Seminary, parish, five dioceses each receive more than $1 million in Lilly Endowment grants

[Episcopal News Service] Five Episcopal dioceses, a parish and a seminary have received grants of more than $1 million each through the Lilly Endowment Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. This initiative is aimed at supporting creative endeavors that help children, especially those up to age 12, come to know and love God and grow in faith, according to its website.

The Episcopal recipients are:

Diocese of Indianapolis, $1,250,000.
Diocese of Los Angeles, $1,245,167.
Diocese of North Carolina, $1,250,000.
Diocese of Virginia, $1,248,768.
Diocese of West Virginia, $1,250,000.
Parish of Calvary-St. George’s, New York City, $1,249,750.
Virginia Theological Seminary, $1,250,000.

The seven Episcopal entities were among 91 organizations that received more than $104 million through the Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative.

The grants can be used over a maximum five-year period “to establish new and/or enhance existing programs that support multiple congregations as they design intergenerational corporate worship services and prayer practices that more intentionally and fully engage children and nurture their faith.”

Here are details from each of the Episcopal grant recipients on how they plan to spend these new funds.

Diocese of Indianapolis, Centering All Children in Worship

The initiative will look at creative pathways for arts, music and inclusive worship. It will modernize choral traditions by involving congregational and community partners, engaging children in intergenerational worship and empowering them to take on leadership roles. It will develop sensory-rich approaches, such as collaborative art projects and summer camps, to cater to diverse learning styles and abilities, with the aim of ensuring inclusivity and support for children with disabilities.

“The Diocese of Indianapolis looks forward to working alongside our congregations and our broader community of musicians, creatives and faith formation practitioners to both deepen and transform how our churches engage children spiritually and form their faith,” Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows said. “Over the next five years, this transformational grant will allow us to more deeply engage our mission to offer a generous welcome to all ages, races and socio-economic classes with worship and music that reflects the full breadth and depth of our Anglican tradition.”

Diocese of Los Angeles, Immersed in Worship: Welcoming Children into Intergenerational Worship

The program will provide congregations with resources and tools to engage children, focused on those ages 12 and under. It will connect groups of clergy, laity and volunteers and provide them with training and tools to engage children in worship. It also will create and curate resources to open expansive worship opportunities, and some of the grant will fund additional personnel necessary for the program.

“The Episcopal Church has a robust theology of ministry to, by, and with children, but our lived reality is out of sync with that theology,” said Missy Morain, missioner for Christian formation for children and youth at the diocese, She hopes the new initiative will change that.

Diocese of North Carolina, No More Sit Still and Be Quiet

The grant will enable the diocese to change the way it supports congregations around children’s and family formation by moving away from primarily diocesan programming. Instead, it will engage congregations around intergenerational worship and its connection to holistic Christian formation, curate connections among congregations and equip and empower congregational leaders to design and lead inclusive and sensory-rich worship rooted in The Episcopal Church’s rich liturgical traditions.

“We are overjoyed to receive this investment in the future of our children and our church,” said the Rt. Rev. Jennifer Brooke-Davidson, assistant bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and supervisor of the grant’s implementation. “The grant will enable us to accelerate our work in reimagining ways for churches of all sizes to enrich the experience of all age groups in the formative power of worship.”

Diocese of Virginia, Pathways to Prayer and Practice Initiative

The project involves guiding congregations, and subsequently families, in meaningful engagement of children in corporate worship in churches across the diocese. It will establish a training laboratory, The Pathways Institute, where dozens of participating congregations will experiment with systems to invite families to church, recruit leaders, welcome the marginalized and shift their church culture toward the full embrace of children in worship. Congregations will receive grants to help them with this effort.

“For far too long, the church has underinvested in building disciples of Jesus Christ, deeming the nursery and age-segregated Sunday School as sufficient formation for our children, resulting in multiple generations and a declining number of parishioners loosely practicing the faith,” Bishop Mark Stevenson said. “The Diocese of Virginia is serious about faith formation, and I wholeheartedly believe this work must begin with children and their families.”

Diocese of West Virginia, Seeds of Faith Initiative

Seeds of Faith will empower clergy, laity, children and caregivers through intergenerational, experiential learning at Alpha Camp, the diocese’s four-day summer camp session for children and their grownups, and through ongoing, accessible training utilizing the Montessori-based formation curriculum Godly Play.

“Our Seeds of Faith Initiative will increase intergenerational participation throughout West Virginia’s Episcopal parishes and strengthen our worship life together,” Bishop Matthew Cowden said. “We will all be transformed as we intentionally engage children in worship, and we will all grow in our Christian formation as we learn our faith together and pass along our rich Episcopal prayer practices to the youngest among us.”

Parish of Calvary-St. George’s, for ongoing work with StoryMakers NYC

StoryMakers NYC is a not-for-profit creative studio that designs imaginative resources — including zines, playbooks, guides, puppets, memory cards and other visuals — for kids that bring the Bible to life.

This follows another Lilly grant that the church received earlier this year, that one for $1.25 million, that also works with StoryMakers to create new formation tools parents can utilize at home.

Virginia Theological Seminary, Roots & Wings — Intergenerational Formation Collaborative

Roots & Wings is an action research project to foster child-centered practices and creativity to help form the Christian faith in children and renew congregations. It will look at how to strengthen worship and prayer practices that focus on how children experience God and express their faith, as well as exploring how to make worship and prayer more fully inclusive of all children, including those with disabilities.

“The project is designed to transform the culture of worship and faith formation in Episcopal congregations by recognizing the inherent worth and giftedness of all children,” said Sarah Allred, project director. “Roots & Wings will call our denomination to account for the gap between what we claim to believe about children and how we too often live as church.”

In recent years, Episcopal dioceses and other entities have received large Lilly Endowment grants for other initiatives, including Thriving Congregations and Christian Parenting and Caregiving.

The Episcopal Church in July 2023 received a $1.25 million grant, also through the Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative, to help establish “The Camino Project: Faith-Forward Pathways for Episcopal Families,” a five-year initiative aimed at helping parents and congregations raising embrace faith-filled children, especially in nontraditional, non-dominant-culture families.

The Eli Lilly Endowment Inc. was founded in 1937 by J.K. Lilly, Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. for the “promotion and support of religious, educational or charitable purposes.”

The 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. It also seeks to improve public understanding of diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate portrayals of the role religion plays in the United States and across the globe.

— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.