Lilly Endowment Grant Will Fund Youth Disciples on the Way Program – Caldwell University News

Caldwell, N.J., July 28, 2020Caldwell University has received a grant to start a new program Disciples on the Way that will encourage high school students to look at what it means to be a disciple in todays world. Thanks to a five-year $222,000 Lilly Endowment grant, studentswill have the chance to explore questions about their faith and the moral dimensions of contemporary challenges.

In 2015, Caldwell University received afouryear grant to establish a residential summer program,theSpirituality and Leadership Institute(SLI),on campus for highschool studentsand Caldwells undergraduate spiritual mentors.The major focus was tostudytheological worksandtoexaminehow their faith calls them to lives ofservice.SLI has introducedhigh school and undergraduate students to spiritual disciplines as leadership practices and helped them develop as young citizens who promote public justice and seek the common good.

With the newDisciples on the Wayprogram, participantswill be immersedin intellectual, spiritual, and practical waysof livingas theyfocus and build on different aspectsof discipleship,such asleadership, arts and spirituality, and prayer methods. Allprogramming will beaimed at helpingyoung peoplehave a greater understanding of their ability to be disciples in todays world andtohavean initial full experienceexperimentingwithandusing the suggesteddiscernmenttools.The program will helpyouthintensify connections to their faith in areas of interest and envision how they can becomefaith leaders in their community, school, church, family, workplace, and even online through social media.

Colleen OBrien,Caldwell Universitysdirector ofcampusministry,is a seasoned youth minister in higher education, whowill lead this effort supported by an array of CU spiritual mentorsandanassistant youth minister. She hopes it will help students deepen their faith. We are working to engage current and future faith leaders in our community and help them discover the many ways God is calling them to live and be in the world.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons J.K. Jr. and Eli through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly & Company. The Endowment exists to support the causes of religion, education, and community development. Lilly Endowments religion grantmaking is designed to deepen and enrich the religious lives of American Christians. It does this largely through initiatives to enhance and sustain the quality of ministry in American congregations and parishes.