Do you remember receiving your SIM

check? 

 

The Reverend Karin Wade does:

 

    "Inside that envelope was a check - a generous check - with a note saying SIM had received some unexpected grants.  In checking their records, they noticed that I had serious financial need.  'Perhaps the enclosed check would help out a bit.'  And did it ever!  It made continuing my journey possible."

Theological Education Offering (TEO) Sunday, February 6th, provides an opportunity for SIM alumni to continue to "make journeys possible."   Hardly a week goes by without our office receiving meaningful letters of gratitude from SIM alumni. In the midst of these rapidly changing and challenging times, these letters of appreciation (even from alumni who received their  grant as far back as five decades ago) "make our day." Often alumni note their desire to "payback" SIM and "pay forward" to today's seminarians but are frustrated with their financial limitations (some are still paying off seminary debt).  Yet, notes of encouragement from our alumni meaningfully boost our ministry. 

 

"My success is due in part to the generosity of those who went before me. I pray my mustard seed contribution can help to perform miracles for others."  K.D.L., GTS 2009 

 

The "mustard seed...is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."  (Mt 13:32)  Our $18.57 Circle of Seminarian Friends (SIM's founding year is 1857) is a "mustard seed" opportunity to invest in future ordained leaders to serve The Episcopal Church. 

 

SIM's Circle is the first church-wide direct appeal to individual Episcopalians for theological education support. The Circle provides a donor-friendly way to support seminarians.  Episcopalians can sign up for online monthly contributions of $18.57 or amounts of the donors' choosing through our website, www.simministry.org. 

 

 

The SIM Boldly goal for the Circle -- ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR SEMINARIAN DEBT!  Is this magic think?  No, not when you hold the wand. And it doesn't require a financial commitment on your part (though sign-ups at  $18.57  monthly from all SIM alumni would add over $600,000 annually to seminarian funding).

 

Here is how you can help us achieve our goal:

1. Show the $18.57 Circle of Seminarian Friends 7 minute video http://www.youtube.com/SIMministry1 to your parish at coffee hour, adult forums or in other appropriate settings with concerned Episcopal networks.
    
2. Promote SIM's ministry and visits to our web site, www.simministry.org, in your parish newsletter, on your Facebook page or in your Twitter feed. Feel free to use this link to pre-written posts. Choose a post and copy & paste  it into your Facebook status and/or Twitter feed. If you have any questions about how to do this, please email cindy@simministry.org.
    
3. Sign up yourself to be a Friend.
    
4. Pray for our seminarians and our seminaries. 

The $18.57 Circle of Seminarian Friends is a solution strategy, not "magic think." You hold the spark to implement our strategy. It only takes 12 Friends to cover close to 20% of the average tuition at Episcopal seminaries. SIM has 2750 living alumni. Together you can plant and fertilize mustard seeds to grow into trees where nests can be made.

 

TEO Sunday presents the ideal opportunity to light a spark. TEO Sunday is February 6, 2011. Let's join hands and put our arms around the seminarian debt problem!

 

SIM and our seminarians thank you!
 

  

Faithfully,