New fund to support UCC gay seminarians United Church of Christ News Service Tuesday, August 1, 2000 CLEVELAND – A national mission board of the United Church of Christ has announced the creation of a fund to give financial support to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons studying for the ministry. The William R. Johnson Scholarship Fund, named for the first openly gay person ordained to the Christian ministry in modern times, will support "self-affirmed gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender seminarians" studying in Master of Divinity programs toward full-time ministry in the United Church of Christ. It is the first such fund created by any religious denomination specifically to encourage such persons to answer the call to ministry and to persevere in their preparation. The fund is endowed with $500,000 from the unrestricted reserves of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, a board that carries out educational, social justice and evangelism ministries for the 1.4-million-member United Church of Christ. No offering-plate dollars were used to endow the fund. A campaign for gifts to double the endowment will be formally launched in August 2000. The United Church of Christ's General Synod, since 1985, has encouraged local churches to be "open and affirming" to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and people who have had sex-change operations. In a press briefing at the United Church of Christ's national offices, denominational leaders said the fund would benefit both the church and its seminarians. "The vitality of the United Church of Christ depends on equipping our best and brightest for ministry in the 21st century," said the Rev. John H. Thomas, president of the United Church of Christ. "This scholarship fund is a powerful reminder that the response to God's call to ministry should not be limited by economics or sexual orientation." "The call of God to ordained ministry, once heard by any of us and confirmed by the church, deserves the support of the whole community of faith," said the Rev. Thomas E. Dipko, executive vice president of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries. "The William R. Johnson Fund is a sign that sexual orientation is not a reason to exclude anyone from this call and the support that it invites. The scholarships that it will provide move our talk about the inclusive church one step closer to practicing what we say we believe."

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