Grant to support Town and Country Leadership Project launch
Phillips Theological Seminary has received a grant of $1 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the Town and Country Leadership Project.
The new project is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, which is intended to helptheological schools across the United States and Canada strengthen their educational and financial capacities to prepare and support pastoral leaders for Christian congregations both now and into the future.
The grant will support the launch of the Town and Country Leadership Project, a new program designed to enhance the vitality of rural and small congregations and to equip pastors and lay leaders for the challenges and changes of ministry in these communities.
These initiatives will create an ecosystem connecting Phillips students, alums, and congregational leaders in shared formation and innovation. The project’s two long-term goals are to build leadership capacity and expand seminary engagement.
“This grant represents a transformative opportunity,” said F. Douglas Powe Jr., PhD, President of Phillips Theological Seminary. “The Town and Country Leadership Project will allow us to walk alongside congregations and leaders in small towns and rural settings, places where faith communities are often central to community life, and help ensure they thrive in the years to come.”
Phillips Theological Seminary is one of 163 theological schools that have received grants since 2021 through the Pathways initiative. Together, the schools serve a broad spectrum of Christian traditions in the U.S. and Canada. They are affiliated with evangelical, mainline Protestant, nondenominational, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic, Black church, Latino, Asian American, Indigenous and historic peace church traditions.
“Theological schools have long played a central role for most denominations and church networks in preparing and supporting pastoral leaders who guide congregations,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “These schools are paying close attention to the challenges churches are facing today and will face in the foreseeable future. The grants will help these schools engage in wide-ranging, innovative efforts to adapt their educational programs and build their financial capacities so they can better prepare pastors and lay ministers to effectively lead the congregations they will serve in the future.”
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About Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. A principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of religion and lift up in fair, accurate and balanced ways the roles that people of all faiths and various religious communities play in the United States and around the globe.
Contact:
Kurt Gwartney
Phillips Theological Seminary
9182706470
[email protected]
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