Giving Opportunities
New Chapters Advancement Fund
Support the New Chapters Advancement Fund to address the urgent leadership crisis in the Christian church. Here's why it matters:
Meeting Growing Demand for Church Leaders: Supporting the training and empowerment of adults to become leaders and pastors, securing a vibrant future for the church.
Relieve the burden of institutional development costs from students so they only pay for operational services.
Broadening Reach and Impact: The fund expands programs to new territories, developing courses in diverse languages, and ensuring quality training for aspiring leaders.
Sustaining the Church's Mission: Your support maintains a strong leadership pipeline, ensuring continued growth and hope to those seeking counsel and shepherding.
Your donation to the New Chapters Advancement Fund shapes the trajectory of the church, empowers emerging leaders, and impacts lives. Join us in investing in the future of the church and its mission. Together, we can make a lasting difference. Learn more…
Need-Based Scholarship Fund
Imagine the impact of sponsoring a student who yearns to improve their ministry, spiritual growth, and theological understanding but lacks the means to afford seminary education, even with Redemption's remarkably low rates. Consider sponsoring a motivated student unable to afford seminary, especially those from economically disadvantaged regions like Africa. Your partnership with Redemption Seminary impacts the global church, providing world-class education and resources.
With mentors worldwide, we support students in their own time zones and contexts. Together, let's empower aspiring leaders and foster spiritual growth. Learn more…
Church Sponsored Scholarship funds
You can provide a scholarship for a specific person in a church or ministry. This is a way to invest in your own church leadership and grow your ministries from within. Learn more…
Mike Heiser Memorial Library Endowment
You can help continue Mike Heiser’s work by contributing to the Mike Heiser Memorial Library Endowment. This endowment is used to equip students with all the resources they need to complete their programs without additional costs, give graduates their own theological libraries to use in their ministries after they complete their degrees, and eventually provide theological resources to the public. This effort was important to Mike and was one of the reasons he helped found Redemption Seminary. Learn more…
New Chapters Advancement Fund
The Book of Life is much more than a mere list of names. The Lord knows each of our stories and has new chapters to be written for every Christian at every stage of life. However, as adults shoulder increased responsibilities, it can become challenging for them to pursue new chapters of spiritual growth and service to the church. Even individuals in retirement require structured encouragement to embark on new chapters. The growth among adult church members is crucial in addressing the present and future leadership needs within the church.
This need is growing rapidly, putting us at risk of a succession crisis.
1 in 4 Pastors Plan to Retire Before 2030
Chrisitanity Today, April 28, 2023
By the year 2050, the global church will need an estimated 7,741,450 new pastors.
Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2022
This impending crisis stems from two factors: a decline in the number of pastors and the exponential growth of the worldwide church. Praise the Lord for this growth! The fields are whiter than ever for harvest, yet there are fewer workers heading toward these fields. While we encourage young adults to pursue the pastoral career path, we need an immediate solution. It is necessary to look to other segments of the church for help.
Redemption Seminary’s innovative learning model was intentionally designed to help adults grow in grace and knowledge at their own pace, enabling them to become Bible scholars using their regular Bible study habits and church service. The programs provide structure to Bible study, resulting in measurable growth, and the workbook assignments integrate the learning resulting in immediate blessings for the church.
This offers a fresh path for pastoral training, providing a constructive critique of traditional models. It is inconsistent for a Spiritual Formation course to add stress or disrupt a Christian’s balance and spiritual discipline. We need to re-examine our structure and expectations for theological education. Redemption’s affordable model reflects discipleship in real life, without imposing high-stakes exams. The curriculum is designed to nurture busy adult lives rather than increase their overall load. Assignments integrate the Spirit’s calling within their church so the church has immediate blessings.
Redemption’s programmatic and structured curricula can be integrated into any leadership training program in a church (respecting denominational traditions) without adding to the church’s leadership workload. Meeting the church’s current and future leadership needs will begin new chapters in its life.
Advancement Levels
Redemption Seminary seeks donor partners and corporate sponsors for two reasons.
Provides significant time savings, expediting the process and allowing Redemption Seminary to serve residents in every state and country.
Protects students from incurring development costs outside the operational costs required to provide their programs.
The wisdom behind this approach lies in ensuring that the seminary does not become reliant on major gifts for its operations. We value every partner in this endeavor, regardless of their level of contribution, and are eager to join forces with you in this important work. Please consider investing in this ministry effort.
Level 1: NEW TERRITORIES (Budget $1,182,000)
This advancement level encompasses gaining accreditation, complying with regulations to serve residents in every US state (requiring Redemption to maintain substantial cash reserves to achieve the required Federal Composite Score to satisfy NC-SARA), improving communications, participating in denominational or ministry conferences, allocating an annual advertising and marketing budget, and hosting an annual fundraising event.
