Illustrations by Josh Cochran

Lilly endowment Inc. is providing new funding opportunities to help theological schools strengthen their ability to prepare and support ordained pastors and lay ministers for Christian churches.

Through a second round of funding in the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, originally launched in 2020, the Endowment is now making available up to $325 million to help institutions accredited through the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) in the United States (and its territories) and Canada to assess and strengthen their financial operations and educational programs and design and launch efforts that will enhance their capacities to educate and support leaders for Christian churches.

“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 Coble, the Endowment’s vice president for religion.  “As theological schools face rapid and profound change, Pathways is intended to provide schools with opportunities to explore pressing challenges and implement efforts to address these challenges and strengthen their capacities, both individually and collectively, to carry their core missions into the future.”

Challenges facing theological schools vary widely. Among them are:

• preparing pastors who are ready to address the emerging leadership needs of congregations and serve churches in increasingly diverse ministry settings.
• responding to the changing demographics of Christianity in the United States and Canada, including providing support for the growing number of congregations that are serving vibrant immigrant communities.
• adapting educational strategies to make theological education more accessible to a broader range of students.
• strengthening their financial capacities so that theological education is more affordable for future pastoral leaders.
• working more collaboratively with other organizations to enhance the support of pastoral leaders.

The Endowment made its first grants through Pathways in 2021 and 2022. Those grants are helping theological schools in a variety of ways. With grant funding, many schools are working collaboratively with other schools and church-related organizations to strengthen their recruitment of ministerial candidates, develop digital platforms to share curricula and take other steps to lower operating costs.  Other schools are creating or adapting their educational offerings to reach and support pastoral leaders from underserved Christian communities, developing educational programs for an increasing number of bi-vocational pastors and lay pastoral leaders, and restructuring their financial operations to make educational programs more affordable and their operations more sustainable.

Building on the first round of Pathways, the Endowment is offering theological schools two funding opportunities.

Projects should offer sustainable models or strategies of theological education that could be adopted by other schools. Interested schools may submit concept papers outlining their plans.

Through the first opportunity, the Endowment will fund compelling large-scale, collaborative projects in which theological schools work together and with other organizations to strengthen their collective educational and financial abilities to prepare and support pastors and lay ministers. If successful, these projects should offer sustainable models or strategies of theological education that could be adopted by other schools. Interested schools may submit concept papers outlining their plans. After reviewing concept papers, the Endowment will provide planning grants to up to 35 theological schools to help them develop their concepts and prepare proposals for grants of up to $10 million each to implement their large-scale, collaborative projects.

Through a second funding opportunity, theological schools that did not receive Pathways implementation grants in 2021 or 2022 are eligible to apply on a competitive basis for grants of up to $1 million each to strengthen their individual school’s financial and educational capacities to prepare and support pastoral leaders. Eligible schools may request assessment and planning grants of up to $50,000 each, which will be awarded on a non-competitive basis, to engage in conversations about the leadership needs of congregations and design their capacity-building projects, and prepare their implementation grant proposals.

Theological schools that are eligible to participate in the Pathways initiative reflect the broad spectrum of Christianity in the U.S. and Canada. The schools serve evangelical, mainline Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, nondenominational, Pentecostal,  Black church, Hispanic, Asian American and historic peace church faith communities.

Learn more about the Pathways for Tomorrow funding opportunities at: lillyendowment.org.

Theological schools that are eligible to participate in the Pathways initiative reflect the broad spectrum of Christianity in the U.S. and Canada.

The Coordination Program

The Pathways for Tomorrow Coordination Program has been led by the Association of Theological Schools in cooperation with the In Trust Center for Theological Schools. The Coordination Program has hosted both in-person and online meetings, created learning communities, provided resources, and covered news from the grant, including stories and podcasts about school projects.

The work of the Coordination Program includes online directories of projects as well as videos, podcasts, and other resources to help people understand what the grants are being used for and what schools are learning. The information is helpful for those considering applying for the new Pathways funding, as it provides schools’ experience and helpful resources. For more information about the program, you can visit: www.PathwaysCoordination.org.