Littleton, Colo. – Denver Seminary has received a $500,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to continue cultivating opportunities for pastoral leaders to thrive in ministry through the Soul Care Initiative.

“The Soul Care Initiative was established in 2017 to meet a critical need for personal transformation and ongoing spiritual care for pastoral leaders amid the demands and transitions of their daily lives and ministries,” said founder Dr. Howard Baker. “The impact is evident in the leaders who have engaged in the nine-month Praxis experience and the individuals who have participated in our soul care retreats.”

With this grant, Denver Seminary’s Soul Care Initiative will continue inviting pastoral leaders to deepen their personal connection with God while increasing efforts to establish lasting connections with peers beyond their initial program experience. The new five-year grant is designed to help the Seminary sustain the Soul Care Initiative. It follows a $1 million grant in 2018 that Lilly Endowment made through its national Thriving in Ministry Initiative.

“With Lilly Endowment’s generosity, we are excited to continue providing Colorado’s pastoral leaders with opportunities for deeply restful spiritual formation,” said Chris Hess, initiative director. “We are also curious about how we might collaboratively integrate what we are learning about the formational needs of leaders into the Denver Seminary student experience.”

“The Soul Care Initiative embodies our deepest convictions about formation and flourishing—that Christ’s resurrection power isn’t just something we study, but something we experience and live. When we see pastors and executive leaders who were spiritually depleted discover renewed vitality through our Praxis cohorts, we’re witnessing the very heart of our Seminary’s mission in action,” said Dr. Mark Husbands, president of Denver Seminary. “This initiative fosters the kind of mutual support across Colorado’s Front Range that will strengthen congregations and communities for generations, helping people to experience resurrection hope and renewal.”

Denver Seminary shares Lilly Endowment’s belief that the quality of pastoral leadership is critical to the health and vitality of local congregations. The Seminary seeks to integrate what has been learned into its programming so that emerging pastoral leaders will be equipped with a formational foundation and established relationships that help them thrive deeply with God in the ministries to which they are called.

For more information, contact Chris Hess, Soul Care Initiative director, at Chris.Hess@DenverSeminary.edu or 303.762.6948 (ext. 1740).

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About Lilly Endowment Inc. – Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic 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, the Endowment 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. The principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of American Christians, 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.

About Denver Seminary – Denver Seminary is a non-denominational graduate school of theology located in Littleton, Colo. The Seminary’s mission is to prepare men and women to engage the needs of the world with the redemptive power of the gospel and the life-changing truth of Scripture. Denver Seminary offers residential, fully online, and hybrid degree programs, and has an extension campus in Washington DC.