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Diocese Receives Grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc.
October 2, 2024
The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia has received a $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the Seeds of Faith Initiative.
The program is funded through Lilly Endowment’s Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative, a national initiative designed to help Christian congregations more fully and intentionally engage children in intergenerational corporate worship and prayer practices.
The Seeds of Faith Initiative is a Christian formation program for the youngest children of the Diocese. 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. The Seeds of Faith Initiative will teach and grow prayer practices that attend to and respect how children experience God and express their faith at home and in corporate worship; increase Biblical literacy by helping children and adults to hear and tell the stories of their faith; and deepen personal and corporate worship and prayer practices in children and adults.
The Right Reverend Matthew Cowden, Bishop of West Virginia, is excited for the impact that the Seeds of Faith Initiative will have for the deep formation of the next generation of Episcopalians. He says, “Our Seeds of Faith Initiative will increase intergenerational participation throughout West Virginia’s Episcopal parishes and strengthen our worship life together. 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.”
The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia is one of 91 organizations receiving funding through the latest round of the initiative. They represent and serve congregations in a broad spectrum of Christian traditions, including Catholic, mainline Protestant, evangelical, Orthodox, Anabaptist and Pentecostal faith communities. Several organizations are rooted in Black Church and Hispanic and Asian American Christian traditions.
“Congregational worship and prayer play a critical role in the spiritual growth of children and offer settings for children to acquire the language of faith, learn their faith traditions and experience the love of God as part of a supportive community,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “These programs will help congregations give greater attention to children and how they can more intentionally nurture the faith of children, as well as adults, through worship and prayer.”
About Lilly Endowment Inc
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic 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. 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. The Endowment 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.
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