Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 12:36:06 -0400 From: Darrell Todd Maurina Reply-To: Darrell128@aol.com Organization: Christian Renewal/United Reformed News Service Subject: NR 98082: Westminster Theological Seminary Establishes New Scholarship for URC and CRC Students NR #1998-082: Westminster Theological Seminary Establishes New Scholarship for URC and CRC Students Until last year, Westminster Theological Seminary in California had no United Reformed faculty and very few United Reformed students. The seminary's president, vice-president for development, and several faculty are now United Reformed, and the school has now established a special matching grant fund for United Reformed students. The award, limited to full-time students in the United Reformed Churches who also receive funding from their classis or local church, matches URC funding with a Westminster grant of up to $1000. Currently there are three scholarships available for URC students. A similar program was established by the same anonymous donors for up to two Christian Reformed students. NR #1998-082: For Immediate Release: Westminster Theological Seminary Establishes New Scholarship for URC and CRC Students by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (August 25, 1998) URNS -- Until last year, Westminster Theological Seminary in California had no United Reformed faculty and very few United Reformed students. The seminary's president, vice-president for development, and several faculty are now United Reformed, and the school has now established a special matching grant fund for United Reformed students. The award, limited to full-time students in the United Reformed Churches who also receive funding from their classis or local church, matches URC funding with a Westminster grant of up to $1000. Currently there are three scholarships available for URC students. A similar program was established by the same anonymous donors for up to two Christian Reformed students, and other programs exist at Westminster for students in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Presbyterian Church in America. Vice president for development Keith Vander Pol said the seminary has a total of five to seven URC students and four to five Christian Reformed students. Exact numbers are difficult to determine, both because some Christian Reformed students attending Escondido URC may decide to enter the URC rather than CRC ministry and because some URC students may decide to enter other denominations. "There were students that were URC going back to some West Michigan churches, and I assume they continued with the URC, but just as with the PCA they don't always stay with that denomination when ministry opportunities come up," said Vander Pol. In addition to the URC and CRC scholarships, Westminster has another fund that matches church donations up to $1000 regardless of the supporting church. "It encourages students to attend, it makes us more competitive in the marketplace from a tuition standpoint since our tuition tends to be higher than some other schools," said Vander Pol. Vander Pol said the CRC scholarship was one indication of his seminary's desire to serve Christian Reformed students even though it no longer has any CRC faculty. "I think we have donors that belong to both denominations and want people to know we seek to joyfully serve them as well as many other denominations," said Vander Pol. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1998-010: Classis California South Loses Third of Membership #1998-011: What's Left of Classis California South? #1998-015: New United Reformed Churches Classis Southwest United States to Face Dramatic Expansion #1998-078: Westminster-West Appoints Michael Scott Horton Contact List: Dr. David Engelhard, General Secretary, Christian Reformed Church in North America 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560 O: (616) 246-0744 * H: (616) 243-2418 * FAX: (616) 246-0834 * E-Mail: engelhad@crcna.org Rev. Jerome Julien, Stated Clerk, United Reformed Churches in North America 3646 - 193rd Pl., Lansing, IL 60438 H/O: (708) 418-5321 * FAX: (708) 418-5591 Keith Vander Pol, Vice-President for Advancement, Westminster Theological Seminary 1725 Bear Valley Parkway, Escondido, CA 92027 O: (760) 480-8474 * FAX: (760) 480-0252 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive98: nr98-082.txt .