Lilly Endowment continues support for theological schools through its Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative

October 03, 2025
Contact: Judith Cebula
317.916.7327 | communications@lei.org

Lilly Endowment continues support for theological schools through its Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative

INDIANAPOLIS – Lilly Endowment Inc. has approved grants to support 58 theological schools in the United States and Canada as they work to strengthen their educational and financial capacities to prepare and support pastoral leaders for Christian congregations now and into the future.

These grants are the latest in a series of grants the Endowment has made through the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, which launched in 2020. The new grants, which total more than $57.5 million, range from $871,074 to $1 million. In 2021 and 2022, through an earlier round of the Pathways initiative, the Endowment made grants of similar size to 105 theological schools.

“Theological schools have long played a central role for most denominations and church networks in preparing and supporting pastoral leaders who guide congregations,” said Christopher L. Coble, the Endowment’s vice president for religion. “These schools are paying close attention to the challenges churches are facing today and will face in the foreseeable future. The grants will help these schools engage in wide-ranging, innovative efforts to adapt their educational programs and build their financial capacities so they can better prepare pastors and lay ministers to effectively lead the congregations they will serve in the future.”

These schools will implement a wide variety of efforts that will:

Strengthen connections with local congregations to help students develop practical leadership skills for ministry.
Make theological education more affordable, accessible, and contextually relevant for a broad range of pastoral leaders.
Increase non-degree offerings that provide theological education for lay leaders, including those considering vocational ministry.
Help current and future pastoral leaders cultivate resilience as well as strong mental and emotional health as they navigate difficult leadership challenges.
Provide continuing education for pastoral leaders that will sharpen their financial management and administrative skills.
Make the work of theological schools more financially viable and sustainable into the future through cost savings, greater efficiencies, new revenue sources and collaborations.

A complete list of this round of grants can be found here.

Since the initiative’s launch, the Endowment has made grants to theological schools through the Pathways initiative that represent a broad spectrum of Christian traditions in the U.S. and Canada. The schools are affiliated with evangelical, mainline Protestant, nondenominational, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic, Black church, Latino, Asian American, Indigenous and historic peace church traditions.

Later this year, the Endowment through the Pathways initiative also plans to award grants to a select number of theological schools to enable them to launch large-scale collaborative projects in which they will work with other faith-based organizations to strengthen their collective capacities to prepare and support pastors and lay ministers. Through these grants, the Endowment hopes to encourage collaborative endeavors among theological schools and other organizations that will generate sustainable models of theological education that could be adopted by other schools. The Endowment made its first round of grants for large-scale collaborative projects in 2022. It anticipates announcing these additional grants in late 2025.

The Pathways initiative is part of the Endowment’s wider efforts that seek to ensure that congregations in the full range of Christian traditions have a steady stream of pastoral leaders who are well-prepared to guide the ministries of Christian congregations now and in the future. The Association of Theological Schools and In Trust Center for Theological Schools are convening and providing resources to theological schools participating in the Pathways initiative to encourage and support mutual learning among the schools and to collect and share insights from the initiative with other theological schools.

About Lilly Endowment
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based 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 of stock 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 founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. A 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 about religion and lift up in fair, accurate and balanced ways the roles that people of all faiths and various religious communities play in the United State and around the globe.