The New and Renewing Team of the Grand Canyon Synod is excited to announce the Lilly 3E Vital Right-Shaped Ministry (VRSM) Vitality and Innovation Grants. Click to download the application as a Word document.

We hope that you and your community will be innovative and think outside the box. Applications are due by April 20, 2021. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Pr. Miguel Gomez-Acosta at miguel.gomez-acosta@elca.org.

Two Zoom information sessions will be offered about the grants, click a date to register: Thurs., 3/25/2021 @ 6 pm MST/PDT and Thurs., 4/8/2021 @ 1:30pm MST/PDT. Once registered, you will receive an email with your unique link to join the meeting.

VRSM is the third pillar of the Lilly 3E grant that the Grand Canyon Synod received in 2020, in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Synod.

We are currently in the second of a 3-year grant. Last year we rolled out the first two pillars of the grant, Ministerial Excellence Fund and Stewardship for All Seasons. The Lilly 3E grant was made possible because of Lilly Endowment’s National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders (learn more about this initiative by visiting www.ecfpl.org).

These VRSM Vitality and Innovations Grants are intended to help congregations become vital and healthy by defining their values, strengthening their mission, noticing their context, and evaluating their ministry. Vital and healthy congregations are better equipped to support their pastoral leaders and therefore help tackle the economic challenges facing pastoral leaders.