Level 2: NEW PROGRAMS (Budget of $2,380,000)
This advancement level involves the creation of a new doctoral program and ten new master's programs. Redemption is structured to swiftly generate and deliver various programs, allowing students to enhance their learning by obtaining additional graduate degrees specializing in areas of interest such as original languages, counseling, preaching development, and more.
Level 3: NEW LANGUAGES & ECONOMIES (Budget of $5,430,000)
This advancement level includes the creation of programs in additional languages and offering programs priced according to the discretionary income levels of other countries. This is achieved by linking tuition levels to national median income while establishing mentors and resources within additional countries. We remain committed to keeping theological education affordable for non-traditional students, thereby ensuring that tuition remains within discretionary spending levels.
Need-Based Scholarship Fund
Sponsor a Student (International & High-Impact Donation)
Redemption awards a scholarship to a student each time the revenue in the fund reaches the current total cost for a master’s program (currently around $11,000, see the tuition page for precise current costs). The rationale for this is so a student knows that they will be supported through their completion of the program. If a recipient of the scholarship disenrolls the remaining funds are returned to the scholarship fund to support another student.
Gifts are tax-deductible in accordance with federal laws (no goods or services are provided to the donor by the organization).
Redemption uses 100% of the donations (minus the initial bank charge for processing the donation) to cover regular course costs for students approved for the scholarship.
Recommended Gift Amounts
$11,000 sponsors a student for their entire master’s program. Donors can sponsor a student by choosing a country from Redemption’s qualified requests for help. You can learn firsthand about the impact of your generosity as you hear how your student is using their education in their ministry.
$500 monthly also enables a student to take a course each eight-week term.
$50 monthly is significant support and provides a two-year degree program for a student for every 10 donors at this level.
Redemption’s Selection Criteria for Need-based Scholarships
Redemption Seminary considers the following criteria for selecting recipients of need-based scholarships.
Regional Need is prioritized in Redemption’s selection process. These needs are
Applicants in regions or countries antagonistic to Christianity
Applicants that lack resources for a Christian education at the graduate level because of their region.
Financial Need - Student income levels must be less than the poverty line for the US. Students report their income level when applying for the scholarship.
Ministry Impact - Applicants fill out a narrative describing how the education will impact their ministry. Redemption factors the potential impact of education will have on their decision for awarding the scholarship.
Church Sponsored Scholarships
Redemption Seminary can work with any church or ministry to provide scholarships for its members. This is a way to invest in your own church leadership and grow your ministries from within. Do you have elders, church leaders, or aspiring leaders that could benefit from a structured theological education? This type of scholarship program at your church can help your church deepen its theological understanding and wisdom.
Most churches can accept tax-deductible donations and pay for theology training for whom they choose. It is easy for Redemption Seminary to work with churches and benefactors who wish to support their fellow members in this way.
The process for establishing church or ministry scholarships.
A church or ministry representative contacts Redemption to set up and begin funding their scholarship account.
The church or ministry identifies the person or qualifications for a person to receive the scholarship.
When a qualified recipient of the scholarship registers for a course scholarship funds from the account offset the tuition payments.
Setting students up for success means designing programs that contribute to their current ministry without having them take on debt.
(Contact Redemption for how to use course material for a weekly adult Bible study group, where some participants work with a mentor to earn credits and a degree.)
Mike Heiser Memorial Library Endowment
The Mike Heiser Memorial Library Endowment helps provide all books and materials to students and gives them a research library to help their ministry after they graduate.
Gifts are tax-deductible
100% of the endowment goes toward securing digital library resources. (The only fee attached to giving is the initial bank transaction fee.)
Funds are used at the discretion of the seminary to secure library resources and are not necessarily held in perpetuity. The goal is to both use the principle to fund digital library resources and use earned interest to increase library holdings.
Recommended Gift Amounts
$1,500 covers the resources for one student and provides them with their own Redemption digital research library when they graduate ($23,500 retail value).
$100 monthly also provides resources for
a student working through the program at a regular pace
building the library endowment (without placing additional financial burdens on students.—This was important to Mike.)
and increasing the school’s digital holdings for future students and eventually the public.
$50 monthly is also significant support for these purposes.
Redemption is a non-profit school with 501(c)3 status. Donations are tax-deductible in accordance with federal laws (no goods or services are provided to the donor by the organization).
Gifts for the New Chapters Advancement Fund (with its advancement levels) are unrestricted for the seminary to use to fulfill its mission. The advancement levels communicate institutional priorities and provide a general roadmap for success. Restricted giving options include the need-based scholarship fund, the Mike Heiser Memorial Library Endowment, and Church Sponsored Scholarships.