The Virginia Baptist Mission Board and Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond have joined with more than 40 Baptist churches and organizations across the South to launch the Shiloh Network, a new cooperative effort to encourage and recruit young people to enter pastoral ministry.
The churches and organizations committed to establish a “culture of call” within their congregations, creating an environment that will cultivate the next generation of pastors.
Representatives of the churches and organizations met at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C., Feb. 22 to launch the network.
Curtis Freeman, director of the divinity school's Baptist House of Studies program, which hosted the meeting, said the network is intended to both head off a looming clergy shortage and revive the congregation's role in helping to form pastors.
The Shiloh name refers to the Old Testament account of Samuel's call to minstry in the temple at Shiloh. After the young Samuel is repeatedly awakened by a voice that he is unable to identify, the old priest Eli named the voice, recognized God's claim on the boy and encouraged him to respond.
Other partner organizations supporting the network are the Center for Congregational Health in Winston-Salem, N.C.; the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; and the Fund for Theological Education in Atlanta.
Additional information is available from Freeman at cfreeman@div.duke.edu or (919) 660-3401.