NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Rio Texas Receives $1.25 Million from Lilly Endowment Inc. for
Nurturing Children Through Prayer and Worship Initiative

The Rio Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church has received a $1,250,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish Making Meaning Together, an initiative to nurture children in worship and prayer in partnership and collaboration with the Michigan Conference of The United Methodist Church.

The program 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.

Through this initiative, Rio Texas and Michigan Conferences will partner with their churches and leaders to foster inclusive worship and prayer practices within intergenerational communities. Rev. Dr. Tanya Campen and Rev. Kathy Pittenger will lead this initiative. We are eager to see children participating in worship more fully alongside adults as we all worship and pray together. This initiative will provide tools, strategies, and seed money for designing and implementing worship with a high view of children. The objectives of this initiative are to listen to children, develop leaders through intentional training and cohorts, and design intergenerational worship and prayer experiences that honor children and invite them to participate fully.

We are excited about the collaboration between the Rio Texas and Michigan Conferences of The United Methodist Church in implementing this initiative. We are eager to see its impact on working towards a culture shift in corporate worship that values inclusivity and participation of all individuals, where children feel welcome, respected, and encouraged to engage in worship to deepen their connection to God and their faith community.

The Rio Texas Conference 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.”

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About Lilly Endowment Inc.

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, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the 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 hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. 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. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate portrayals of the role religion plays in the United States and across the globe.

About Rio Texas Conference:

The Mission of United Methodists of The Rio Texas Conference is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation about the world. We seek to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to reach out, in the name of God, to the people of Texas and beyond. Some of our churches are in some of the fastest-growing areas of the country, others are in areas where people struggle with poverty, lack of affordable housing, and a loss of hope. We are committed to providing vital missions, vital congregations, and strong leaders to connect our churches to all people.

The Rio Texas Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church is made up of 215+ worshipping communities in South, Central, and West Texas. The conference is divided into seven districts: Las Misiones, with its office in San Antonio; Hill Country, located in Kerrville; Capital, in Austin; West, in San Angelo; Coastal Bend, in Corpus Christi; El Valle in Harlingen; and Crossroads in Victoria. There are roughly 600 clergy under appointment by the bishop.

The Rio Texas Annual Conference is a part of the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church. The United Methodist Church has approximately 24,000 congregations in the US and abroad. For more information on the history and governance of the denomination, visit umc.org.

Representatives from each church in The Rio Texas Annual Conference meet annually usually in Corpus Christi to conduct the business of the conference, celebrate the ministry of the church and commission and ordain clergy.

PRESS CONTACT:
Rev. Dr. Tanya Marie Eustace Campen, PhD.
Intergenerational Discipleship
Rio Texas Annual Conference
United Methodist Church
210-408-4500
tcampen@riotexas.org

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