Title: Chicago Lutheran, Presbyterian Seminaries Share Grant
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 5, 1999

CHICAGO LUTHERAN, PRESBYTERIAN SEMINARIES SHARE GRANT
99-198-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
(LSTC) and McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, are sharing a
$505,000 grant from The Teagle Foundation of New York to investigate
ways of combining administrative tasks, technology and facilities.
     LSTC is one of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA). McCormick is one of 11 seminaries related to the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
     The grant will be used to hire consultants to help the seminaries
develop a comprehensive business plan, to purchase shared administrative
and academic computer systems, and to pay architects' fees in connection
with a space-utilization study.
     For more than two decades the seminaries have shared classroom
space and combined library holdings on the LSTC campus. They pooled
matching grants from The Lilly Foundation of Indianapolis to enhance
teaching and learning technology.
     Current discussions include the construction of a McCormick
facility on the LSTC campus. A joint committee of both seminaries'
boards is analyzing how each institution could share resources while
enriching the academic experience, and maintaining their unique
institutional identities and mission. In May both boards resolved to
negotiate a final agreement that will be submitted for approval in the
fall.
     In 1998 the ELCA entered into full communion with the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ.
That relationship enables the seminaries to work closely in preparing
lay and ordained leaders of the churches.
     "The weight of this historic agreement between the Lutheran and
Reformed churches leads McCormick and LSTC to deepen their current
working collaboration and become for both denominations a leading
manifestation of this new moment in Lutheran-Reformed relationships,"
said the Rev. James Kenneth Echols, LSTC president.
     The Rev. Cynthia McCall Campbell, McCormick president, said the
ecumenical moment beckons the seminaries "to explore ways to enhance
theological education with long-term benefits to both institutions."
     The seminaries requested the grant under Teagle's Collaborative
Ventures Program which encourages colleges, universities and seminaries
to find innovative ways to work together to make more effective use of
their resources.


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