Grants Info | Resources for American Christianity

Information on Grants

National Clergy Renewal Program
The Religion division of the Lilly Endowment provides as many as 100 grants of up to $45,000 each directly to Christian congregations for the support of a renewal program for their pastor. In this way, the Lilly Endowment seeks to strengthen congregations by providing an opportunity for pastors to step away briefly from the persistent obligations of daily parish life and to engage in a period of renewal and reflection.

Lilly Scholarships in Religion for Journalists
The Religion Newswriters Association provides scholarships to journalists interested in taking courses in religion or spirituality at any accredited college, university or seminary. Scholarships cover expenses including tuition, registration fees and books.

Ministry Fellows
The Fund for Theological Education offers a fellowship program that provides support and guidance to entering Master of Divinity students who embody the highest intellectual and spiritual qualities essential for Christian leadership as pastors, educators and citizens. Applicants must be entering their first year of a Master of Divinity program at an Association of Theological Schools accredited seminary.

Cultures of Call: Grants for Congregations
Through its grants to congregations, The Fund for Theological Education provides financial support for activities and reflection designed to help congregations nurture the principles and practices that support vocational discernment, in general, and the call to ministry, in particular, among youth and young adults.

Pastoral Study Project Grants
The Pastoral Study Project Program offers pastoral leaders opportunity to conduct serious investigation of issues related to Christian faith, life and ministry. Grants up to $15,000 are available for study projects involving full or partial leave from responsibilities of ministry. The PSP program seeks to: - Support the intellectual work of pastoral leaders who have the capacities for research, teaching, and writing that can reach broad audiences; - Support first-rate inquiry and dissemination about (a) Christian faith and life, (b) religious institutions, and (c) pastoral leadership, so that the faith and life of all Christians, the vitality of their institutions, and the work of pastoral leaders might be strengthened; - Identify pastoral leaders already working on these issues; and - Generate a broader conversation in the American academic and church communities about the nature of and challenges to contemporary Christian life, its institutions, and its leaders.

Dissertation Fellows
The Fund for Theological Education offers a fellowship program providing support and enhancement to African American Ph.D. or Th.D. students in their final year of dissertation work in religious or theological studies. Applicants must be in the final writing stage of their graduate work in religious or theological studies.

Doctoral Fellows
The Fund for Theological Education supports a fellowship program that supplies support and enhancement to the education of African American students entering a Ph.D. or Th.D. program in religious or theological studies. Applicants must be entering their first year of an accredited graduate program and strongly considering a career in seminary teaching and research.

First Book Grant to Minority Scholars Program
The Louisville Institute’s First Book Grant Program for Minority Scholars assists junior, non-tenured religion scholars of color to complete a major research project on an issue in North American Christianity related to the priorities of the Louisville Institute. Grant periods are typically one academic year in length. The maximum award is $40,000.

North American Doctoral Fellows Program
The North American Doctoral Fellows Program from the Fund for Theological Education is open to talented doctoral students traditionally underrepresented in the fields of religion or theology who already are enrolled in programs leading to the Ph.D. or Th.D. degree and nearing the end of their studies. Fellowships provide assistance to students who otherwise might not have the financial resources to complete their degree programs. In addition to a stipend, FTE offers networking support, maintaining regular contact and acting as an advocate for them in the profession.

Christian Faith & Life Programs
The Louisville Institute’s Christian Faith and Life Grant Program supports research projects by academics and pastors designed to make more accessible to religious believers the themes of Christian faith in relation to the realities of their contemporary lives. The grant amount requested should not exceed $40,000.

General Grants Program
The Louisville Institute’s General Grant Program occasionally supports a limited number of individual and collaborative projects by academics, pastors, or other religious leaders on current program priorities of the Louisville Institute: Christian faith and life, religious institutions, and pastoral leadership. By means of these grants, the Institute seeks to encourage pastors and academics to renew their vocational commitments and to pursue the distinctive kinds of research, writing, convening, and collaboration that promise to be most helpful to the church.

Lilly Theological Research Grants
The Lilly Theological Research Grants program is designed to enhance the skill and capacity of faculty in member institutions of the Association of Theological Schools as theological researchers and scholars. It supports research efforts of faculty, particularly at junior and non-tenured levels in order to nurture the development of their scholarship; seeks to enlarge the pool of faculty actively engaged as theological researchers; works to increase knowledge about grant seeking and the craft of theological research; and nurtures the habit of research as an ongoing aspect of scholarly life.

Pastoral Leadership Program
The Louisville Institute’s Pastoral Leadership Grant Program supports research projects by academics and pastors on the nature and challenge of contemporary pastoral leadership, with special attention to the conditions of contemporary Christian ministry and the character of pastoral excellence. The grant amount requested should not exceed $40,000.

Project Grant for Researchers
With these grants, the Louisville Institute supports a diverse range of research and research-related projects undertaken in the interest of believing communities. Projects might include short-term periods of research, consultations about one’s research involving pastors and academics, or collaborative, innovative projects that promise to enhance learning and strengthen the church. Particularly attractive to the Louisville Institute are projects that involve both academics and pastors in genuinely collaborative inquiry. All funded projects should involve substantial opportunity for learning that will benefit the church. Grant amounts up to $25,000 are available.

Religious Institutions Program
The Louisville Institute’s Religious Institutions Grant Program supports research projects by academics and pastors designed to encourage reflection on the theological, historical, and sociological nature of and challenges to religious organizations and institutions in the contemporary world. The grant amount requested should not exceed $40,000.

Sabbatical Grant for Researchers
The Louisville Institute seeks to identify and support ecclesially-engaged academics and intellectually-astute pastoral and religious leaders whose scholarly research work can contribute to the vitality of Christianity in North America. Toward this end, the Louisville Institute offers this grant program in support of scholarly research by academics and pastors that can enrich the life of the churches in North America. The Sabbatical Grants for Researchers program supports year-long sabbatical research projects that can contribute to our enhanced understanding of important issues concerning Christian faith and life, pastoral leadership, and/or religious institutions.

Summer Stipend Program
The Louisville Institute’s Summer Stipend Program offers grants to academics and pastors engaged in summer research projects pertaining to American Christianity, especially those related to the priorities of the Louisville Institute: Christian faith and life, pastoral leadership, and religious institutions. Up to seven grants of $9,000 each will be awarded.

Project Grants
The Wabash Center offers grants up to $20,000 for individual and group projects that focus on teaching and learning in theology and religion.

Small Project Grants
The Wabash Center is able to make Small Project grants of up to $2,500 to support special meetings and small projects that focus on teaching and learning in theology and religion.

Undergraduate Fellows
The Fund for Theological Education offers support and guidance to undergraduate students who wish to consider ministry as a possible career and who embody the intellectual and spiritual qualities essential for Christian leadership as pastors, educators, and citizens. Applicants must be rising juniors or seniors in an accredited undergraduate program at a North American college or university, have a GPA of 3.0 or higher and be considering ministry as a career.

Worship Renewal Grants Program
The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship wishes to foster well-grounded worship renewal in congregations throughout North America. Through its grant making, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship intends to stimulate thoughtful and energetic work that will result in worship services that exhibit renewed creativity, theological integrity, and relevance.