NU Receives $427,000 Lilly Endowment Grant
Northwest University has received a grant of $427,345 from Lilly Endowment Inc. to establish the new Summer Journey program with the support of the soon-to-be-formed Center for Calling and Theological Formation. It is part of Lilly Endowment’s High School Youth Theology Institutes initiative, which seeks to encourage young people and help them mature in faith.
Following a planning year, the Summer Journey will launch in 2017 on the Northwest University campus. High school juniors and seniors will be invited to apply to the program beginning in fall 2016. While there, they will engage in theological reflection on how God’s story intersects their lives and their sense of God’s calling. This will take place through interactive and recreational activities, lectures/discussions, service projects in the Seattle area, and a focused wilderness experience in the Cascade Mountains. After the 10-day experience, students will return to their congregations and youth ministries with a new ability to articulate their sense of vocation.
Northwest University is well suited to provide top-notch faculty involvement from professors who are dedicated to making the Summer Journey one well worth taking. Once formed, the Center for Calling and Theological Formation and its related programs will be led by Dr. Joshua Ziefle, who states that he is “excited for the potential of the Summer Journey, both for its ability to enrich the faith of individual students and the way in which their deepened reflections and subsequent actions will impact their peers, churches, and communities.”
To find out more about Lilly Endowment Inc. and the projects it supports, click here