Lilly gives grants to two colleges
By ChristianWeek staff
Two Canadian colleges have received substantial grants from the Indiana-based Lilly Endowment Inc. to prepare students for pastoral ministry.
The non-denominational Regent College in Vancouver received more than $1 million Canadian, while the Roman Catholic Newman Theological College in Edmonton received a total of $935,000. About two dozen U.S. schools also received Lilly grants late last year.
The Regent grant will be used to strengthen the school’s Master of Divinity program, says academic dean Gordon T. Smith. The money will be used in several areas: a project focusing on the spiritual development of MDiv students, oriented towards congregational leadership; a post-MDiv mentoring and support program; a program to help faculty understand better the nature and character of the contemporary church and contemporary society.
The first three years in ministry are usually the most crucial, says Smith. "I am excited that this program will allow us to explore the ways in which Regent could establish a system of support, encouragement, mentoring and continuing education for the women and men who have completed their MDivs and are in their first years in pastoral ministry."
Newman’s grants will be used in two areas, according to a fact sheet released by the school. One will give high school students the opportunity to engage in theological inquiry and to reflect on its meaning for their own lives. "We hope that a number of these students will be encouraged to consider a vocation in ordained, religious or lay ministry."
The other, in cooperation with St. Joseph Seminary, "and in response to the Church’s current leadership crisis," will be in developing a program designed to recruit and prepare laity for an enhanced, yet unique role in the church.
