ATLANTA (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has received a second major grant from the Lilly Endowment to continue and expand a program designed to help nurture and sustain ministers in local congregations.
The Atlanta-based moderate Baptist group announced Nov. 30 that it has received a grant of almost $1 million to support its Initiative for Ministerial Excellence. The grant is the second such gift from Lilly to support the work of the program, which began with a $1.9 million Lilly gift in 2003.
According to CBF officials, the grant will strengthen the program's existing three-pronged approach: supporting “teaching congregations” that offer ministerial residencies for new seminary graduates; creating “peer-learning groups” for ministers to receive continuing education, and support and grants for sabbatical leaves.
The $997,874 gift will also fund a new full-time CBF staff position to administer the program.
“The Initiative for Ministerial Excellence addresses two key focuses of CBF's leadership development area — developing and nurturing leaders,” said Terry Hamrick, CBF's coordinator of leadership development, in a press release. “With the addition of a director of ministerial excellence, the Fellowship will be able to provide an even more comprehensive system of minister support.”
The grant funds will help expand the peer-learning groups, broaden the network of teaching congregations to “at least 50” and develop a “Caring for Ministers” resource for use by CBF partner churches.
Craig Dykstra, the Lilly Endowment's senior vice president for religion, said his organization extended the CBF grant because it has proven successful. He added that Lilly was “especially pleased with CBF's work helping young ministers make a successful transition from the seminary to parish ministry.”
According to CBF, the first three years of the program have resulted in 75 peer-learning groups with more than 500 ministers meeting monthly. The ministerial residency program has placed 10 seminary graduates as interns in teaching congregations and has provided 95 sabbatical grants of $2,500 apiece.
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