LSTC Awarded $1 Million Pathways for Tomorrow Implementation Grant from the Lilly Endowment

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) has received a Pathways for Tomorrow implementation grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to launch a Public Church Hub and expand accessible, community-designed learning for pastoral and lay leaders. Building on LSTC’s Project Starling platform, the initiative will fund new staff and a suite of short, flexible offerings developed with LGBTQ-affirming missional communities, and Latiné and African-descent congregations. The effort strengthens relationships with congregations, widens pathways beyond traditional degrees, and advances LSTC’s mission to form visionary leaders for today’s church and world.

The program is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, which is intended to help theological schools across the United States and Canada strengthen their educational and financial capacities to prepare and support pastoral leaders for Christian congregations both now and into the future. “We are so grateful to the Lilly Endowment’s foresight in recognizing the ways in which seminaries can strengthen their futures,” said President Shauna Hannan. “For us at LSTC, that means strengthening our bonds with African-descent, LGBTQIA+-affirming and Latiné communities.”

LSTC’s grant program is a three-year, grant-funded effort to shift the institution from a narrow, degree-only model of theological education to a full-spectrum, community-rooted approach. The central focus of the initiative is to launch a cross-functional Public Church Hub that listens to, learns from, and co-creates formation resources with congregations — especially LGBTQ-affirming new missional communities, Latiné congregations, and African-descent congregations in Chicago and beyond. “LSTC is far from alone in struggling to respond to challenging times for churches and theological schools,” said Dr. Christian Scharen, Associate Professor and Gordon Braatz Chair of Worship, who authored LSTC’s proposal. “This grant does not assume we know the solutions, but it centers our efforts in listening to and learning from the very leaders and congregations where the Spirit is ‘doing a new thing’ (Isaiah 43).” 

Through this Hub, LSTC will build on its Project Starling platform to design and deliver short, flexible learning options such as modules, intensives, workshops, certificates, and cohorts alongside traditional degrees. Staffing funded by the grant (a Strategic Alliance Coordinator and three part-time community organizers) will run focus groups, surface needs, recruit pilot sites, and support iterative program design.

The goal is to generate accessible, relevant leadership formation that is developed with real ministry partners, while advancing institutional sustainability through increased participation in non-degree learning, strengthened M.Div. recruitment, and more efficient, agile delivery guided by clear metrics and continuous evaluation.

“This grant centers listening and speed. It’s about moving quickly and forming leaders for real contexts, so theological learning is accessible, relevant, and sustainable,” said Keisha Dyson, Vice President for Enterprise Innovation at LSTC. “With our congregation and community partners, we’ll co-create flexible learning that widens pathways beyond degrees and equips leaders where they serve.”

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago is one of 163 theological schools that have received grants since 2021 through the Pathways initiative. Together, the schools serve a broad spectrum of Christian traditions in the U.S. and Canada. They are affiliated with evangelical, mainline Protestant, nondenominational, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic, Black church, Latino, Asian American, Indigenous and historic peace church traditions.

“Theological schools have long played a central role for most denominations and church networks in preparing and supporting pastoral leaders who guide congregations,” said Christopher L. Coble, the Endowment’s vice president for religion. “These schools are paying close attention to the challenges churches are facing today and will face in the foreseeable future. The grants will help these schools engage in wide-ranging, innovative efforts to adapt their educational programs and build their financial capacities so they can better prepare pastors and lay ministers to effectively lead the congregations they will serve in the future.”

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 religion and lift up in fair, accurate and balanced ways the roles that people of all faiths and various religious communities play in the United State and around the globe.