NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community has received a grant of $10 million (USD) from Lilly Endowment Inc. to create two centres for Indigenous theological education at universities and seminaries in Canada and the United States.
NAIITS is collaborating with Tyndale Seminary at Tyndale University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, United States, to envision two shared endowed positions and corresponding theological centres for ministry preparation within Indigenous and diasporic Indigenous contexts. The Centre for Indigenous Faith and Leadership will be housed at Tyndale Seminary, and the Center for Indigenous Theology and Ministry will be housed in the Department of Theology and Philosophy at Barry University, accredited by The Association of Theological Schools.
Of the $10 million, $5 million will support the launch of the centres, while the remaining $5 million is contingent upon NAIITS raising matching funds for the endowed positions.
The centres are 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 NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community 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.
Anchored in Indigenous worldviews, these centres will offer contextual training, mentorship, professional development and culturally grounded theological resources tailored to community needs.
"We are thankful to Lilly Endowment for this immense opportunity to establish two endowed positions and centres that will continue NAIITS' vision by nurturing ministry practitioners grounded in Indigenous wisdom. Our hope is to see these two centres not only empower spiritual leaders, but also truly ignite a profound and lasting flourishing within our communities across North America," said Shari Russell, director of NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community.
Lilly Endowment launched the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative in 2021. Since then, it has provided grants totaling 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 endeavors.
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 States and around the globe traditions.
About NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community
NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community is the first Indigenous designed, developed, delivered and governed tertiary theological school accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of The Association of Theological Schools. Founded in 2000 as the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies, NAIITS offers the following degrees: Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies, Master of Arts in Theology: Indigenous Community Development, Master of Theological Studies and Doctor of Philosophy. NAIITS is leading efforts to bring Indigenous perspectives to theological education in Canada, the United States and beyond. To learn more, visit naiits.com.
For more information, contact Dianne Climenhage, director of operations for Indigenous Pathways, at dclimenhage@indigenouspathways.com or 1-506-377-7355.