Blessings Through Education
/A Brief History of the CFNA Scholarship Ministry
The CFNA Scholarship program has just completed its 16th year of partnership with the Lutheran Foundation and Lutheran congregations to provide scholarships for New American youth to attend Lutheran elementary and secondary schools in the St. Louis metropolitan area. I can still remember meeting with Allan Buckman back in 2007, when I was President of the Lutheran High School Association and on the Board of Directors of King of Glory, to talk about partnering with the Lutheran Foundation to discuss this.
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From 2007-2008, when 20 children received scholarships to Lutheran elementary schools, to 2023-2024 when 13 elementary and 18 high school students were attending four elementary and two Lutheran high schools, the program has served at least 104 students. Almost all have made satisfactory academic progress and gone on to quality high schools, colleges, universities, and military service.
Those 104 students came from 22 different countries. Initially, most were from West and East African countries, but students from Latin America and Asia have also been served. Presently, the Nepalese ethnic communities at Ascension and St. Johns have become a significant source of scholarship students, including those who attended the charter school at St. Johns and have been recruited by Pastor Tanney to attend Lutheran South. Moreover, in at least three cases, the fathers of three of these families studied at, and have graduated from Concordia Seminary and are now on the LCMS clergy roster.
In the early years of the scholarship program, students were recruited primarily through other CFNA programs and ethnic ministry facilitators via family relationships. Today, immigrant and refugee families are spread more widely across the metropolitan region and schools now come to CFNA whenever an eligible student seeks enrollment. Families and friends have always been an important source of information and today, students from some Afghan families are also seeking enrollment.
While the New American students are the primary beneficiaries of this long-running ministry, the students and staff at the ten Lutheran schools they have attended have also benefited. They have had the opportunity to become familiar with people from other cultures and get to know students whose lives are quite different. Additionally, we have found that almost 80 percent of the scholarship families with children in Lutheran schools also become affiliated with Lutheran congregations.
While the schools, CFNA, and the Lutheran Foundation have been key partners, partnerships also include donors who have supported this ministry. Some, like Concordia Kirkwood, have been donors from the beginning, but each year we add others. As we increase the value of the scholarships (which have been the same for sixteen years) we do need additional donors to support this flagship CFNA program. If you feel moved to join many others, you may do so HERE.
By Judith Meyer, Facilitator, CFNA Scholarship Assistance Ministry
