2025 Journal-Yearbook

Illinois Great Rivers Conference 2025 Journal-Yearbook

school with a guest preacher and celebration dinner. With a $5 million gift from The Duke Endowment, we are strengthening our Office of Black Church Studies through recruiting a senior scholar and supporting academic, theological research. A $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., part of their Nurturing Children through Worship and Prayer Initiative, will help launch a Duke Divinity program to study how congregations more fully and intentionally engage children in intergenerational corporate worship and prayer practices. The program, “Let the Children Come,” is a regional partnership of congregations and leaders from across the southeastern United States. Duke Divinity School continues to be grateful for our ongoing participation in The United Methodist Church and partnership with this annual conference. We look forward to our ongoing work with you as we join the leading of God’s Spirit in the task of preparing people for Christian ministry. To learn more about Duke Divinity School, please visit our website at www.divinity.duke.edu . Respectfully submitted by Edgardo Colón-Emeric Dean of Duke Divinity School Gammon Theological Seminary GAMMON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY is the only Historically Black Theological Institution (HBTI) of The United Methodist Church. Gammon’s Mission is to help prepare for the practice of Christian ministry and public leadership individuals who understand their vocation as working in partnership with God in forming a just and generative world for all. GTS is currently an “extended unit” of the Interdenominational Theological Center. As a constituent member of the ITC who is accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), GTS has conferred degrees in partnership with the ITC for Gammon Theological Seminary graduates since 1959. Gammon Theological Seminary seeks separate accreditation through SACSCOC and the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS). We are excited to share Academic and Operational updates for 2024. • In June 2024, we hired a world-renowned theologian and scholar, Dr. Renita J. Weems, as our Chief Academic Officer. • This Fall 2024, we launched state-of-the-art renovations to the Gammon building. The renovations transformed the facility into a place for four in-person class sessions, upgrading all meeting spaces with state-of-the-art technology and furnishings. • In September 2024, the Board of Trustees of Gammon Theological Seminary approved the submission of our application to begin the SACSCOC Accreditation process. This historic decision included Gammon launching our Independent MDIV degree program in September 2024. Here are a few of this year’s ministry and fund development highlights. • In Spring 2024, Gammon hosted our 2nd Annual Student Scholarship Fundraiser Golf Tournament, which received $70,000 in donations toward the scholarship fund.

236 Ministry Reports