ing appeals and more. Funding seminaries was a pri- mary focus of church bodies from the mid-19th century until after World War I, Huber said, when more and more church activities (which were also worthwhile) began to compete for funds. Seminary fund- ing as a percentage of church body
budgets began a decline that contin- ues to the present. Until the early 1980s, the two
largest ELCA predecessor bodies funded the bulk of seminaries’ bud- gets through mission support, Huber said. As an example, he points to churchwide support of Luther, St. Paul, Minn., which declined from
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57 percent of the seminary’s bud- get under the American Lutheran Church to 27 percent of its budget in 1995. Today mission support from con- gregations to synods and the church- wide organization funds 15 percent of overall seminary costs. “This is not because of ill-will from church- wide and synods, but because there are fewer mission dollars,” Huber said. “This applies to all American religious bodies. Seminaries have had to become more dependent on individual gifts and endowment income, a two-edged sword since these go up in good times and down in bad times.”
Moving forward Adams and others like him will be needed by congregations, as Pries and about 4,000 other ELCA clergy are expected to retire in the next 10 years.
So as the wider church seeks ways to raise funds, the ELCA’s seminaries are also working to cut costs by sharing staff and other resources with each other, colleges and ecumenical partners, Huber said.
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helped seminarians with targeted scholarships and financial coaching, including clergy tax help that Adams has already benefited from. Adams often hears retired pas-
tors talk about the days when “the church” paid for seminary. “It’s not for me to bemoan the past,” he said. “We’re doing well, just with what we have. … We knew we wouldn’t go hungry.”
Adams was recently fed by affir-
mation from his oldest child, Lily, age 6. “Daddy,” she said seriously. “You used to be a rock star. But now you’re a pastor.”
Now some would say that’s the same thing.
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