PHILADELPHIA, PA: Eastern University has received a grant of $4,172,305 from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life. The grant will support Christians for Social Action (CSA), a center at Palmer Seminary of Eastern University, to establish the project, “Stories of Gospel Hope: Rooted and Resilient.”
Eastern University is one of 12 organizations from across the United States receiving grants through the initiative. The group includes media organizations, denominational judicatories, church networks, publishers, educational institutions, congregations, and other nonprofit charitable organizations.
The grant will help CSA, which has been curating stories of compelling faithfulness for almost 50 years, develop a storytelling ecosystem. This project will promote, document, produce, and support the distribution of new, compelling stories of hope from often-overlooked communities. CSA will also convene a Hub of 20–30 organizations to build the capacity of these organizations to tell stories through a 10-month training program with storytelling professionals. A key component of this is reflecting on the power of God’s story and how that is shaping people and communities.
“We know God is at work in unexpected ways among people and in places,” said CSA’s Executive Director, Nikki Toyama-Szeto. “We're excited to work with Stories of Gospel Hope and to see the stories the communities will share. ”
The aim of Lilly Endowment’s National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life is to help organizations identify, produce, and share compelling stories that portray the vibrancy and hope of Christian faith and life with a wide variety of audiences.
About Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based 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. Although the gifts of stock remain a 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 founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. A primary aim of its grantmaking in religion is to deepen the religious lives of Christians, principally by supporting efforts that enhance congregational vitality and strengthen the leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment values the broad diversity of Christian traditions and endeavors to support them in a wide variety of contexts. The Endowment also seeks to foster public understanding about religion by encouraging fair, accurate, and balanced portrayals of the positive and negative effects of religion on the world and lifting up the contributions that people of all faiths make to our greater civic well-being.
Christians for Social Action
Christians for Social Action serves as a network of scholars, practitioners and activists, working towards a fuller picture of Christian faithfulness and a more just society. Founded by Ron Sider, professor and author of the book, “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger”, CSA became a center of Eastern University’s Palmer Seminary in 2005. For more information, contact Nikki Toyama-Szeto at ntoyamaszeto@eastern.edu.