Center for Clergy Renewal Receives Grant from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity

Submitted by Nancy Enderle, director of the Center for Clergy Renewal and Kathleen Owens, manager of clergy programming and communications

We are excited to announce that the Center for Clergy Renewal was selected by Leadership Education at Duke Divinity as a 2023 Collaborative Discernment for Project Sustainability grant recipient. Holy Wisdom Monastery will receive $15,000 to support discernment work around the sustainability of the Center for Clergy Renewal. The Center for Clergy Renewal was founded in 2018, when Holy Wisdom Monastery received a grant from the Lilly Endowment as part of the Thriving in Ministry initiative. The initial Lilly Endowment grant is ending in 2024. We were invited last summer to apply for a matching grant for Sustainability by the Lilly Endowment. The Sustainability Grant is due in March 2024. For the Lilly Endowment Sustainability Grant, we will need to show that we have a five to seven-year plan to continue to operate the Center for Clergy Renewal. This additional grant from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity is intended to support collaborative discernment and reflection on our vision for the next chapter of ministry in the Center for Clergy Renewal.

Rev. Winton Boyd is serving as a consultant for this work. We are holding reflection circles with Coworkers, members of Contemplative Renewal Immersion Cohorts, and others on December 13 & 14. A team of 12 people, including current and past CCR staff, Coworkers, Board Members, participants in CCR Immersions, Sunday Assembly members, and Sister Lynne will gather January 7-9, 2024, to engage in deeper discernment work. As part of our January gathering, we will also gather several outside voices and perspectives to inform our discernment.

We are continuing to raise funds toward our Sustainability Grant. The Lilly Endowment will match up to $500,000 that we have raised or pledged by March 2024. We are incredibly thankful for all the Holy Wisdom members and friends that have already pledged support for our ongoing work. We are also grateful for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity for their support of the important collaborative discernment work that is also necessary as we look forward to the next chapter of ministry in the Center for Clergy Renewal at Holy Wisdom Monastery.

If you would like to know more about this grant, or the collaborative discernment work we will be doing, please reach out to Rev. Kathleen Owens at kowens@holywisdommonastery.org.

To support the Sustainability Campaign for the Center for Clergy Renewal (all funds received or pledged by March 1, 2024, will be matched by the Lilly Endowment), please go to our website support page.

To send a card to a Pastor you would like to honor this Christmas season, and support CCR in the process (these funds will also be matched), you can find the form here.

For more information on Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, go to their website.