Helping Pastors and Congregations Grieve

Rae Karim (MDiv ’14, Doctor of Ministry student)

Scholarships do more than ease financial burdens—they open doors to opportunity. In this edition of CTS Connection, we are highlighting two students whose lives have been changed by scholarship support, allowing them to pursue their goals, grow as leaders, and give back to their communities. Their stories reflect the lasting impact of your generosity—and the incredible potential that still awaits. 

 

“We’ve been waiting on you.”

When Rae Karim called Scott Seay, PhD, Co-Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program with initial interest, that’s how he responded.

To the CTS community, Karim was well-known. A Disciples of Christ minister who had ministered in Indianapolis, was chapel director at CTS, and most recently, a pastor of a church in Hawaii, Karim was back in Indianapolis in late 2021. While in Hawaii, she became a certified grief coach.

“My grandfather and mother died around the same time,” recalls Karim. “And pastoring a church while grieving was difficult. I wanted to do something that would keep pastors from experiencing what I did.”

Karim describes a grieving pastor as one with tension. She also uses that word—tension—to describe her initial days in the Doctor of Ministry program.

“I went in to pay my balance my first semester, and immediately felt incredible tension,” says Karim. “I couldn’t concentrate with debt over my head.”

A week later, the money was paid back to her when she discovered that she received a scholarship.

“To know that you don’t have to be concerned about finances lifts a burden,” says Karim.

The relief of financial burden mirrors the work she hopes to do through her dissertation and ministry on grief. As she completes her degree, she’s interim pastor at a Disciples of Christ congregation in Mishawaka, IN. She also offers grief support for churches in San Jose, CA and Chicago. After she earns her degree, she hopes to lean into grief coaching full time.

“I want to flip the tables on grief and the way we navigate that space,” says Karim. “CTS made me a more confident person when it comes to the work I do, where I stand in my faith, and developed my willingness to explore new ways of believing and being.”

Join us in continuing to invest in the future, one student at a time.