Support Seabury

Dear Friends:

As a friend of Seabury, you have no doubt heard us say that we believe we are creating a seminary to meet the needs of the church of the 21st century. Contemplating the future of the church has given us a firmer sense for Seabury’s own future as well, one that I hope you will support with a generous gift to our Fall Appeal.

Increasingly, we believe that our mission is to cultivate the leadership abilities of the clergy and lay people whom God has called to guide our congregations and institutions, and to help them develop the skills they need to respond to that calling with confidence.

Your generosity has helped us to make an excellent start in pursuing this work. Our first weeklong Summer Institute, offered in June with the Kellogg School Center for Nonprofit Management at Northwestern University, is one example of Seabury’s ability to deliver graduate level education to audiences who would not otherwise receive it. But rather than asking you for a vote of confidence in the work we are doing, I am asking you to make possible the work that remains to be done.

The church needs a seminary whose faculty and distinguished practitioners offer courses at the diocesan level for leaders of local congregations. The church needs a seminary committed to offering instruction in fundraising, community organizing, communications, and other skills that so many of our leaders lack. The church needs a seminary that makes expertise and resources available via the Internet to clergy and lay leaders wherever they are. Seabury is poised to meet these needs.

Even as we build our leadership program, we are also ensuring Seabury’s institutional vitality. Our partnership with Bexley Hall continues to thrive, and recently we announced that Seabury will soon move to new, more flexible and convenient quarters at the Lutheran Center, the headquarters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Our new space, just a few minutes from O’Hare Airport, will not only make it easier for us to attract top-quality faculty and students, but will also make tangible our commitment to the kind of ecumenical collaboration exemplified by our partners at Bexley.

We depend upon your generosity to support the research, development and experimentation necessary to transform Seabury’s fond vision into a functioning reality. A gift to the Fall Appeal will strengthen our seminary’s work to ensure the future of the church.

Sincerely,

Robert Bottoms

Interim President