East Region announcements: Youth and Discernment events

Beginning this fall, New Brunswick Theological Seminary is offering a one-year certificate program to train those who work with Asian American youth. All classes will be taught by Asian American instructors who hold a Ph.D. (or equivalent) so that classes can be contextualized for the Asian American church culture. The courses will be taught on Saturday mornings in Flushing, beginning on September 18. For more information, see http://www.nbts.edu/newsite/certaa.cfm.  East Regional Director, Andrew Lee, will be teaching Old Testament Survey.

Coming in the fall, a Discernment Conference for all who are seeking to hear God’s call for their lives.  This one-day seminar is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, October 16, at New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Jersey.  ISAAC East became a partner in this endeavor through its involvement with the Princeton Forum on Asian Indian Ministries.

Contact Rev. Andrew Lee, East Region Director, Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity and Adjunct Professor, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary & New Brunswick Theological Seminary. [Email Andrew]

ISAAC receives “Calling Congregations” Grant from the Fund for Theological Education

ISAAC is delighted to announce that our East Region will receive a “Calling Congregations” grant from the Fund for Theological Education. FTE will provide $12,000 over a two year period for “activities and reflection designed to help congregations nurture the principles and practices that support vocational discernment, in general, and the call to ministry, in particular, among youth and young adults.”

Dr. Andrew Lee, Eastern Regional Director for ISAAC and author of the proposal, Calling Chinese American youth into Ministry, says that this program will be “a summer internship program in the New York metropolitan area for Chinese churches. College and High School students who are considering full-time ministry may apply to work as ministry interns in their respective churches.  The interns will receive guidance throughout the summer from mentoring teams.  There will also be directed times for them to meet together to process their experiences and to contemplate their potential call to ministry.  The objective of the funding grant is to aid churches in becoming calling congregations that are able to identify, nurture and raise up leaders for vocational ministry.”

The program will begin in the summer of 2009. ISAAC hopes to expand this program to other regions where Asian American congregations face the challenge of raising up young people to enter the ministry. Please direct questions to Dr. Andrew Lee.