Preaching has been central to sharing the Christian story for more than two millennia and, for over 150 years, has been central to the educational mission of Luther Seminary.<\/p>\n
A new five-year, $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. reinforces Luther Seminary\u2019s commitment to Christian preaching by establishing the Compelling Word Initiative, which seeks to address a persistent challenge faced by many in the pulpit: the experience of proclamation as a burden, where the responsibility for creating \u201cgood preaching\u201d rests mostly or solely on the preacher. Lilly Endowment made the grant through its Compelling Preaching Initiative.<\/p>\n
Led by Adam White \u201911 D.Min., lead pastor at Normandale Lutheran Church (Edina, Minnesota), the Compelling Word Initiative builds on work funded through an earlier Lilly Endowment grant that has already engaged 70 preachers and their diverse congregational contexts. The Compelling Word Initiative will scale up programs for lifelong preacher formation that were most effective in the initial grant phase\u2014primarily by offering immersive continuing-education experiences for seasoned preachers and by integrating into preaching courses in Luther Seminary\u2019s degree and non-degree offerings the Initiative\u2019s central principle: preaching in community leads to better preaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe burden of preaching in isolation often leads to exhaustion and diminished vocational clarity,\u201d said White. \u201cThe Compelling Word Initiative responds by recentering preaching in communal practices of listening, feedback, and shared learning. In contexts of deep congregational engagement, preaching becomes a site of renewal rather than depletion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other members of the Compelling Word team at Luther Seminary include Karoline Lewis, professor and Marbury E. Anderson Chair of Biblical Preaching, and Terri Elton, dean of academic affairs and professor of leadership, along with Katie Jorgenson \u201917 M.Div., a pastor in the ELCA who has served as a chaplain in senior living settings.<\/p>\n
In their initial work, the collaborative team has already fostered collegial environments where preachers can name vocational strain, grow in attentiveness to their own spiritual needs and those of their communities, take risks in biblical proclamation, and develop ongoing practices that will help make a communal approach to preaching durable in their congregations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Initiative grows out of our understanding that faithful proclamation requires not only teaching the craft of preaching but also nurturing a preacher\u2019s theological imagination and spiritual life,\u201d Elton said. \u201cOur initial participants reported renewed confidence in proclamation, deeper theological clarity, and strengthened vocational identity, and their congregations indicated they were now experiencing preaching as more authentic, biblically grounded, and participatory. This grant will increase the goal of preaching in community\u2014to ensure more people have living encounters with the Word of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019 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\u2019s 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 States and around the globe traditions in the United States and across the globe.<\/p>\n
Luther Seminary educates leaders for Christian communities across the country and around the world. An innovator in theological education, the seminary is committed to exploring leading-edge approaches for Christian ministry, proclamation, and faith formation in a rapidly changing world. As one of the seven seminaries in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Luther Seminary has educated more than one-third of ELCA pastors, lay professionals, and leaders of many global Lutheran and ecumenical churches, with millions more reached annually by digital ministries including God Pause, Enter the Bible, Faith+Lead, Word and World, and Working Preacher. Learn more at luthersem.edu.<\/p>\n
Media contact: Rachel Farris, farrisr@augsburg.edu or 612-330-1476<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Preaching has been central to sharing the Christian story for more than two millennia and, for over 150 years, has been central to the educational mission of Luther Seminary. A new five-year, $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. reinforces Luther Seminary\u2019s commitment to Christian preaching by establishing the Compelling Word Initiative, which seeks to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5335,"featured_media":10271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n