Brite Divinity School to Launch New Student Initiative Thanks to $1M Grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.
The New Brite Path Initiative brings innovative approach to the student experience, from admission to graduation and beyond
FORT WORTH, TX – Today, Brite Divinity School proudly received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to establish The New Brite Path Initiative, an effort to break down barriers into ministry while strengthening post-graduate pathways to faith leadership. In reimagining the student experience, this new initiative aims to help students better understand their calling to ministry – from admissions to graduation and beyond – so they can lead wherever they are called.
The New Brite Path is 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.
“After decades of declining attendance, congregations are sending fewer and fewer people into pastoral leadership,” said Stephen Cady, President of Brite Divinity School. “Those that have the courage to undertake the journey of theological education, often need different support for discernment and preparation than they did in previous generations. The New Brite Path Initiative — with its focus on the unique experience and call of each student — allows us to better prepare leaders to serve God’s diverse world.”
Brite Divinity School 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.”
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About Brite Divinity School
Established in 1914, Brite Divinity School is one of the premier progressive theological institutions in the Southwest. Located on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas; Brite Divinity School prepares leaders by focusing on excellent scholarship, pastoral training, and spiritual development through ministerial and academic programs. Led by a transformative calling, Brite Divinity School seeks to educates and inspires people to serve God’s diverse world as leaders in churches, the academy, and public life.
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.