Applications Available for HELM Leadership Fellows Program

The HELM Leadership Fellows Program may be the only fellowship that comes with a warning label attached:

Applications are now available for the Higher Education and Leadership Ministries Leadership Fellows Program, which recognizes and supports undergraduate students preparing to take leadership roles as laypeople or clergy in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The unique program provides several different ways to help students explore and strengthen their leadership potential:

• Covenants: Students design their own covenant with HELM describing how they plan to work on developing their leadership abilities. Fellows work in cooperation with a campus chaplain, director of church relations, ecumenical campus minister or another appropriate mentor to develop leadership skills. Many participate in planning and leading campus ministry programs or similar activities, while others lead youth groups in local congregations or engage in outreach programs.
• Leadership Conference: Fellows also attend annual leadership conferences, where they learn from Disciples leaders, pastors, and each other while building bonds to support each other as their leadership skills grow. The 2005 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, gave students a better understanding of the joys and the challenges of being a leader in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
• Summer internships: HELM works with Leadership Fellows to identify internships that will expose students to the wide variety of ways Disciples minister. During the summer of 2005, students interned at churches in Kansas, Missouri, and Washington, D.C.
• Grant: Fellows receive a $2,000 scholarship at the beginning of each school year for educational use.
• Intangibles: Most Leadership Fellows were able to attend the Portland General Assembly due to a donor's generous gift. Students maintain regular contact with HELM staff and other denominational leaders via e-mail, denominational meetings, and informal get-togethers. This network of Disciples has helped some find additional financial aid, make decisions about transferring to a new college, or - in the most dramatic cases - discover God's call to ministry.

Current high school seniors and community college students planning to attend a regionally accredited American college or university as a full-time student beginning in 2006 are eligible. Applicants must participate in a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregation and express a commitment to serve the church as a clergy or lay leader. Participation in the program can be renewed up to three additional years.

The application requires an essay, three references, and official transcripts, and all materials must be postmarked no later than March 15, 2006. All complete applications are reviewed anonymously by a scholarship committee, and students will be notified by April 30 whether they have been named as Fellows.

Guidelines and application forms can be downloaded free online at www.helmdisciples.org or may be requested by calling HELM at 314-991-3000.

HELM works to nurture transforming leadership for the church in partnership with Disciples congregations, higher education institutions, campus ministry programs, regions, general ministries, and other parts of the church.