Rural Center Receives $6.38 Million To Expand Faith Programs For Rural Churches

RALEIGH – The North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center has received a grant of $6.38 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Ministry in Rural Areas and Small Towns Initiative.

The aim of the initiative is to provide resources to help churches in rural areas and small towns enhance the vitality of their ministries and strengthen the leadership of the pastors and lay leaders who guide them.

This grant will support the Rural Center’s Faith in Rural Communities program in its work with congregations to strengthen community ministries and help entire communities thrive.

Since 2018, Faith in Rural Communities has guided 80 rural North Carolina churches to locate the powerful intersection between church assets and community opportunities. This grant will allow Faith in Rural Communities to serve 300 additional rural and small town churches using asset-based community development principles. The program will partner with denominations and regional faith leaders and use innovative technology to reach geographically isolated churches.

“We believe that rural churches and people are the experts in their community. This grant award supports rural and small town churches to use their expertise to tackle challenges facing their communities,” said Rev. Dr. Heather Kilbourne, director of Faith in Rural Communities. “The Lilly Endowment sees the potential and challenges facing rural and small town churches. This investment will be a tremendous boost to rural areas across the United States,” 

“For over six years, the evolving work of our Faith in Rural Communities program has been deeply blessed and richly rewarding in its impact on rural North Carolina churches,” said Patrick Woodie, president and CEO of the NC Rural Center. “The Lilly Endowment’s investment and partnership will empower us to expand the reach of the program in previously unimaginable ways in the years to come. We are deeply grateful for their support and partnership.”

The Rural Center is one of 20 organizations from across the United States receiving grants through the initiative, including colleges and universities, denominational agencies, church networks, and parachurch organizations, among others.

“Our hope is that these grants will provide much needed resources and support to rural and small-town churches to help them address their challenges and enhance and extend the many ways that they serve their communities,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based 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, Eli Lilly and Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. A primary aim of its grantmaking in religion is to deepen the religious lives of Christians, principally by supporting efforts that enhance congregational vitality and strengthen the leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment values the broad diversity of Christian traditions and endeavors to support them in a wide variety of contexts. The Endowment also seeks to foster public understanding about religion by encouraging fair, accurate and balanced portrayals of the positive and negative effects of religion on the world and lifting up the contributions that people of all faiths make to our greater civic well-being.