Sharing Stories from the Faithful Preaching Project
Please note, this post has been re-posted from an earlier blog that was maintained by the Faithful Preaching Project before it became part of the Sharing Faith Initiative. These posts have been re-shared to maintain the full story of the grant initiative.
Exciting things are happening with the Faithful Preaching Project. We attended a great conference in Indianapolis for recent recipients of Lilly Endowment preaching grants, secured the date of our first preaching workshop, and have two open applications!
Lay Preacher Cohort for 2024-2025
Applications for the 1-year cohort of lay preachers are now open! Applications will close on May 1, 2024.
Last month, we launched our Clergy Cohort applications (still open until April 1!). This month, we are excited to launch our Lay Preacher Cohort applications! The lay preaching cohort is designed to allow preachers the flexibility to tend to their other weekly responsibilities while receiving the benefits of cohort participation. The cohort will meet online for a year—with one another and a preaching coach—with the ultimate goal of cultivating more faith-full preaching.
Eligibility Requirements:
Commissioned and/or licensed by a church or denominational governing body to preach
Currently serving a small congregation (<100 in attendance)
Ability to connect to online learning portal provided by FPP
Click here to apply to the Lay Preacher Cohort
Know someone who might be interested in this program? Forward the information or encourage them to connect with fpp@austinseminary.edu.
In listening to our many interview responses, here's how one clergy member responded to the question asking what preachers need to preach faith-full sermons:
TIME is what we hope to give them through our preacher cohort and retreats. If you haven't already applied, please see the link below!
Clergy Preaching Cohort for 2024-2026
Applications for the 2-year cohort for clergy are currently open. Applications will close on April 1, 2024.
The clergy cohort is designed for preachers currently employed at small mainline churches. This cohort will meet together mostly online over two years, while also gathering together in person for multi-day retreats. The goal of the Faithful Preaching Project is to identify what makes sermons faith-full and faith-inspiring, then coach preachers on how they can infuse their preaching with those qualities.
Eligibility Requirements:
Masters of Divinity graduate
Employed at a small congregation (<100 in attendance)
Employed at a church in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, or Arkansas
Ability to connect to online learning portal provided by FPP
Ability to attend four in-person retreats over the next two years
Click here to apply to the Clergy Cohort
Know someone who might be interested in this program? Forward the information or encourage them to connect with fpp@austinseminary.edu.
Faithful Preaching Project attends informative and inspiring conference for similar grant programs
Leaders from the Faithful Preaching Project joined 113 other grantee organizations from mainline Protestant, evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox, Anabaptist, and Pentecostal traditions to gather in Indianapolis from March 12-14, 2024. The event was put on by the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship, and their goal was to help grantees foster a sense of community and learn from one another, as well as from consultants who came to answer our questions about managing our various programs. A partial list of other organizations offering programs through this initiative can be found here.
Tito Madrazo, program officer for this initiative from the Lilly Endowment, spoke of how exciting it was to have so many ways to support the work of preaching. Though we all came from different backgrounds and contexts, we shared a conviction that proclaiming the Good News matters today.
If we have one word to share with all of you out there preaching, it’s this: Proclaiming the Good News matters! So, thank you for living into your call! We look forward to supporting you in your ongoing work of faithful preaching!
One way we can support you is by sharing new preaching resources that we learn about. One resource we were introduced to at the conference was the Zeteo Search, an open access search engine that helps preachers gather information relevant to the scripture passage they are preaching from. Take a look and let us know what you think!
Save the date!
The first workshop for the Faithful Preaching Project is on Saturday, November 2, 2024. The workshop will be held in person at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary’s Wright Learning Center and streamed through Zoom for online participation. Mark your calendar and watch for announcements about the workshop topic & facilitator!