Applications Open for the Next CHHSM Scholar

August 13, 2024 | Barb Powell

Former CHHSM Scholars Emily Howard and Essence Ellis at the 2022 Annual Gathering.

The Council for Health and Human Service Ministries (CHHSM) Rev. Jerry Paul Scholar Program has opened applications for its next CHHSM Scholar. The program offers a unique and tailored program for seminary students interested in learning more about ministry in faith-based health and human service nonprofit organizations.

“It is always inspiring to begin a new application process for CHHSM Scholars,” said Jamar Doyle, president and CEO of CHHSM. “The quality of applicants is so high, and we always look forward to not only helping the scholar discern their possible options for ministry in health and human services, but in receiving the gifts they bring to CHHSM and its member agencies.”

The Rev. Jerry Paul was a CHHSM board member known for his generosity of time and money, and a lifetime of serving leadership. He oversaw the sale and conversion of the Deaconess Health System in St. Louis into a grant-making foundation, for which he served as president and CEO until his retirement in 2012. When he died in May 2015, CHHSM renamed the scholar program in his honor.

The goal of the program is to expose seminary students to the many different forms of health and human service ministries and to encourage them to consider leadership roles in CHHSM organizations. The experience includes CHHSM staff and the scholar working together to create goals, a reading list, and a year of opportunities to help the scholar have a better understanding of options for ministry in health and human services.

To that end, the program offers many benefits:

Up to $10,000/year paid to the scholar’s seminary toward tuition
Enrollment in The Nollau Leadership Institute and commissioning as a Diakonal Minister upon completion of the program (tuition, travel, and board provided)
Opportunity to engage with leaders in CHHSM member organizations, including site visits
Attendance at CHHSM Board of Directors meetings (travel and board provided)
Registration for the CHHSM Annual Gathering (travel and board provided)
Mentorship and monthly conversations with CHHSM staff to discuss and discern questions/thoughts/ideas/the scholar has regarding Health and Human Service ministry.

“The Rev. Jerry Paul CHHSM Scholar program has been such a win-win experience, I’m excited to begin the search again,” said the Rev. Dr. Elyse Berry, CHHSM’s associate for advocacy and leadership development. “I can’t wait to see the new cadre of applicants that come in this year, and to see what the Spirit has in store for us now!”

As CHSM and JLCM UCC Fellow, Ellis worked with both ministries.

Due to unexpected circumstances, such as the COVID pandemic, the CHHSM scholar program has developed flexibility. For example, when Essence Ellis — who was studying at Yale Divinity School at the time — was selected as the 2020 CHHSM scholar, the pandemic shut everything down. “We journeyed through the COVID pandemic together over zoom, and how her seminary experience completely changed because of it,” said Berry.

Those difficulties inspired the idea to create a UCC Fellow program after the pandemic eased up, in conjunction with the UCC’s Justice and Local Church Ministries (JLCM), for Ellis. “Essence became a vital teammate for both offices, providing unique workshops for CHHSM organizations and the Nollau Leadership Institute, as well as crucial advocacy research and education for the UCC’s Washington, D.C., office when the Supreme Court overturned Roe in the Dobbs decision. Her work expanded CHHSM’s and the UCC’s impact in ways that I couldn’t have imagined.”

Emerging Cohort members Zaria Davis, Nikki Starr, and George Williams-Davis during the 2024 Annual Gathering.

Flexibility was key, too, when the Rev. Dr. Zaria Davis from Eden Theological Seminary was selected as the CHHSM Scholar. Davis came in mid-year and couldn’t experience Nollau. So again, the program adapted the next year to allow Davis to participate in Nollau while also bringing in two other Nollau Scholar finalists, Nikki Starr and George Williams-Davis — both seminarians at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities — into an Emerging Leaders Cohort. “All three of these individuals are outstanding people who live CHHSM’s mission in powerful ways through the work they are already doing and in their hopes for their ministerial vocations,” Berry added.

Davis also now serves as CHHSM’s part-time member engagement coordinator.

CHHSM is committed to Racial Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice in all its work, and strongly encourages applications from all backgrounds without regard to race, color, gender, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, partnership status, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other protected status. Seminarians who are members of the United Church of Christ are strongly preferred. The scholarship may be renewable for multiple years during seminary.

The deadline for applications is Oct. 15, 2024. CHHSM staff will arrange online interviews with selected applicants, and a final decision will be made in mid-November 2024.

Learn more and apply for the Rev. Jerry Paul CHHSM Scholar Program.