Seminaries are the Church’s “wells of salvation” (Is. 12:3) — groups of people into whom God has poured His gifts to guide His Church in crisis. They are Jesus’s hands and feet, helping COVID-19 refugees, the poor, and the elderly. Yet the pandemic endangers seminaries and those who serve at them.
- Some seminaries are housing students trapped by lockdowns. One seminary in Moldova shelters 120 students — many from Central Asia — at its own cost, though it is not receiving tuition.
- Those in India are feeding day laborers in slums. Those in Eastern Europe are feeding the elderly. In both cases, food and medicine prices have skyrocketed — especially for these most vulnerable groups.
- Other seminaries desperately need laptops for faculty required by governments to teach online despite scant technological infrastructure.
- Faculty are struggling because they aren’t being paid. They are helping the COVID-19 refugees mentioned above and have shouldered the burden of moving courses online, giving pastoral counseling, and leading virtual chapel services — but they still need to feed their families.
- PhD scholars — future faculty — have lost access to work-study jobs and other supplemental support that made their studies in Western countries possible.
Together with Overseas Council and its affiliates, we invite you to give here to help these sisters and brothers weather this crisis. 100% of your designated donations will go directly to seminaries and scholars. You can read more details here.
Please be sure to designate your gifts “COVID-19 Relief.”
Thank you for your continued prayers and support.