HILLSBORO, Kan. – Tabor College has received a $600,000 grant to establish Faith Front, which is part of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s High School Youth Theology Institutes initiative. The HSYTI seeks to encourage young people to explore theological traditions, ask questions about the moral dimensions of contemporary issues and examine how their faith calls them to lives of service.
Faith Front is designed to equip Mennonite Brethren and other Christian youth, ages 14-19, develop theological competencies essential for ministry leadership with special emphasis on pastoral ministry and other church vocations.
The heart of the program is a summer mobile “intensive” retreat designed as a lab to help participants engage their culture by interacting with a variety of global issues that call for Christian action.
Faith Front will also include: workshops that encourage local churches to cultivate a culture of calling; on-campus retreat weekends that help high school students explore what it means to think theologically; a ministry innovation program that offers Faith Front graduates the opportunity to strengthen their leadership competencies and ministry tools; and establishment of a ministry leadership center that can catalyze and centralize denominational leadership development efforts.
Tabor College Professor of Youth, Church and Culture Wendell Loewen will direct the program with the help of Tabor’s religion professors and a variety of denominational leaders.
Students will be able to apply for Faith Front in July of 2016 with the first weekend event slated for later in the fall.
“Our aim is to inspire participants to learn and utilize a model of innovative theological reflection and engagement with culture,” Loewen said. “Our ultimate goal is to identify, equip and empower a growing community of called, skilled and equipped leaders for the church.”
Tabor College President Jules Glanzer is excited to see the impact this program will have on future Tabor students.
“Faith Front is a wonderful way to serve the youth in our constituency and our churches,” Glanzer said. “With all the challenges our society presents—for those who are followers of Christ—Faith Front will help train and equip the next generation of leaders to make a difference in the world, making it more as God intended it.”
In July 2016, Ministry Quest (MQ), Tabor’s current leadership program for high school youth, will become Faith Front. During the past four years, Tabor has operated MQ, which the college acquired from Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in 2011. Tabor’s vision to adopt MQ, and commitment to continue the program, clearly demonstrated the college’s passion for youth leadership development. Loewen believes that utilizing Lilly Endowment funds with a new youth theology institute project will greatly enhance our vision for youth leadership development. That being said, the core values and best practices of MQ will remain in the new program and the best of MQ will be incorporated into Faith Front.
Tabor College is one of 82 schools participating in the initiative. The schools are located in 29 states and the District of Columbia. Although some schools are independent, many reflect the religious heritage of their founding traditions. These traditions include Baptist, Brethren, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Presbyterian and Reformed churches, Roman Catholic, non-denominational, Pentecostal and historic African-American Christian communities.
“These colleges and universities are well-positioned to reach out to high school students in this way,” said Christopher L. Coble, vice president for religion at Lilly Endowment. “They have outstanding faculty in theology and religion who know how to help young people explore the wisdom of religious traditions and apply these insights to contemporary challenges.”
The Lilly Endowment is giving $44.5 million in grants to help a select group of private, four-year colleges and universities around the nation to create the institutes. The grants are part of the Endowment’s commitment to identify and cultivate a cadre of theologically minded youth who will become leaders in church and society.
An additional grant to the Forum for Theological Exploration will establish a program that will bring together leaders of high school youth theology institutes to foster mutual learning and support.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family—J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons J.K. Jr., and Eli—through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly & Company. The Endowment exists to support the causes of religion, education and community development. Lilly Endowment’s religion grant-making is designed to deepen and enrich the religious lives of American Christians. It does this largely through initiatives to enhance and sustain the quality of ministry in American congregations and parishes.