GRAND RAPIDS, MI – November 12, 2024 – Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODBM) announced today it has been awarded a $1.25M grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support its Nurturing Young Disciples Initiative — a program that will engage congregations and families through cross-generational worship and prayer practices. The project is being 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.
The Nurturing Young Disciples Initiative will develop and implement programs that provide faith-building experiences for children by providing resources that enrich Bible storytelling, worship, and prayer, integrating these resources into both liturgical practices and the daily rhythms of children and their families.
“ODBM’s history and dedication to Bible engagement provide our teams a unique opportunity to encourage faith formation in children and youth by connecting the areas of life that seem to have grown more distant: relationships between the generations and connections between home and church,” said Chriscynethia Floyd, vice president of publishing at Our Daily Bread Ministries. “Our prayer is that making these connections will increase the vibrancy of church and home life, as well as combat the decline in faith formation among young people.”
ODBM is one of 91 organizations that received grants through a competitive round of Lilly Endowment’s Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. Reflecting a wide variety of Christian traditions, the organizations represent Catholic, mainline and evangelical Protestant, Orthodox, Anabaptist, and Pentecostal faith communities.
“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, 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.
Our Daily Bread Ministries is a donor-supported, global Bible engagement ministry with a staff of 700 serving in 32 offices to distribute more than 60 million resources in 58 languages throughout 150 countries. Often known for its global devotional, the ministry produces short form Bible content across print, video, audio, and digital platforms to help people connect with God every day in every way. For more than 86 years, the ministry’s mission has remained the same: to make the life-changing wisdom of the Bible understandable and accessible to all.
