On Nov. 25, Lilly Endowment announced the approval of 93 grant recipients for two separate initiatives. Over $400 million will be awarded to 45 theological schools, and $232 million will be awarded to 48 organizations for telling stories of Christian life.
Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Photo courtesy of Baylor University/Matthew Minard via RNS
This year’s grantees for the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative have a particular focus on working collaboratively with other theological schools and religious organizations to reduce costs, improve courses, and make theological education more accessible.
For example, schools will share faculty, curricula, and costs for administrative and other services. Other collaborations include institutions merging and establishing shared endowments. Some schools will work with congregational and denominational agencies to make theological education more accessible “by expanding non-degree programs to support pastors without theological degrees, embedding educational programs in congregations, providing programs to serve lay leaders, and designing programs for bi-vocational pastoral leaders and pastors serving in different ministry contexts,” according to the press release.
Lilly Endowment launched the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative in 2021 to help U.S. and Canada schools “prepare ordained and lay pastoral leaders for Christian churches now and into the future.”
Pathways for Tomorrow grants range from $2.5 million to $10 million, and recipients include Baylor University, Biola University, Covenant Theological Seminary, Emory University, and Fuller Theological Seminary. Church traditions represented by recipients include evangelical, mainline Protestant, nondenominational, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic, and Black churches. They will collaborate with nearly 400 other schools, churches, and religious organizations.
The grantees for the National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life will produce stories of Christians “living vibrant lives of faith and engaging in acts of love and service for others,” according to the press release.
“Contrary to many media accounts that highlight the decline of religion,” Christopher L. Coble, the Endowment’s vice president for religion, said in the press release, “these stories tell how individuals and congregations are living out their faith by tending to the needs of their neighbors, extending hospitality to friends and strangers, and working to promote healing and reconciliation in their communities.”
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Lilly Endowment launched the National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life in 2024 to “help a wide variety of organizations seek out and share stories that illuminate the vitality of Christian faith and life in congregations and communities throughout the country.”
Stories will represent a broad range of traditions and will be told in a variety of contexts and formats—including podcasts, print, public awareness campaigns, and in-person storytelling festivals. Organizations include church networks, schools, congregations, publishers, and other media groups.
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