Student Loan Assistance for Pastors

​The Northern Baptist Education Society for generations has been supporting students as they become prepared for the ministry, and now we have the opportunity to help educated pastors serving local churches. We are trying out a new program to reduce the financial barriers facing recent graduates coming to serve in local churches in Northern New England by creating a Loan Repayment Assistance Program. We seek a creative solution that will work against prevailing trends to encourage educated pastors to come serve our local churches in our regions.

Here are some guidelines for this program. To qualify, applicants would:

• Be graduates of an ATS seminary
• Have educational debt (undergraduate and graduate)
• Be serving an American Baptist Church as a pastor in Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont or New Hampshire with 150 members or less
• Be listed in the directory of the Region that the applicant is serving

If you have any questions about the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, please reach out to Roger Spinney (rspin6477@aol.com). If you would like an application for the program again reach out to Roger Spinney. The deadline to receive applications for the year 2020 grants is October 15, 2020.  Decisions will be made on grants no later than November 20, 2020.  

While the board has already allocated funds in starting this program, they are working towards trying to fund this program with donations in order to continue with this program. For those who have already paid off their education debt and would like to help other pastors, Northern Baptist Education Society is raising funds here: https://gf.me/u/x5fhzj