Investing in future ordained leaders to serve The Episcopal Church
Please click on the videos below to learn more about whom we help.
Whether you are a current seminarian, a postulant or candidate for ordination, one of our alumni who received a grant from the Society for the Increase of Ministry (SIM), or an Episcopalian mindful that our seminarians are the future ordained leaders of The Episcopal Church, we welcome you to the SIM website.
SIM provides financial, pastoral and advocacy support to those preparing for the ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church and awards needs-based scholarships annually to postulants and candidates in seminary. Since 1857 SIM has awarded over $6 million to almost 5000 women and men studying to become Episcopal priests. Currently 26% of Episcopal bishops were recipients of one or more SIM grants. Our grant recipients are future ordained leaders in The Episcopal Church.
The Church’s aspiration for dedicated, well-educated ordained leaders remains the same as it did more than 150 years ago, but “aiding suitable persons for the Episcopal ministry in acquiring a thorough education” (SIM’s founding charter, 1857) has changed dramatically. Not only have costs increased substantially, but funding from primary sponsors, such as dioceses and parishes, have diminished. With increasingly limited avenues of support, seminarians dedicated to their calls have often turned to debt to fund their education for a low compensating profession. It is a crisis for the future ordained leadership of The Episcopal Church.
SIM is the only organization in The Episcopal Church raising funds on a national basis for Episcopal seminarian support. Take a look around our website – connect with current seminarians on our “Meet Our Seminarians” page and read their stories. Hear from our Alumni on our “Alumni” page. Read about current events on our “News” page. Find out about the SIM Board on our “Who We Are” page. Sign up on the right hand side of any page to receive our online newsletter, “The eCall” or view our video. You will find an abundant amount of information here.
We encourage you to help shape the future of The Episcopal Church by investing with us in seminarians, future ordained leaders to serve The Episcopal Church.
Thomas Moore III
Executive Director
February 2011
Help Us Help Them.
