FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Langley, BC – Northwest College and Seminary has received a grant of $9,987,692 from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the PROPEL Project.
The PROPEL Project responds to the urgent shortage of pastoral leaders, with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada estimating a need for 625 new pastors annually over the next 12 years due to retirements alone. Together with 14 partner organizations, this unprecedented 5-year collaboration will scale Northwest’s successful pastoral leader recruitment and preparation model, conduct evidence-based research on pastoral competencies and church needs, establish sustainable financial systems through endowment funds, and create resources that benefit the broader theological education community.
The PROPEL Project will feature collaboration with church networks across Canada, and Canadian and US research organizations and seminaries, including Fellowship Pacific, Fellowship Prairies, Association d’Eglises Baptistes Évangéliques au Québec (AEBEQ), Fellowship Atlantic, Fellowship International, Baptist General Conference, Youth Workers Community, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, the Competency-Based Education Network, Sevensided Consulting, Séminaire Baptiste Évangélique du Quebec (SEMBEQ), Trinity Western University, Kairos University and Bexley-Seabury Seminary.
The PROPEL Project is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. This initiative is designed to help theological schools across the United States and Canada as they prioritize and respond to the most pressing challenges they face as they prepare pastoral leaders for Christian congregations both now and into the future. The grant to Northwest College and Seminary is one of 45 that was approved in this competitive round of funding to support theological schools as they lead large-scale collaborations with other seminaries, colleges and universities, and other church-related organizations.
As pioneers in competency-based theological education (CBTE), Northwest developed the first direct-assessment CBTE program accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in 2015. The PROPEL project builds on the success and innovation of the program with six coordinated objectives:
- Partner to scale Northwest's proven collaborative recruitment model to 14 organizations representing 1,150+ churches
- Research evidence-based competency frameworks and Canadian church leadership needs
- Offer Programs through reimagined CBTE programs, including an accelerated BA/MDiv pathway
- Practice by establishing a sustainable CBTE Community of Practice
- Endowment creation of three funds totalling $4M for long-term sustainability
- Learn through continuous improvement and knowledge sharing with the broader theological education community
Dr. Barton Priebe, President of Northwest College and Seminary, comments, “Our proven track record, combined with the unprecedented scope of this collaboration, positions us to make a transformative impact on pastoral leadership development for generations to come.”
Lilly Endowment launched the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative in 2021. Since then, it has provided grants totalling more than $700 million to support 163 theological schools in efforts to strengthen their own educational and financial capacities and to assist 61 schools in developing large-scale collaborative endeavours.
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 about 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 traditions in the United States and across the globe.
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