Pulpit Supply Program Flourishing

Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School (ANS) recognizes that many churches are in transition, and we are aware of the unique and difficult circumstances challenging faith communities today. As we equip students for faithful leadership in a variety of settings, we know that the needs of the church are not only in the future, but in the present. We match seminary students and churches for pulpit supply to facilitate growth, learning, and support for both.

The Pulpit Supply Program provides students with an opportunity to hone their homiletical skills, to practice worship leadership, and to create connections and community with churches in need of worship support.

Through the leadership of Pulpit Supply Coordinator, Alexa Rollow (Class of 2026), the Pulpit Supply Program impacted 23 church communities through 29 Yale Divinity School students over the course of the 2025 calendar year.

The ANS Pulpit Supply Program not only diversifies the educational experience for Yale Divinity School students by offering them access to training and practice within a church, but it also helps introduce church communities to up and coming faith leaders that are at the forefront of current scholarship and practice.

The significant impact yielded by the Pulpit Supply Program is largely self-funded by  the ANS Annual Fund. While some churches who host our student preachers have budgets that can sustain an honorarium of $250 or more plus travel costs, others have pastors who are very part-time or unpaid. Those churches – sometimes in densely urban, sometimes in very rural, settings – are ones that can give our students an experience that enriches their ministry learning.

If you are interested in supporting the Pulpit Supply Program, then please consider making a donation today. A gift of $1,000 would cover the cost of our offering to cover a pastor’s two-week vacation or research leave with pulpit supply, including the student honorarium, student travel costs, and cost of our student Pulpit Supply Coordinator’s logistical direction.”

For more information, please contact David C. Smith, Ph.D., Director of Institutional Advancement, at  (203) 436-9970 or email david.c.smith@yale.edu.