Lilly grants renewal funds to nine Indiana UM churches

INDIANAPOLIS - Their congregations call them passionate, amazing, dedicated, energetic, prayerful, sensitive, committed and exceptional. They are the pastors of the 36 Indiana churches, including nine United Methodist congregations, selected to receive grants in the 2005 Clergy Renewal Program for Indiana Congregations funded by the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment.

The grants allow pastors to take an extended time away from the daily demands of church leadership to spend intentional time studying, reflecting, reconnecting with their families, traveling, writing - whatever "makes their hearts sing." At the same time, each congregation experiences its own renewal program, often in concert with its pastor's, so that both gain from the experience.

Each congregation is eligible to receive up to $45,000, and up to $15,000 of that may be used to fund congregational renewal activities and for pastoral expenses while the pastor is away. The applying pastors, who are encouraged to consider plans that "will make their hearts sing," routinely work with their congregations and come up with imaginative and thoughtful ways to spend a few months away from the pulpit.

This year's recipients represent 24 Indiana cities and towns in 21 Indiana counties. During their sabbaticals, their "range of motion" will extend far beyond Indiana's borders - to the Middle East, Europe, Central and South America, Australia, Africa. They will explore the origins of their faith, attempt to fill in spaces on their family trees, keep journals, take pictures, spend time with their families, and pause for solitary retreats and thoughtful reflection.

"Most of these pastors, 24 to be exact, represent congregations of fewer than 400 people, and most of those, 15, represent congregations of fewer than 200. Their work is intensely personal; they spend time with people at the highest and lowest points of their lives - and all points in between," says Craig Dykstra, the Endowment's vice president for religion.

"The congregations - who design and plan these sabbaticals with their ministers - engage in renewal activities on the same theme as their pastor's renewal program. For instance, if the pastor is involved in a foreign-language immersion program, the congregation might engage in a study of the same culture that the pastor is exploring. Or if the pastor is exploring different modes of worship, they too will plan correlating studies. The opportunities for mutual renewal are endless."

United Methodist congregations receiving clergy renewal grants with amount received and name of pastor include:

Bethel UMC, Indianapolis, $45,000, Rev. Andrea Leininger
Broadway UMC, Indianapolis, $45,000, Rev. Rachel Metheny
Community UMC, Vincennes, $45,000, Rev. Andrew Kinsey
First UMC, Anderson, $45,000, Rev. Derek Weber
Grace UMC of South Bend, $39,203, Rev. Hosea Drake
Methodist Temple UMC, Evansville, $42,350, Rev. Robert Coleman
Mount Pleasant UMC, Terre Haute, $44,987, Rev. Aaron Wheaton
The Promise: A UMC, Fishers, $43,990, Rev. Russell Allanson
Ridge UMC, Munster, $45,000, Rev. Steven Conger

Endowment officials anticipate that the Indiana program will continue, and an announcement is expected soon.

Besides this program, the Endowment offers a National Clergy Renewal Program for congregations and their ministers in the other 49 states. The deadline for those applications was June 10, and the recipients will be announced in September. For more information about either program, see the Endowment's Web site: www.lillyendowment.org.

See sidebar story about how these pastors plan to use their grants.

Last updated on 25 Apr 2008

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