Seminary of the Southwest announces the receipt of a $5,000,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support Locally Grown Leaders, a key new program of the Iona Collaborative.
Lilly Endowment made the grant through its Ministry in Rural Areas and Small Towns Initiative, whose aim is to provide resources to help churches in rural areas and small towns enhance the vitality of their ministries and strengthen the leadership of the pastors and lay leaders who guide them.
Funding from the Lilly Endowment grant will support Iona Collaborative member schools to design for innovation through 5 key activities:
- Micro-granting (up to $25K/yr per diocese);
- Data-driven diocesan school program planning and evaluation;
- Comprehensive assessments designed to close the loop between student success and small-church vitality;
- Collaborative curriculum design in lay preaching and chaplaincy;
- Regular grantee gatherings and site visits.
Already a hub of local formation in The Episcopal Church, the Iona Collaborative at Seminary of the Southwest supports 35 dioceses of The Episcopal Church by providing curricular and formational resources to local diocesan schools for the formation of priests, deacons, and lay leaders serving in part-time and non-stipendiary roles, and continuing education and spiritual formation for small-church clergy and lay leaders. The Locally Grown Leaders program now becomes a critical component of this existing work, and lays the foundation for future growth.
“This generous grant from Lilly Endowment will help Southwest to expand our work of creating and sustaining vitality in small churches,” said Dr. Scott Bader-Saye, dean and president of Seminary of the Southwest. “The majority of congregations in The Episcopal Church have fewer than 50 people worshiping on a Sunday morning, yet these congregations have a significant impact on their rural and small town communities. The Iona Collaborative is helping the Episcopal Church imagine and resource the future of these congregations. We are deeply grateful for the commitment Lilly Endowment has made to our work.”
“Local formation is about so much more than filling vacant pulpits and altars,” said the Rev. Nandra Perry, director of the Iona Collaborative. “It is about forming contextually rooted leaders – lay and ordained – who are uniquely equipped to empower congregations to respond sustainably to the deep spiritual longings and pressing ethical dilemmas of their neighbors. This generous grant from Lilly Endowment will enable Seminary of the Southwest to leverage the Gospel affordances of the Iona model more fully by partnering with dioceses to re-imagine their diocesan schools for ministry as anchor institutions that support the vitality of small towns and rural communities.”
“The Iona Collaborative at Seminary of the Southwest represents so much of the good that can happen in our church when we think creatively and work together,” said the Rt. Rev. Kathryn M. Ryan, Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Texas, and chair of the Southwest Board of Trustees. “Begun here in the Diocese of Texas, and then fostered to scale at Seminary of the Southwest, Iona is now a vital resource for theological education valued by Bishops throughout The Episcopal Church. I speak for the entire Board of Trustees when I express my sincere gratitude to Lilly Endowment for this investment and its continued commitment to the church. This grant will ensure Iona’s continued impact, quality, and accessibility for many years to come.”
Seminary of the Southwest is one of 20 organizations from across the United States receiving grants through the initiative, including colleges and universities, denominational agencies, church networks, and parachurch organizations, among others.
“Our hope is that these grants will provide much-needed resources and support to rural and small-town churches to help them address their challenges and enhance and extend the many ways that they serve their communities,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion.
To learn more about ‘Locally Grown Leaders’ and its potential impact on local formation – or to apply – visit iona.ssw.edu/microgrant-application.
