Indiana Clergy Renewal Program Grant

Indiana Clergy Renewal Program Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Lilly Endowment Inc
Amount: Up to US $60,000
Last Updated: March 22, 2026

Summary

The Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Program for Indiana Congregations aims to support pastors in their journey of renewal and reflection, allowing them to step back from daily parish duties. This program fosters opportunities for spiritual replenishment through intentional activities that rejuvenate their ministry passion. With a maximum award of $60,000, congregations can enhance their relationship with ordained pastors, ensuring a strong foundation for future ministry, while also promoting creativity and engagement within the community.

Overview

Program Purpose The Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Program for Indiana Congregations at Christian Theological Seminary (CTS) seeks to strengthen Christian congregations by providing opportunities for their pastors to step away briefly from the demands of daily parish life and engage in a period of renewal and reflection. We recognize that clergy take on a variety of pastoral roles within their congregations: preacher, teacher, spiritual guide, counselor, friend, confidant. The demands of ministry can feel relentless. Keeping pace with these demands can be tiring. Drawing on practices of sabbath rest, we recognize that pastors occasionally need time to replenish their spiritual reservoirs and regain energy and strength for their calling. Sabbath rest includes time for pastors to renew themselves physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. Clergy renewal periods are not vacations; rather, they provide opportunities for discovering what will make the pastor’s heart sing through well-planned purposeful activities. Renewal leaves allow for times of intentional exploration, and reflection, and regaining enthusiasm and creativity for ministry. Life-giving experiences—strengthening relationships, renewing a sense of call, meeting and serving the neighbor in a new way, finding joy and purpose in a simplified life, traveling to new lands and unfamiliar territories, creating opportunities where members of the congregation can exercise their gifts for ministry— are common themes of these renewal times. Profound discoveries that pastors and their congregations describe as “life-changing events” occur as they participate in this program. Renewal leaves can take many forms as each congregation and pastor uniquely answer the question, “What will make your heart sing?” One pastor traveled to South Africa to immerse herself in contemplation of reconciliation and forgiveness in action. Another pastor remained close to home but spent time engaging in art, rekindling creativity in his being. From the Holy Land to the holy spaces in pastors’ lives, clergy and their congregations have used these grants to rejuvenate their heart’s song, to the benefit of their shared ministries. Together the Endowment and CTS believe in the profound importance of pastoral ministry, not only to the people directly served, but also to the larger community and society. We celebrate the wonderful diversity of U.S. congregations in terms of their size, locale, culture, language, and more. And so, we are committed to offering these programs in ways that make them as accessible as possible to the wide variety of congregations as they pursue faithful ministry. We warmly invite proposals from congregations on behalf of the broad spectrum of ordained pastors, whether full-time, part-time, multi-vocational, senior, associate, and so on. The Grants Purpose The Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Program for Indiana Congregations at Christian Theological Seminary is a competitive grants program open to Christian congregations in Indiana that have an ordained pastor who serves in parish ministry and can envision this program as a means of renewing their commitment to the congregation and to ordained ministry. It is designed for those congregations and pastors who have a strong relationship with one another, a high degree of mutual trust and support, and are eager to see their relationship strengthened and renewed for future ministry together. Congregations may request a total maximum award of $60,000. Of that amount, up to $20,000 may be allocated to the congregational budget for costs associated with fulfilling pastoral duties during the pastor’s absence and for activities that renew the congregation in its ministry. However, there is no cap on the budget for the pastor’s renewal leave activities. If the congregation chooses not to budget grant funds for expenses it will incur during the pastor’s absence, the full $60,000 may be applied to the pastor’s budget. Congregational leaders and the pastor should work together to design the renewal program. They will agree on 1) the structure of the program, 2) the pastor’s activities during the program, 3) congregational renewal activities during the pastor’s leave, and 4) how the pastor and congregation will share their experiences and insights with one another when the renewal leave concludes. The congregation will submit the proposal to CTS.

Eligibility

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