Changing the culture of Christian formation

MEMPHIS — Gesturing towards a table filled with an impressive, ecumenical panel of Lilly Endowment grantees, the Rev. Neema Cyrus-Franklin told the roomful of educators they were in for a treat.

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“The people we will be hearing from have the potential to significantly contribute to Christian formation and how we develop programs,” said Cyrus-Franklin, project coordinator with the Lilly Endowment-funded Around the Table initiative for the Interim Unified Agency of the PC(USA). “We have so much to learn from all of the grant recipients and their research.”

For the well-attended Jan. 31 workshop at the Association of Partners in Christian Education (APCE) 2025 Annual Event, which Cyrus-Franklin facilitated, 10 grantees were invited to outline the unique features and benefits of their respective initiatives.

In introducing the speakers, Cyrus-Franklin — who, as project coordinator with the Around the Table, was herself a panelist — began with an encouraging announcement concerning the Lilly Endowment’s commitment “to deepen and enrich the religious lives of Christians in the United States, principally by supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations.”

Through the Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative and the Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative, she shared with the group, Lilly Endowment has made a total of 223 grants to organizations throughout the country.

As the speakers took to the podium one by one — in lightning-fast fashion — the group’s interest only appeared to increase with each successive project summary.

The diverse projects addressed were:

• The Age to Age Initiative, located at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, was presented by its director, Dr. Kris Bjorke. The project was designed to equip faith communities with accessible, culturally competent resources that strengthen the faith of young people.
• Around the Table, introduced by Cyrus-Franklin, serves to come alongside parents, caregivers, churches and worshiping communities to provide skills, opportunities for connection and relationship building, and the resources needed to enhance and prioritize sharing faith in households.
• The Benediction Project aims to equip children and parents to recognize the sacred in all facets of life, utilizing stories of the Christian tradition. In speaking to the initiative, Stephen Ingram, Sr., director of Resource Development, explained that it is housed at the Center for Youth Ministry Training.
• Big Faith Resources, which Co-Director Michelle Junkin administers, seeks to develop innovative resources that equip churches for an ever-changing neurodiverse landscape.
• For the project titled Child of Blessing: Growing Faith in Worship, Kelly Abraham, executive director of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians — the organization which received the grant — was on hand to outline its seven cyclical phases, each designed to engage children in meaningful and inclusive worship experiences.
• Font & Faith was represented by the Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. “Becky” Davis, Sarah Belk Gambrell Professor of Christian Education and director of the Center for Excellence in Christian Education on the Charlotte campus of Union Presbyterian Seminary. Font & Faith aims to partner with congregations and parents through the Lilly Endowment-funded initiative to fulfill baptismal vows by nurturing children’s faith through worship and prayer.
• Project director Brittany Sky spoke to the group about the GenOn Christian Parenting Project, which “seeks to build relationships between family members, as well as between families and churches, so all people are loved, cared for, and belong.”
• Shine Everywhere, as presented by Shana Peachey Boshart, project facilitator, “is a community of congregations and families who discover and practice the everyday habits that grow faith in children.”
• Columbia Theological Seminary received its grant from Lilly Endowment to help establish Wonder of Worship, an initiative to prepare Christian leaders in the seminary’s degree programs and support partnering congregations in engaging children in corporate worship and thereby nurture their faith. Dr. Kathy Dawson, project director, walked attendees through the project’s goals.
• The final panelist, the Rev. David Maxwell, vice president for the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC), presented the PPC’s Worship for the Whole People of God initiative. As he explained, the project will develop resources that support children’s full participation in worship and foster lifelong prayer practices for sustaining faith.

As part of their presentations, panelists shared the year in which their respective sponsoring institutions had received the Lilly Endowment grant and what they had learned along their journey.

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During a spirited Q&A at the conclusion of the panel, Bjorke, of the Age to Age Initiative currently in its first year, explained the genesis of their project.

Using the relay race as a metaphor, Bjorke, a former high school sprinter, spoke of how “a team working together is better than any one person alone.”

“Ministry is like that,” she said. “Sometimes it can feel like we’re running alone. ‘Who would take up the baton, if not for us,’ we think. That’s how Age to Age came about.”

In closing the group’s time together, Cyrus-Franklin encouraged attendees to engage the panelists afterwards in further dialogue about how to take part in the initiatives themselves.

One workshop participant, a director of children’s ministries, addressed just such a comment to the panel. “At my church, we’re trying to move children into worship,” she said, “and we want to create a resource for them to help ease that transition.”

“Those are the exact worship resources we are expecting to develop,” said Davis of the Font & Faith initiative. “They will be available on our website as downloadable resources.”

Sky, of the GenOn Christian Parenting Project, added this observation:

“In my experience, it takes five years to change the culture,” she said, “so if your church hasn’t had children integrated into worship, you have to start small.”

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.