CHICAGO, IL (March 7, 2006) – The Association of Covenant Clergy Women (ACCW) will provide its first scholarships, grants and awards beginning this year.
A total of six awards will be offered biannually, with three being offered this year and the other three beginning next year, says Catherine Gilliard, ACCW president of ACCW.
“This is a big step for us,” says Gilliard. “The awards give us the opportunity to continue to tell stories.”
The awards include:
- The Victoria Welter Book Scholarship (offered this year) that provides $300 towards the purchase of seminary books. Welter was the first woman to graduate from North Park Theological Seminary, but her photograph was not included with the rest of the students, says Gilliard. “We wanted people to know her.” Welter’s picture will be unveiled at 10 a.m. March 6 in the school’s Olsson Lounge, where it will be on permanent display. A 9:30 a.m. chapel service will recall her story. To read more of this award, please see Scholarship.
- The Anderson/Nordlund Missionary Scholarship will provide $500 for continuing education to a female missionary. The scholarship is named in honor of Covenant missionaries Martha Anderson and Esther Nordlund, who were murdered by bandits in 1948 in China. The scholarship will first be awarded in 2007.
- The Phoebe Church Planters Grant will provide a church planter with $1,000. The grant is named after Phoebe, to whom Paul refers in Romans 16, telling the church to “assist her in whatever matters she has need of.” The grant will be offered this year. To read more about this award, please see Grant.
- The Priscilla Grant of $1,000 will honor the woman who led a house church with her husband, Aquila. The grant will first be offered in 2007.
- The Evelyn M.R. Johnson Leadership Award will be given to a woman leader in an unspecified area of ministry. The category is broad, befitting the woman for whom it is named, says Gilliard. Johnson is the denomination’s first woman conference superintendent. To read more of this award, please see Leadership.
- The Mordecai Award will be given to honor a man who has “partnered with women leaders in support, advocacy and mentoring,” Gilliard says. The award is named after the man who mentored Esther and will first be given in 2007.
All of the honorees will be recognized during the ACCW Annual Meeting as part of the June Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Award application forms are available from conference offices.
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