Contact: Oliver Richmond
260-418-2265/orichmond@kingpartners.org
Kingdom Partners has received a $1,250,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish “The Tend Fold Initiative”.
The project is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Thriving Congregations Initiative. The aim of the initiative to encourage the flourishing of congregations by helping them deepen their relationships with God, enhance their connections with each other, and contribute to the vitality of their communities and the world.
Kingdom Partners is a growing faith-based Chattanooga network of 150+ churches and nonprofits. Kingdom Partners seeks to create meaningful relationships between pastors, church leaders, and community stakeholders who seek to improve the capacity and ability of their congregations to better serve the needs of their own members and the surrounding neighborhood. The Endowment grant will enable Kingdom Partners to help church leaders understand the theological imperative of reaching out and caring for those in the local community. By offering extensive training and coaching to church leadership, Kingdom Partners expects to see participating churches flourish. Kingdom Partners training program will focus on leadership, strategic planning, mentoring, team building, gift assessment, and church software. Over the course of the next three years, Kingdom Partners seeks to serve approximately ten churches each year. Churches must apply to participate in the program. After the first year’s cohort has completed the program, Kingdom Partners will assess the strengths and weaknesses of various initiatives so that outcomes can be assessed and needed corrections made.
Kingdom Partners is one of 124 organizations that has received grants though a competitive round of the Thriving Congregations Initiative. Reflecting a wide variety of Christian traditions, the organizations represent mainline Protestant, evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox, peace church and Pentecostal faith communities.
“Congregations play an essential role in deepening the faith of individuals and contributing to the vitality of communities,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “We hope that these programs will nurture the vibrancy and spark the creativity of congregations, helping them imagine new ways to share God’s love in their communities and across the globe.”
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 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.
