Covenant Seminary Receives Nearly $10 Million Lilly Endowment Collaborative Grant for Recruiting, Equipping, and Sustaining Future Pastors

Covenant Seminary is pleased to announce that it received a grant of $9,991,491 from Lilly Endowment Inc. for a new collaborative partnership initiative called Rowing Together: Leveraging Ministry Ecosystems to Reach, Prepare, and Support Pastors for a Thriving Church. Through the initiative, the Seminary will work closely with several sister Presbyterian Church in America agencies and committees, as well as another like-minded Reformed Christian educational institution, to strengthen and expand efforts at recruiting, equipping, and sustaining future pastors for the PCA and beyond. Covenant is one of 45 institutions to receive the grant as part of this round of Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Large-Scale Collaboration Initiative.

The grant will not only bless Covenant Seminary, but also positively impact the entire PCA and future generations of pastors and churches. This award comes in response to countless prayers and is the result of a year-long, coordinated effort of Covenant Seminary and the PCA’s Committee on Discipleship Ministries, Covenant College, Geneva Benefits Group, Mission to North America, and Reformed University Fellowship, along with Geneva College, a Christian college governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America.

Rev. Dr. Thomas C. Gibbs, President of Covenant Seminary, said, “We are living in a time of profound cultural polarization and skepticism about the institutional church. Despite these headwinds, though, the Lord has continued to give both the PCA and Covenant Seminary growth and influence. I could not be more excited that God is blessing us with this opportunity to lead a joint effort focused on issues affecting the overall spiritual well-being and flourishing of the church. We thank Lilly Endowment for their generous support of this endeavor, and we covet everyone’s continued prayers as it unfolds over the next several years.”

Though the scope of the grant is expansive, its central objective is straightforward in seeking to address three key challenges to pastoral education today: (1) the fact that fewer candidates are entering the pipeline for ministry training, (2) the need for enhanced ministry preparation for those who have entered seminary, and (3) the need for greater support and training for those in pastoral ministry so they can flourish over the long haul. Among the most important initiatives sponsored by the collaborative grant are:

• The funding of new scholarships for future MDiv students at Covenant Seminary so we can seek to allay student debt and ensure a sustainable transition into fulltime vocational ministry.

• The relaunch of the Seminary’s Center for Ministry Leadership, the mission of which will be to strengthen pastoral leaders for the work of leadership in the church and to support churches as they negotiate leadership challenges.

• The strengthening of current and sponsoring of new efforts focused on pastoral wellbeing for the long-term health and fruitfulness of pastors.

• The creation of the Pathways to Vocational Ministry program to identify high school and college students who are gifted and called to ministry, and to encourage and equip them through a streamlined BA/MDiv combination program.

In addition, the grant will fund several related initiatives focused on addressing the three challenges noted above. These include: expanded summer internship opportunities for students; the expansion of the Seminary’s student cohort program; the development of training opportunities for lay ministry leaders, especially ruling elders; the creation of an Executive Pastor Graduate Certificate program; the development of leadership training materials for campus ministry leaders; the creation of a Leadership Track for the Seminary’s MDiv program; the creation of educational podcasts by MNA’s Hispanic Ministries and African American Ministries aimed at reaching and recruiting more potential ministry students; and many more.

Representatives of the Seminary’s partner organizations had this to say about their collaboration in this initiative:

We are delighted to partner with Covenant Seminary in this grant and grateful for the opportunities it presents to further clarify, develop, and strengthen important areas of our own mission that intersect with that of the Seminary.

– Mr. Steve Dowling, Interim Coordinator, Mission to North America

What a blessing to RUF and to the PCA as a whole for us to be involved in this process with Covenant Seminary! We are looking forward to working with them on through the Center for Ministry Leadership and developing new RUF and pastoral training opportunities.

– Mr. Andrew Rein, Coordinator, Reformed University Fellowship

It is a privilege to partner with the pastor-scholars at Covenant Seminary in this initiative. Our part of the project is especially close to my heart—developing training for ruling elders in the church. I’m eager for us to provide solid theological content in a way that promotes effective pastoral ministry.

– Rev. Dr. Stephen T. Estock, Coordinator, Committee on Discipleship Ministries

Geneva Benefits Group is thankful for the opportunity to join Covenant Seminary in this important endeavor, and we look forward to working together to enhance existing efforts at fostering pastoral wellbeing and developing new ones that will bless both the PCA and the broader church.

– Rev. Dr. Ed Dunnington, President, Geneva Benefits Group

Covenant College and Covenant Seminary began side-by-side in St. Louis, and this grant allows us to strengthen that historic bond in new and meaningful ways. Through this partnership, we are developing a BA/MDiv pathway that will streamline the preparation of gifted young ministry leaders, equipping them to serve Christ, his church, and a world in need.

– Dr. Brad Voyles, President, Covenant College

It is a privilege to be asked to join Covenant Seminary’s initiative to create expanded pathways for ministry training. We are excited to work with them on the streamlined BA/MDiv option and blessed by the opportunity to learn and grow together for the sake of Christ’s church.

– Dr. Melinda Stephens, Provost, Geneva College

Dr. Jay Sklar, Professor of Old Testament at Covenant Seminary and the institution’s administrator for the Lilly grant, noted, “It has been a joy working with all our partners over the last year to develop the details for this proposal. We are thankful to all of them for their support and willingness to participate, and we look forward to the ongoing collaboration as we implement the grant. And of course, we are immensely grateful to Lilly Endowment for seeing the potential in this proposal and agreeing to fund it. This will be a great blessing for the church.”

Launched in 2021, Lilly Endowments’ Pathways for Tomorrow is designed to help theological schools across the United States and Canada as they prioritize and respond to the most pressing challenges they face in preparing leaders for Christian congregations now and in the future. Since its inception, the program has provided grants totaling more than $700 million to support 163 theological schools in strengthening their educational and financial capacities, and to assist 61 schools in developing large-scale collaborative endeavors.