The Minneapolis Area Synod, ELCA, has received a $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish “Family Faith: Deepening Roots, Strengthening Families,” a program to explore how faith and culture are intertwined in immigrant and non-dominant households in efforts for faith formation. The project is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s “Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative.” The aim of the initiative is to help parents and caregivers share their faith values with their children.

The Minneapolis Area Synod (MAS) is one of 125 organizations that have received grants through the Christian Parenting initiative. Reflecting the diversity of Christianity in the United States, the organizations are affiliated with mainline Protestant, evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Pentecostal faith communities. Many of the organizations are rooted in Black Church, Hispanic, and Asian Christian traditions.

“We are so grateful to Lilly Endowment for the $1.25 million dollar grant to fund our initiative ‘Family Faith: Deepening Roots, Strengthening Families,’” Minneapolis Area Synod Bishop Ann Svennungsen expressed. “The initiative envisions the creation of a learning community made up of families, parents, and caretakers from the synod’s 18 ethnic-specific, culturally specific, and multicultural congregations, all with a focus on raising children in the Christian faith.”

“The Lilly Endowment award will support faith formation, first by providing resources to strategic ministries so that they are able to engage their current context through the lived experiences of their families,” offered Pastor Hierald Osorto, San Pablo/Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis. “This grant could also address barriers that families face in faith sharing when parents and elders whose first language isn’t English interact with children raised in this country.”

Pastor Hierald continues, “A lot of existing resources aren’t designed or adapted for our communities. I imagine a team of lay leaders from strategic ministries will be given a role in developing the curriculum. And, we will need to find partners outside the ELCA that are doing innovative work with immigrant communities as well.”

“We are excited about the impact this ministry will take, and we are excited once again to have the chance to create and innovate for the sake of racial equity and formation in the faith,” Bishop Ann affirmed. “And we’re very excited about the leadership the strategic ministries will have in this initiative.”

 

“FAMILY FAITH” CAN BE an opportunity to exchange, collaborate, and learn together about how to share faith stories as parents and caretakers, celebrate and pass along important traditions, and raise children as Christians. This project is designed to:

  • Bring families, parents, and caretakers together to form learning cohorts and peer groups focused on asking questions about raising children in the Christian faith and connecting authentically across generational and cultural boundaries.
  • Give families opportunities to connect and participate together in meaningful faith formation experiences and experiment with spiritual practices.
  • Develop faith formation resources for families and children in the language and cultural context of our participating communities.

“The Lilly Endowment award will support faith formation, first by providing resources to strategic ministries so that they are able to engage their current context through the lived experiences of their families.”

“Lilly Endowment expects a lot from their grantees, and resources them well throughout the life of a grant to evaluate and reflect on the impact of their projects,” offered Nick Tangen, director of Faith Practices & Neighboring Practices, another Lilly Endowment project. “The leaders there want the Church to experiment, and they want to invest in projects that make a difference. This newest opportunity for our synod is a chance to make that difference in the most important context for faith formation, the family. It’s exciting!”

“This is exciting news,” seconded Asefa Wakjira, youth coordinator for Our Redeemer Oromo Lutheran Church in Minneapolis and candidate for rostered ministry. “Most of the time, children’s ministry doesn’t get enough attention when there are so many other challenges in ministry. This grant will help us to reflect more on what will work for us – the strategic ministries and other congregations – as we journey together in the raising of our children in the faith.”

 

“WE’VE HEARD FROM many parents who are seeking to nurture the spiritual lives of their children, especially in their daily activities, and looking to churches and other faith-based organizations for support,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “These thoughtful, creative, and collaborative organizations embrace the important role that families have in shaping the religious development of children and are launching programs to assist parents and caregivers with this task.”

“Many of our strategic ministries are struggling while working with children and youth,” explained Asefa. “It is challenging because we live between two cultures – back home and here. So Christian parenting isn’t easy because there are generational differences. Now we can come together and learn together, in order to help us do ministry with children and youth.”

“I am particularly excited that this Lilly Endowment grant will allow our strategic ministries to have intentional face time with one another,” added Pastor Hierald. “It provides an opportunity to be intentional about collaboration, time which often isn’t possible given our particular ministry responsibilities.”

“I have loved working with Lilly Endowment through Faith Practices & Neighboring Practices. They’ve shown again and again that they are truly invested in resilient and flourishing faith communities,” Nick reflected. “And the Christian Parenting and Caretaking Initiative is another example of Lilly Endowment’s commitment to faithful experimentation for the sake of the church.”

“The initiative envisions the creation of a learning community made up of families, parents, and caretakers from the synod’s 18 ethnic-specific, culturally specific, and multicultural congregations, all with a focus on raising children in the Christian faith.”

Lilly Endowment launched the Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative in 2022 because of its interest in supporting efforts to help individuals and families from diverse Christian communities draw more fully on the wisdom of Christian practices to live out their faith fully and well, passing on a vibrant faith to a new generation.

“What a wonderful opportunity this Lilly Endowment grant offers to learn with and from the families who face unique challenges in raising children in the faith,” concludes Pastor John Hulden, assistant to the bishop for leadership and one of the crafters of the original proposal. “Our whole synod will benefit from this grant.”

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About Lilly Endowment Inc.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private 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 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 hometown, Indianapolis, and its 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 diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate portrayals of the role religion plays in the United States and across the globe.