September 26, 2002

Upper Room Ministries® receives Lilly Endowment grant to "sustain pastoral excellence."

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Upper Room Ministries, a unit of The General Board of Discipleship, has been selected to receive a grant of $627,000 from Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. to participate in a national program called "Sustaining Pastoral Excellence." The program is a new effort of the Endowment to focus attention and energy on pastoral leaders.

Overall, 47 grants were awarded for a total of $57.9 million to religiously affiliated organizations across the country.

In announcing receipt of this grant Stephen D. Bryant, Publisher and World Editor of Upper Room Ministries said, "We are extremely humbled and pleased that we have been selected from among the 700 applicants to receive this Lilly grant. This grant will allow Upper Room Ministries to continue to develop and offers contexts for clergy to grow and flourish in their faith formation so that they can be authentic leaders for others. We are excited to be a part of the Endowment's efforts to better understand and address those experiences and practices that keep ministry alive."

Upper Room Ministries will use the Lilly Grant to evaluate the impact of its Academy for Spiritual Formation® on pastors in a comprehensive way and develop a new program called "Companions in Ministry" for renewing, sustaining and empowering clergy. The Academy for Spiritual Formation has been an offering of the Upper Room since 1983. "The Academy" is a two-year journey, with participants gathering every three months for five days, a total of forty day. Once referred to as "...the most comprehensive, in-depth program in spiritual formation today," the Academy is ecumenical in scope and design, for both clergy and laity. Currently there are five locations around the country for the two-year Academy: California, Alabama, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Texas. Jerry Haas, director of The Academy for Spiritual Formation, expressed his delight in receiving this grant. "Thanks to the Endowment we will gain a better understand the importance of the Academy on clergy participants and we will be able to develop a new program we are calling 'Companions in Ministry' for selected clergy. This new program will include a rhythm of spiritual community and pilgrimage so that pastors can be both supported and challenged into new ways of creatively responding to the needs of the world and the Church today."

Upcoming Academies

Learn more about Two-year and Five-day Academies starting soon.