Is there a longing in your soul for renewal? Sometimes in ministerial leadership we become so weary in well-doing that we forget God’s promise that in Christ we are a new creation, or if we do remember it we do not know how to appropriate the fullness of that promise for ourselves even as we hold it out to our people. For many of us, the solution is a sabbatical to fill us up for the ministry we love even when it begins to wear us down.
Options for funding a sabbatical include:
A Competitive Grants Program of Lilly Endowment
Lilly Endowment, an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation, seeks to strengthen Christian congregations by providing an opportunity for pastors to step away briefly from the persistent obligations of daily parish life and to engage in a period of renewal and reflection. Renewal periods are not vacations, but times for intentional exploration and reflection, for drinking again from God's life-giving waters, for regaining enthusiasm and creativity for ministry.
In the National Clergy Renewal Program, the Endowment anticipates awarding as many as 120 grants of up to $50,000 each directly to Christian congregations for the support of a renewal program for their pastor. Up to $15,000 of the grant may be used for congregational expenses associated with the renewal program. Check website below for submission deadline. Notification of grant awards will be made by October.
For more information on this program see their website - http://www.lillyendowment.org/religion_ncr.html.
Louisville Institute Accepting Applications for Sabbatical Grants for Pastoral Leaders
The Louisville Institute is pleased to announce the opening of the Sabbatical Grants for Pastoral Leaders competition. Awards of $ 10 ,000 and $1 5 ,000 will be made to support sabbaticals. During their sabbaticals, grantees will engage in a self-designed project of prayer, study, worship, and recreation for their personal and vocational renewal.
The Louisville Institute's Sabbatical Grants for Pastoral Leaders competition will make up to forty grants to religious leaders employed in recognized positions of pastoral leadership. Grantees must be released from all duties during the time of their sabbaticals.
The Louisville Institute, a program of the Religion Division of Lilly Endowment, Inc., seeks to strengthen religious institutions in the United States and Canada by its support of pastoral leaders, teachers, and students of those institutions through a program of grant making and consultations.
For further information, or to receive application materials, visit the Louisville Institute website at www.louisville-institute.org or contact Rev. Sheldon Sorge , Associate Director, at 502/ 992 - 5431 , or ssorge @louisville-institute.org .