Fuller Seminary Receives $10 Million Grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. for Youth Project

Fuller Seminary is pleased to announce it has received a $10 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the TENx10 Faith and Service Project, which aims to create a fresh wave of activity around faith, service, and justice in Christian organizations that serve youth.

The program is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s National Youth and Young Adult Initiative on Faith and Service (Faith and Service Initiative), which is designed to nurture and deepen the faith of Christian young people through intentional service and reflection about the meaning of service in their lives. The seminary is one of 12 organizations receiving funding through the initiative, who together represent a broad spectrum of Christian traditions that includes Catholic, mainline and evangelical Protestant, Orthodox, and Pentecostal faith communities, as well as communities rooted in Black church and Hispanic traditions.

“Fuller is honored to be part of Lilly Endowment’s new Faith and Service Initiative through our TENx10 Collaboration,” said Kara Powell, executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute and Fuller’s chief of leadership formation. “Today’s young people are eager to make a difference, and we can’t wait to see how God works through TENx10 and our partners to see this creative and innovative generation impact our world.”

This grant will further the work of the TENx10 Collaboration, which seeks to make faith matter more to 10 million young people over the next 10 years. In keeping with TENx10’s vision and in partnership with its network of over 130 Christian denominations and organizations working with youth, the project also will focus on creating a more positive and compelling view of the church, especially among young people, and increasing the capacity and impact of TENx10’s diverse partners to focus more on catalytic activities around youth, faith, and service.

“The projects being funded through the Faith and Service Initiative hold the promise of helping young people grow spiritually by drawing on Christian traditions to reflect on the meaning of service,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “They also will strengthen their ties to faith communities and help those faith communities understand more fully the needs and perspectives of young people.”