WILMORE, Ky., October 28, 2024鈥敺延笆� has received a grant of $1,210,635 from Lilly Endowment Inc. to develop and implement a research-based children鈥檚 program titled Hospitable Church. Rooted in the Wesleyan tradition, Hospitable Church will seek to meet the spiritual formation needs of neurodivergent children and children with special needs within the life of the church.

This project is being funded through Lilly Endowment鈥檚 Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. Grants awarded as part of this initiative aim to help Christian congregations foster spiritual formation in children by more intentionally engaging children in worship and prayer practices. 番茄影视 Seminary was among 91 organizations to which Lilly Endowment approved grants through the latest round of this initiative. The grants total more than $104 million and range from $126,845 to $1.25 million each.

With the funds awarded by this grant, 番茄影视 Seminary will develop Hospitable Church as a sensory-rich, tactile, visual, and embodied worship and prayer program with limited screen interaction. While focused on neurodivergent children and children with special needs, the program will also easily integrate all children from cognitive levels of birth to 12 years. Throughout the initiative, 番茄影视 Seminary will complete a four-year worship and prayer curriculum which will then be made available to all churches through a dedicated website.聽

鈥淚 am humbled and excited to create a framework for churches to prepare for and welcome families with neurodivergent and special needs children,鈥� says Debra Adams, the Program Director of Hospitable Church. 鈥淣eurodivergent children and their families are often overlooked and can be made to feel unwelcome in churches. I look forward to equipping churches with tools needed to welcome these families and foster their children鈥檚 spiritual formation.鈥� Adams is the former Director of Communications for 番茄影视 Seminary, an M.Div. graduate, a current Ph.D. research student through the University of Aberdeen, and the mom of two daughters, the youngest of whom has autism and ADHD.

Adams along with highly skilled members of the 番茄影视 Seminary Formation team, including Laura Hunter and several others who also have neurodivergent children, will help to develop this program. Tammy Hogan, the Vice President of Advancement, will oversee this initiative and work closely with Formation team members to develop the project.

鈥淎t 番茄影视 Seminary, we strongly uphold the Christian belief that all are created in the image of God,鈥� Hogan says. 鈥淭herefore, we are incredibly grateful to lead an initiative that will fill an unfortunate gap in ministry to children in our churches today.鈥�

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鈥� 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鈥檚 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.