{"id":60177,"date":"2025-12-05T11:19:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=60177"},"modified":"2025-12-08T09:51:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T14:51:13","slug":"three-seminaries-join-forces-to-strengthen-pastoral-leadership-through-a-large-scale-collaboration-grant-in-the-pathways-for-tomorrow-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/three-seminaries-join-forces-to-strengthen-pastoral-leadership-through-a-large-scale-collaboration-grant-in-the-pathways-for-tomorrow-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Three seminaries join forces to strengthen pastoral leadership through a large-scale collaboration grant in the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Union Presbyterian Seminary<\/strong> has received a transformative $10 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to implement Seminary Extended: Strengthening Pastoral Leadership, a groundbreaking collaborative initiative with Eastern Mennonite Seminary<\/strong> and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary<\/strong> to deliver congregation-embedded leadership development, shared faculty across institutions, and a joint Doctor of Ministry (DMin) in Adaptive Leadership. The initiative will bring the three theological institutions together in a first-of-its-kind collaboration to strengthen pastoral formation for today\u2019s rapidly changing ministry landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seminary Extended is being funded through Lilly Endowment\u2019s 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 Union Presbyterian Seminary, in support of the collaborative partnership with Eastern Mennonite Seminary and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, is one of 45 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seminary Extended: Strengthening Pastoral Leadership will equip Union Presbyterian Seminary, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary to provide pastors and congregations with practical, grounded support for ministry in a changing world. Through a shared Doctor of Ministry (DMin) in Adaptive Leadership, pastors will study with faculty from all three schools, join short in-person learning intensives, receive coaching, and walk alongside peers as they learn to lead through change, conflict, and trauma. At the same time, congregations will engage in yearlong cohorts where each church\u2019s pastor and a small team of lay leaders learn together, with mentors helping them grow in Bible study, community engagement, trauma-aware care, and planning for future ministry. The goal is to make strong, theologically rooted leadership development more accessible and useful to local churches across many Protestant traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n