The Value of Money

If you want to know a person’s true values — what really matters to them — take a look at their check register. Our household budgets are actually moral documents: they reflect our decisions about where we want to direct the financial blessings that we have received through God’s blessing and our own hard work. Our budgets show our love for our selves, for our families, for our communities, and for the institutions that we support.

I am grateful and humbled that you are considering supporting my ministry with a financial gift. It shows your love and support for me, and for the work that God is calling me to do in this world. It is a statement of your values, and a vote of confidence in the ministry that I am called to. Please know that your support — both financial and spiritual — is extremely valuable to me, and I always uplift my supporters in prayer.

Wise Stewardship: A Matching Gift Opportunity

I am asking for your financial support by contributing to defray the cost of my education. Lancaster Theological Seminary has a unique program that matches your contribution toward tuition expenses. Each year, I am eligible to receive up to $5,000 in dollar-for-dollar matching funds from the Seminary. That means that impact of your gift is immediately doubled.

Your support will make it possible for me to graduate seminary with minimal student loan debt. The total cost of a Master of Divinity degree at Lancaster Seminary is around $50,000 — a cost that would otherwise be financed entirely be student loan debt. With your support, I will be able to enter the ministry without the burden of large payments to service this type of loan. I appreciate your support because it will enable me to follow God’s calling without the worry of increased debt.

Where does the money go?

All financial gifts will go directly to my seminary account and will be applied to expenses for tuition and fees related to my M.Div. program. The seminary does not permit these gifts to be withdrawn or applied to non-educational expenses. You can rest assured that your gift will go entirely to educational expenses.

How to Give

The easiest way to give is to make an online gift through the seminary’s website. Visit the following link, scroll to the bottom of the page and complete the secure online giving form. Be sure to specify Ryan Tobin in the Student to Sponsor section. The online giving page can be found at: https://www.lancasterseminary.edu/students/match-scholarship-program/

To contribute by mail, please make out your check to Lancaster Theological Seminary, and write Match Scholarship – Ryan Tobin in the memo line. Checks should be mailed to the seminary at the following address:

Cashier’s Office / LTS Match Scholarship
Moravian University
1200 Main Street
Bethlehem, PA 18018

Keep Us in Your Prayers

Whether or not you are able to give, I ask that you keep me and Lindsay in your prayers. The Book of Common Prayer offers the following prayer for those who are seeking ordination to Holy Orders in the church:

Almighty God, the giver of all good gifts, in your divine providence you have appointed various orders in your Church: Give your grace, we humbly pray, to all who are called to any office and ministry for your people; and so fill them with the truth of your doctrine and clothe them with holiness of life, that they may faithfully serve before you, to the glory of your great Name and for the benefit of your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer, “For those to be ordained,” page 256.