RCA Receives $1.25 Million Grant to Focus on Children in Worship

The Reformed Church in America (RCA) has received a $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support RCA congregations in their efforts to enfold children in worship to help instill lifelong faith.

The new “Worship Matters” grant project for the RCA is funded through Lilly Endowment’s Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative, a national initiative designed to help Christian congregations more fully and intentionally engage children in intergenerational corporate worship and prayer practices. 

“We in the Reformed Church in America believe that the discipleship process begins with baptism at an early age,” says Rev. Eddy Alemán, the RCA’s general secretary. “Historically, the RCA has always fully incorporated children into the total ministry of the church. This grant from Lilly Endowment will help us strengthen our work with RCA churches in this important area of children discipleship. I’m excited for this new opportunity to invest with focused intentionality into the spiritual life of children.”

At its core, “Worship Matters” will promote and establish intergenerational worship in congregations. The grant funding will span five years and focus on four key objectives: listening to congregations, parents, and ministry leaders; developing partnerships and resources to support expressed needs; developing support networks for leaders who are working with children and youth in congregations; and inviting congregations to develop innovative practices as they work to include all generations in worship.

“This grant will empower our congregations to include all generations of God’s community in worship,” says Rev. Annalise Radcliffe, the RCA’s director of future church innovation, who will serve as the program director for this grant. “We will begin by listening to the needs of children, congregations, parents, and leaders to determine what the primary needs are for incorporating all generations into the worshiping life of the community. Through collaboration and partnership, we hope to create supporting resources to aid in this work.

“We will also establish granting opportunities for congregations seeking to innovate around intergenerational worship,” she adds. “We are sincerely grateful to Lilly Endowment for their support around this exciting and faithful ministry effort! Glory be to God!”

The RCA is one of 91 organizations funded through the latest round of the initiative. They represent and serve congregations in a broad spectrum of Christian traditions, including Catholic, mainline Protestant, evangelical, Orthodox, Anabaptist, and Pentecostal faith communities. Several organizations are rooted in Black Church and Hispanic and Asian American Christian traditions.

“Congregational worship and prayer play a critical role in the spiritual growth of children and offer settings for children to acquire the language of faith, learn their faith traditions, and experience the love of God as part of a supportive community,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “These programs will help congregations give greater attention to children and how they can more intentionally nurture the faith of children, as well as adults, through worship and prayer.”

Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education, and religion. The principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities.

This grant is the latest that Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded the RCA. Other current grant-funded initiatives include Renovations (rekindling treasured church traditions), Leadership Jumpstart (training and developing new church leaders), and Generation Spark (building intergenerational relationships through mentoring).

Additionally, over the last eight years, the RCA Board of Benefits Services (BOBS) has stewarded Lilly Endowment Inc. funds through Lilly’s National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders (ECFPL). These funds helped BOBS launch the Ministerial Excellence Fund and Clergy Revitalization Grants, both aimed to support the financial, emotional, and overall well-being of RCA clergy. The grants through BOBS have always been matched by a combination of BOBS, regional synods, classes, churches, and individual pastors. The last of these grant funds will be spent by the end of the 2025 calendar year; BOBS has a sustainability plan for many of the grant initiatives born from the ECFPL going forward.