Fiscal Year ’22 was yet one more year of milestones for Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School. And, like every other year that has come before, it was a year that would not have been successful without faithful and generous prayers and contributions from you. In this report, you will find updates from many leaders from across our program, so I want to home in on some specifics, while also offering clarity on one milestone, in particular.

 

First, some clarity about reaching our initial goal of covering all demonstrated need for tuition – a priority set with Yale Divinity School and Berkeley Divinity School and achieved this year. What an extraordinary gift to our students! Since the announcement was made, I have received questions about why it is we’re still prioritizing student support (scholarships) in our fundraising if we have already met this goal. I’m grateful to those of you who have reached out for clarity, and suspect others have the same question. The key word here is “tuition.” By coming together, the schools have reached the milestone of covering all demonstrated need for tuition beginning this year. Our comprehensive goal, however, is to erase future student debt entirely. The majority of graduate school debt comes from those loans taken out for housing, books, board, food plans, and health insurance. So, we both celebrate the milestone and push forward, with the combined goal (shared between all three partners on the quad) of raising an additional $6M in the next four years. I am awed and inspired to report that Andover Newton has raised just about $1.25M since Sarah B. Drummond became founding dean in 2019. Wow and thank you!

 

While on the topic of fundraising, we had another successful year, meeting and exceeding our Annual Fund goal of $265,000. When I reported in late April that we were still short of the Annual Fund goal, alumni/ae from across the nation stepped up and helped us attain this important goal, recognizing that we rely on the Annual Fund for day-to-day operations. Once again: Wow and thank you!

 

Andover Newton Seminary is now entering our fifth year of the ANS Academic Program at Yale Divinity School. Throughout this time, our team has worked to not only produce inspiring leaders for faith communities but also support faith communities in other ways. This support took on three new forms in FY’22. 1) We conducted the trial year of a formalized Pulpit Supply Program. Andover Newton faculty, staff, and students (not including those students in Supervised Ministry) preached in or spoke at nearly 100 churches in the greater northeast. After learning from this experience, we are now moving into a pilot program, formalizing the program still further, and hope to continue to connect with local churches in these meaningful ways, while supporting the pastors who lead them. 2) We launched “Seminary Snow Sunday,” a downloadable service that can be used at any point throughout the winter, or at any other time a congregation sees fit and/or cannot meet in person. With the exception of the welcome and benediction, this service is entirely student-led. So, look for Seminary Snow Sunday 2023 in mid-January! 3) We continued to concretize our commitment to knowledge creation and dissemination with various publications, devotionals, and resources, like Dean Drummond’s Thriving Congregations workbook. This workbook, along with other resources, is available on a new area of our website called: “Resources.” Additionally, the workbook has now been used by nearly 75 congregations across the nation. Wow and thank you!

 

Though there is much more that I could share, I want to land on one final specific celebration. Andover Newton is deepening its connection to alumni/ae, churches, and other constituents in many ways. One that stands out this year is social media. Our traffic on Facebook was up 25% over the previous year, and we also launched an Instagram account (@andover_newton), which is almost exclusively run by students. In fact, students regularly provide Insta-takeovers, where a single student shares their experience of Andover Newton for an entire week, before handing the account off to another student. If you know someone thinking about seminary, sharing this social media outlet with them will offer an insiders perspective on Andover Newton Seminary. 

 

“Wow and thank you.” These are not just phrases to pass over, or that I offer lightheartedly. Like Anne Lamott, I see these expressions of awe and gratitude as forms of prayer. Also, like Anne, I believe in one other prayer: “Help.” I hope that by perusing this annual report, you not only recognize the deep gratitude it represents but that you are also inspired to continue to help Andover Newton further its mission to educate inspiring leaders for faith communities.

 

With gratitude and blessings, 

 

Ned