicultural and ethnic-specific congregations, and expand participation in the program among youths, congregations, and synods.

“This grant supports Augsburg’s continued commitment to intentional diversity and to modeling what it means to be a Lutheran college of the 21st century, located in the heart of one of the nation’s most diverse zip codes,” said Augsburg College President Paul Pribbenow.

“It equips young people with theological and vocational skills and helps them learn what it means to practice their faith, with its commitments to education, radical hospitality and serving your neighbor.”

The Lilly grant will allow the Augsburg College Youth Theology Institute, now in its 13th year, to:

• Develop a cohort of youth ministers from regional churches and synods, including multicultural and ethnic-specific congregations, interested in enhancing their youth ministry skills.
• Increase the number of participants from 20 in 2016 to 40 by 2019 while also strengthening relationships with attendees and their families, their pastors and churches, through ongoing opportunities following the one-week institute.
• Create a mentor program to allow college-age students to help high school students develop practices and skills for theological reflection.
• Increase connections to the four synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that form Augsburg’s governing structure.
• Continue to provide scholarships to attend Augsburg College of $1,000 per student, per year, for as many as four years.

The next Youth Theology Institute is June 19-24, 2016, at Augsburg College. It will be directed by Jeremy Myers, associate professor of religion in youth and family ministry.

About Augsburg College: Augsburg College offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 3,600 students of diverse backgrounds at its campuses located in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and in Rochester. Augsburg College educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. The Augsburg experience is supported by an engaged community committed to intentional diversity in its life and work. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings.

About Lilly Endowment Inc.: Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family – J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons J.K. Jr. and Eli – through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly & Company. The Endowment exists to support the causes of religion, education and community development. Lilly Endowment’s religion grantmaking is designed to deepen and enrich the religious lives of American Christians. It does this largely through initiatives to enhance and sustain the quality of ministry in American congregations and parishes.

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The annual Christensen Symposium is made possible through the Christensen Endowment, which was established by alumni and friends of Augsburg to honor Bernhard M. Christensen. As the president of Augsburg College and Seminary from 1938 to 1962, Christensen was a central figure in drawing Augsburg fully into the study of the liberal arts.

The Symposium is designed to reflect and reinforce the principles to which Christensen showed such deep commitment: academic integrity, the Christian Gospel, and a mutually supportive relationship with the church. In addition, it serves as a vehicle for the Augsburg community to explore and apply the five lessons that are Christensen’s legacy:

— Christian faith liberates minds and lives.

— Diversity strengthens vital communities.

— Interfaith friendships enrich learning.

— The love of Christ draws us to God.

— We are called to service in the world.

The Food Fight: Dispute in Biblical Testimony, Sept. 26-27

Monday, Sept. 26 lecture, 5 p.m., Hoversten Chapel

Accumulation: The Lust for Domination and Monopoly

This presentation will consider biblical models, beginning with Pharaoh in the book of Exodus, of the drive for acquisitiveness that destroys community and turns neighbors into threats or pawns. Brueggemann will connect those ancient witnesses to the contemporary force of acquisitiveness among us and the ideology of domination that skews neighborhoods and distorts policy initiatives in our society.

Tuesday, Sept. 27 convocation, 11 a.m., Hoversten Chapel

Community: Food Practiced as Astonished Gratitude

This presentation will consider an alternative trajectory of food in the Bible beginning with the manna narrative and culminating in the Eucharist. This trajectory is grounded in God’s gift of abundance that makes generous community possible. Brueggemann will probe the ways in which this ancient counter-narrative provides a ground for contemporary neighborly practice and for contemporary policy formation that eschews the scarcity enacted from anxiety.

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“This is the tenth year of my beginning work at the seminary, and I have been thinking for several months on a much deeper and more personal level about what it means to be a social worker and in ministry, regardless of setting. This program is extremely important — I can readily testify to that.

I have countless stories of how my focus and diverse skill have impacted the people I have been honored to serve in the past years, my connections in the church, and my professional network in the school system and broader mental health community in St. Paul. Being able to think about social work from a spiritual perspective opens important dialogue, challenges norms, and enhances social work’s ability to engage with people around the area of faith and spirituality. Being able to view pastoral care and ministry out of the church, from a social work and mental health perspective (and with clinical skill), adds a depth of knowledge and experience that the church on whole greatly benefits from.

I truly think that within 5 to 10 years I will be writing books about this.”

Brant Thomsen ’00 MSW/MA

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