Divinity School to Draw Negroes Into Leadership Jobs in Ministry

The Harvard Divinity School plans to institute the first summer program in the country designed specifically to draw Negroes into the ministry.

The program, which depends on grants from private foundations, has so far received $17,500 from the Sealantic Foundation and the Spaulding-Potter Charity Trust. Four thousand dollars more is needed to provide full scholarships for the 20 Negro undergraduates who will participate.

The Rev. John D. Elder, assistant to the Dean of the Divinity School and director of the program, hopes that it will provide badly needed religious leadership within Negro communities.

Severe Crisis Coming

"The Negro ministry is headed for a severe leadership crisis," Elder said yesterday.

The average Negro clergyman is ten years older than the white clergyman, primarily because Negroes are being drawn into other occupational and professional fields that have become open to them within the last few years, he added.

Acceptance to the program is based on applicants' potential for church leadership, and on their academic records. All applications received so far have come from Southern predominantly Negro colleges, where need for effective church leadership is greatest, according to Elder.

Like the Law School

The decision to institute the program came from a study of a similar two-year old Law School program, which is designed to interest Negroes in legal careers.

The summer session will last for eight weeks and will consist of two required courses on "Introduction to Theology" and "The Ministry and American Society."