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What We Offer

Grants & Awards

Our grants and awards aim to strengthen the capacity of organizational leaders and teams, and to acknowledge the impact of congregational work on the lives of participants and communities.

Reflective Leadership Grants

Reflective Leadership Grants provide individual leaders, or team of leaders, time to reflect on their services to pastors and congregations in a structured process. This program is open to new applications.

aerial view of Southern town

Capacity Building Grants

These grants offer funds to Christian institutions in order to improve or develop organizational capacities as they serve pastors and congregations. This program is not open to new applications at this time.

Publications & Newsletters

Our publications and newsletters resource Christian leaders across traditions by sharing stories of the church’s impact on members and communities and reflections on opportunities and challenges facing congregations.

The Congregations Project

The Congregations Project: Stories of Hope from Across the United States amplifies true stories of faith, resilience and innovation in congregational life through our monthly newsletter.

Ignation Youth Network

Faith & Leadership

An online magazine addressing leadership challenges through ideas, research, insight — and hope — for leaders at the forefront of congregational life. Every two weeks, we publish a free newsletter dedicated to equipping leaders with the insights and knowledge they need to navigate the evolving landscape of ministry in the U.S., as well as a daily news roundup offering the most thought-provoking articles about the church and the world from a variety of publications.

Alban

An online resource that helps leaders connect and learn from one another by sharing practical wisdom, stories of thriving congregations and transformational models of ministry. The newsletter, Alban Weekly, offers practical wisdom on how to lead congregations today.

Practicing Our Faith

Explore a way of life shaped by practices that respond to God’s grace and reflect God’s love for you, for others and for all creation. This online resource seeks to preserve and restore access to the valuable work and reflection that came out of the response to the Practicing Our Faith book, convenings and original site.

worship service at a coordination programCoordination Programs

The Forum hosts three coordination programs for Lilly Endowment Inc. grantees: Thriving in Ministry, Thriving Congregations, and Ministry in Rural Areas and Small Towns. Each coordination program forms learning communities of grantees to support the implementation of their projects. Our activities include hosting meetings and other learning opportunities, sharing resources, telling stories and consulting with project leaders.

These programs are not open to new applications.

Thriving in Ministry

An initiative of Lilly Endowment Inc. that seek to cultivate deep friendship among pastors, walk alongside pastors and foster pastors’ wellbeing.

Thriving Congregations

An initiative of Lilly Endowment Inc. that aims to help congregations strengthen their ministries so they can better help people deepen their relationships with God, enhance their connections with each other and contribute to the flourishing of their communities and the world.

Small church in a rural setting

Ministry in Rural Areas and Small Towns

An initiative of Lilly Endowment Inc. that seeks to strengthen rural and small-town churches by investing in pastoral leadership and helping congregations to clarify their mission, improve the effectiveness of their ministries and build collaborations with local organizations.