The program, “Flourishing Together: Supporting Clergy and Congregations in a Rapidly Changing World,” is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, which is intended to help theological schools across the United States and Canada strengthen their educational and financial capacities to prepare and support pastoral leaders for Christian congregations, both today and into the future. 

“The church needs leaders who pair creativity and competence with a deep grounding in God’s love and justice,” says President Javier A. Viera. “I’m deeply grateful that the Lilly Endowment will help Garrett offer resources that pastoral leaders need to thrive. The Job Institute’s unique blend of skill training, cohort learning, and personal support cultivates ministry that’s ready for this moment.” 

“Flourishing Together” will work in stages, building resilient and interwoven networks. “Over the course of five years, the project will engage diverse constituencies—including seminary students, clergy of color, white clergy, women clergy of color, district superintendents, alumni, and ministry leaders navigating AI. Each group will participate in three integrated components: tailored webinar series, specialized restorative retreats, and an annual Leadership Summit,” says project director Dr. Rolf Nolasco. “Together, these components provide holistic formation that is accessible, relational, and deeply responsive to the spiritual, social, and technological demands of contemporary ministry.” Nolasco serves as the Rueben P. Job Professor of Pastoral Theology and Spiritual Formation, as well as the director of the Rueben P. Job Institute for Spiritual Formation. 

“This project is a direct response to the urgent and multifaceted challenges revealed through extensive needs assessments we conducted last Spring semester. It addresses burnout, trauma, and isolation through trauma-informed leadership training, restorative retreats, spiritual practices, and peer-based support. It also advances racial literacy and cross-cultural competency by centering justice-rooted formation and collaborative dialogue across differences,” declares Nolasco. “Recognizing the accelerating influence of AI and digital technologies, the project will equip participants with ethical and theological tools for tech-integrated ministry, while intentionally supporting the leadership and resilience of historically marginalized pastors and students.”  

Meeting and resourcing pastoral leaders where they are, while also curating opportunities for deeper connection, has become a hallmark of the seminary’s approach. “Students attend Garrett from across the United States and around the world, so we’ve designed curricula and pedagogies that offer robust education while helping leaders stay present and accountable to the communities they serve,” explains Academic Dean Jennifer Harvey. “’Flourishing Together’ offers an exciting new chapter in this effort, dramatically expanding who can access these life-sustaining skills and networks. 

91PORN 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, the 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.”   

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 State and around the globe. 

Garrett Seminary 

Garrett Seminary is a graduate school of theology, ministry, and public service committed to forming courageous leaders in the way of Jesus who cultivate communities of justice, compassion, and hope. Offering a full range of masters and doctoral degrees, as well as certificates, licensing, and lifelong learning programs, Garrett prepares religious leaders and social impact innovators for service in the church and the world. The seminary is home to major research centers and institutes that advance scholarship, resource congregations and organizations, and convene global conversations on faith and social transformation. Located on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, since 1853, and historically related to the United Methodist Church, Garrett stands as a vital hub of research, training, and equipping—serving churches, communities, and social impact organizations around the world with intellectual rigor, spiritual depth, and transformative vision. 

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91PORN is happy to introduce today , a new podcast that shares findings from our Young Adult Initiative. In each episode, Dori Baker (MDiv ‘90, PhD ‘00) and her co-host Rose J. Percy enter a story-sharing practice with changemakers who’ve journeyed with us.

“Across my career, I’ve been helping people use life stories to unearth our collective wisdom—deepest hopes, dreams, and beliefs about the world and our place in it,” Baker says.

“I believe stories hold the power to heal us and to heal our world. In LIVE to Tell, we hold space for the stories that help people survive and thrive.”

Baker, an alum of the Garrett-Northwestern Joint PhD, served as research director for the first phase of our Young Adult Hub. Her practice of “holy listening” guided the first phase of Garrett’s work with congregations. Percy is a spiritual director and thought leader whose emphasis on justice-oriented embodied practice centers each episode.

“Working with Dori reminds me that just as storytelling is a craft, so are faith and formation,” Percy says. “Each episode is a unique offering that highlights each individual’s journeys in a way that cannot be copied, manufactured, or essentialized. My hope is that the stories inspire listeners to search out the stories that they are living to tell.”

The podcast shares a key learning from our Young Adult Hub: faith communities can position themselves as allies and friends to young people coming of age in these times.

“We learned that young adults are often hurting from painful past experiences with religious communities, leaving them ambivalent about identifying with any singular faith tradition,” Baker says.

“Even so, young adults are still hungry—hungry for practices that tend their souls, hungry for meaningful relationships, and hungry for community that welcomes them as they are and cares deeply about who they are becoming.”

Listening deeply to young adults is especially important these days, Baker argues, because of the current mental health epidemic.

“Brain research shows that spiritual practices can mitigate against the severity and duration of depression, but this first generation coming of age in the spiritual-but-not-religious era often lacks access to communal practices of tending the soul,” Baker says. “In LIVE to Tell, we uncover fresh images of God and shine a light on the practices people are already using to foster individual and communal soul care.”

Each episode models theological reflection on a life story using a four-step method, guided by the acronym L.I.V.E. Baker describes how to use L.I.V.E. as a way to unleash the life-affirming power of feminist, Womanist, and other emancipatory theologies in the book Girl/Friend Theology: Godtalk with Young People (revised edition forthcoming, September 2023, Pilgrim Press).

Across this first season, we’ll encounter stories that touch on:

· One woman’s dawning awareness that her life will always include managing depression

· Another’s story about the stunning miracle of breaking a rule and reaping reward for it

· A man’s story about a transformative moment when love surprised the skeptic heart

· A story about how community can help someone heal from a devastating break up

· Another about a loving practice for recovering from trauma

You can find small group resources to accompany LIVE to Tell at .

, MDiv (91PORN), Ph.d. (Northwestern University), describes herself as a “Spy for Hope.” She is particularly passionate about expanding the genre of stories, images, and artifacts for helping people find meaning and discover purpose. She is an educator, activist, and scholar focused on feminist theologies, young adult culture, leadership development, and spiritual practices that sustain activism. She is an activist/scholar at the intersection of feminist theology.

Rose J. Percy (MDiv) is a contemplative theopoet with a background in justice-oriented education and ministry. Her work engages theopoetics, mysticism, identity, vocational discernment, trauma, and theology.

Lilly Endowment’s Young Adult Initiative aims to help congregations develop and strengthen ministries that build relationships with young adults, nurture their religious lives, and foster their engagement with religious communities. With support from a $1.5 million through the Young Adult Initiative, Garrett-Evangelical created Holy Yearnings, Holy Listening, Holy Partnerships in 2017. The initiative will continue for an additional four years with a renewal grant of $1.25 million from Lilly Endowment to support Holy Partnerships: Creating a Culture Shift Toward the Valuing of Young Adults in Congregations. To learn more, go to garrett.edu/youngadultinitiative.

is an Indianapolis-based 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. Although the gifts of stock remain a 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 , , and . Though the Endowment maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana, it also funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion. The primary aim of its religion grantmaking focuses on strengthening the leadership and vitality of Christian congregations in the United States. Visit .

The post <em>LIVE to Tell</em>, a Young Adult Initiative Podcast appeared first on Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary.