Since its founding in 2008, Leadership Education at Duke Divinity has aimed to strengthen Christian institutions that enable U.S. congregations and pastors to flourish. Through listening to program participants, we have continued to learn more about how to support this flourishing, and our commitment to congregational vitality has only deepened. This week, Leadership Education at Duke Divinity publicly launched a new identity for this work under our new name: Forum for Congregational Life.
At its founding, Leadership Education was a training center for Christian institutional leaders. But in the last decade, we have realized that the organizations supporting congregations want more than leadership training. They feel isolated and welcome participating in networks focused on supporting congregational life. We discovered that grants are an effective way to cultivate networks, bringing together denominations, schools, faith-based nonprofits and consultants. Grants can give leaders the gift of time to shift from responding to urgent needs to focusing on what is important for the long haul. When the grantees gather, there are opportunities for learning and collaboration across different traditions, regions and convictions. Ultimately congregations are better served.
We want an identity that clearly reflects both this shift in our approach and our deepened sense of mission. The name “Forum for Congregational Life” emphasizes our calling to be a connection and resource point that affirms, equips and inspires networks of Christian institutions and leaders that nurture congregational life.
A new activity of the Forum will be to convene working groups of practitioners and scholars to explore significant questions that congregations and their supporters from a wide variety of Christian traditions wrestle with. The groups will clarify questions, reflect theologically and practically, and recommend efforts that are needed to make progress.
In this way, the Forum will not be a “center” or “institute” that is itself a producer of knowledge; instead, it will serve as a connection point that nurtures conversations and shared work across the broad range of Christian traditions. The Latin etymology of the word “forum” suggests an outside place where people gather for deliberation, discernment and decision-making. The Forum will be a kind of “balcony” that provides leaders with a fresh vantage point to see congregational life, especially by connecting them with other thoughtful leaders to share insights and giving them access to research and resources about emerging challenges and opportunities.
This renewed focus is rooted in our belief that congregations make a difference in the lives of people and communities. Christian congregations are the primary social and institutional manifestation of Christian faith. From the work of communal worship, congregation members are given broadened imaginations to see God at work in their homes, neighborhoods, workplaces and beyond. Congregations are more resilient in these vital efforts when they are surrounded by networks of fellow congregations and supporting organizations.
“From our earliest days as Duke Divinity School a century ago, the vitality of Christian congregations has been at the center of our theological education and formation,” said Edgardo Colón-Emeric, dean of Duke Divinity School. “We are grateful to the Lilly Endowment for this generous grant that will allow us to expand on the excellent work of Leadership Education through the new Forum for Congregational Life. When seminaries and congregations listen, learn, pray, and serve en conjunto, we grow stronger in Christ. As the school looks forward to our next century, the Forum will play a pivotal role in extending and connecting our work with congregations across the country.”
The transition to the Forum is made possible by a generous grant of $40 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to Duke University in December 2025. This grant provides for services through December 2028. In that time, we are planning to grow exponentially, particularly in our grantmaking work. More than half of the Lilly Endowment grant is designated to be regranted to other organizations, which means tripling our current grantmaking in the next three years.
This new chapter builds upon the organization’s previous work and is shaped by insights and learnings from Lilly Endowment Inc.’s initiatives and our community.
“The Forum for Congregational Life will establish a national platform that will connect leaders from a wide spectrum of theological traditions who care about and tend to the vitality of Christian congregations,” said Christopher L. Coble, vice president for religion at Lilly Endowment Inc. “The Forum will provide opportunities for these leaders to explore emerging opportunities and challenges facing local churches, exchange insights and resources with each other and build networks of mutual support with the aim of strengthening congregational life. We deeply appreciate the many ways that Duke has supported for nearly two decades Leadership Education at Duke Divinity’s programs and are excited by the ways that the Forum will build on and amplify these efforts.”
What is changing and when will these changes take place?
While our name and the scale of our work is shifting, our mission, values and commitment to congregations and their leaders remains unchanged. We will continue the majority of programs that were formerly under Leadership Education, but we will expand our efforts that support leaders and institutions who care about congregational vitality.
You can expect to see this identity change reflected in our materials starting today, April 21, 2026. Feel free to share the news with your constituents. For additional information, please see the FAQs. Our new email address is forum@duke.edu.
How can I stay in touch with the work of the Forum?
While readers will still be able to find us in our usual places, including in the Faith & Leadership, News & Ideas, and Alban Weekly newsletters, one new offering of the Forum for Congregational Life is The Congregations Project, a monthly newsletter roundup sharing true stories of faith, resilience and innovation in congregational life.
This new newsletter will keep before all of us the ways God is at work across the wide diversity of congregational contexts in the United States. You can sign up for the newsletter here.
We’re thankful for your continued partnership as we begin this next chapter.