“When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country” (Luke 8:34).
As first shared at our recent Synod Assembly, our Central/Southern Illinois Synod received the very exciting news on June 1 that we have been selected as the recipient of a $491,000 grant from Wartburg Theological Seminary as part of their inaugural CaSTLE Project grants to support small town and rural communities of disciples.
Thanks to a most generous grant of $7.4 million from the Lilly Endowment Inc. as part of its Thriving Congregations Initiative, Warburg’s CaSTLE Project is a five-year initiative designed to renew and strengthen life in small town and rural communities through a renewed focus on baptismal identity and ministry.
Our Central/Southern Illinois Synod is one of 18 synods across the ELCA receiving CaSTLE Project grants and one of only four synods receiving the largest Grants for Transformation of up to $500,000 each. Other Grants for Transformation recipients include the Nebraska Synod, the Northeastern Ohio Synod, and the Northwestern Minnesota Synod. Together with these other synods, we will part of a learning community that includes ongoing coaching, collaborative research, and participation in an annual conference at Wartburg in Dubuque, Iowa, beginning this coming August.
These Grants for Transformation are to be used specifically to call an additional full-time synod staff member for five years. The primary responsibility of this new Assistant to the Bishop for Transformational Communities will be to build capacity for long-term vitality in communities of disciples located in small towns and rural communities across our synod. The Synod Council has already begun the search and hopes to extend a call sometime this fall.
Special thanks to Pastor Amy Ziettlow, Assistant to the Bishop for Transformational Leadership, for her work in stewarding the grant writing process and to the six Conference Deans, the Synod Executive Committee, and the Synod Council for their prayerful input, participation, and review.
As we continue to live into the new mission statement of our synod — Nurturing communities of disciples, equipped for Christ’s mission — we give thanks for this Spirit-led opportunity to move us forward in mission and ministry together.