Campbell University will receive a $10 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. in support of the Divinity School’s efforts to prepare and support pastoral leaders now and in the future, renewing the communal practices and relationships that help Christians discern and respond to God’s call.
The Divinity School will use the grant in collaboration with Campbell’s Office of Spiritual Life and five partner organizations: the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Baptist Women in Ministry, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina, Baptist Women in Ministry of North Carolina and Passport Camps.
The collaborative initiative intends to establish a new academic center, the Center for Calling and Ministry, to develop programs that strengthen cultures of calling within churches, schools and denominational organizations. The Center will coordinate shared learning, messaging and resources across partners, providing the structural backbone for an enduring network that identifies, prepares and supports pastoral leaders for the church’s current and future needs.
Dr. Barry Jones, dean of Campbell’s Divinity School, said the Center for Calling and Ministry and its partners will coordinate activities to strengthen cultures of calling in four major ways:
Through intentional and structured collaboration, this collective initiative aims to extend theological education into new contexts, preparing and supporting new generations of pastoral leaders, while offering a transferable model for how theological schools can form new partnerships to address issues of existential importance.
Jones said the $10 million will go a long way to extend the Divinity School’s mission to help people recognize and respond to God’s calling in their lives.
“And as they do so, we believe that many people will sense a desire to serve others in their churches and communities,” he said in a press release.
The $10 million grant includes $7 million to fund collaborative activities over the five-year grant period and $3 million designated for an endowment to sustain the Center for Calling and Ministry well beyond the life of the grant. Campbell University Divinity School seeks to match this endowment with $1.5 million in additional fundraising, creating a $4.5 million permanent fund that ensures the Center remains a hub for equipping and connecting ministry partners in the formation of pastoral leaders well beyond the life of the grant.
Campbell is one of 45 theological schools across the country to receive the grant — which ranges from $2.5 million to $10 million — as part of Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Large-Scale Collaboration Initiative. Collectively, the schools will work collaboratively with nearly 400 other theological schools, colleges and universities, congregations, church agencies, denominations and other religious organizations to educate and support more effectively both aspiring and current pastoral leaders of churches.
“Theological schools play a vital role in preparing and supporting pastoral leaders for Christian congregations,” said Christopher L. Coble, the Endowment’s vice president for religion, in a press release. “We believe that one of the most promising paths for theological schools to carry forward their important missions and enhance their impact is to work collaboratively with other schools, as well as congregations and other church-related organizations. By doing so they can strengthen their collective capacities to prepare and support pastoral leaders for effective congregational service now and in the future.”
The Endowment launched the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative in 2021. Since then, it has provided grants totaling more than $700 million to support 163 theological schools in efforts to strengthen their own educational and financial capacities and to support 61 schools in developing large-scale collaborative endeavors.
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