Seminary Receives Lilly Endowment Grant

To strengthen urban ministry programs, develop remote delivery capability 和 more

bet365中文大学 is pleased to announce that it has received a five-year grant of $997,444从礼来捐赠公司. to help the 基督复临安息日会 Theological Seminary (SDATS) strengthen the ability of pastors to serve effectively in urban settings.

Lilly Endowment made the grant through its Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. It is a three-phase initiative designed to help theological schools across the United States 和 Canada as they prioritize 和 respond to the most pressing challenges they face as they prepare pastoral 和 lay leaders for local congregations.

bet365中文大学 President Andrea Luxton shares, “I am delighted that the university has been awarded this competitive Lilly Endowment grant. This generous support will enable the Seminary to significantly deepen the opportunities available to seminary students to engage in innovative ministry in urban environments.”

The funds will be used to establish (a) an urban ministry concentration with a strong focus on 社区发展; (b) an urban Clinical Pastoral E教育 program, in collaboration with Kettering Health; (c) a fully off-campus MDiv cohort for students preparing for urban ministry through the equipping of classrooms for in-person/remote delivery; 和 (d) an open–access database of Black 和 Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) theological scholarship.

霁ř我Moskala, SDATS院长, states “I am excited that the Seminary is the recipient of the highly competitive Pathways for Tomorrow grant, which will advance the pastoral preparedness to minister in the urban setting in the North American Division. I especially rejoice over the future establishment of the Clinical Pastoral E教育al program with practical field-based mentoring 和 training. New great opportunities of the untrodden path lie ahead of us.”

The SDATS-led project will be developed in conjunction with Kettering Health, the College of Arts & Sciences, the James White 图书馆, 和 the Office of 研究 & 创新奖学金. The grant application team was led by Cedric Vine, PhD, associate professor of New Testament.

The 基督复临安息日会 Theological Seminary is one of 84 theological schools that will benefit from a total of more than $82 million in grants through the second phase of the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. 在一起, 学校代表福音派, 主流的新教, 迅速, 五旬节派, Roman Catholic 和 Black church 和 historic peace church traditions (e.g., Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, Quakers). Many schools also serve students 和 pastors from Black, 拉丁美洲人, 韩国美国, Chinese American 和 recent immigrant Christian communities.

“Theological schools have long played a pivotal role in preparing pastoral leaders for churches,Christopher L说。. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for 宗教. “Today, these schools find themselves in a period of rapid 和 profound change. Through the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, theological schools will take deliberate steps to address the challenges they have identified in ways that make the most sense to them. We believe that their efforts are critical to ensuring that Christian congregations continue to have a steady stream of pastoral leaders who are well-prepared to lead the churches of tomorrow.”

Lilly Endowment launched the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative in January 2021 because of its longst和ing interest in supporting efforts to enhance 和 sustain the vitality of Christian congregations by strengthening the leadership capacities of pastors 和 congregational lay leaders.

礼来捐赠公司. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. 莉莉老. 他儿子以利，约.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly 和 Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, 有一个独立的管理委员会, 人员和地点. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of 社区发展, e教育 和 宗教 和 maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, 和 home state, Indiana. The primary aim of its grantmaking in 宗教, 哪个是全国性的, focuses on strengthening the leadership 和 vitality of Christian congregations in the United States. The Endowment also seeks to foster public underst和ing about 宗教 和 lift up in fair, accurate 和 balanced ways the contributions that people of all faiths 和 religious communities make to our greater civic well-being.