{"id":56776,"date":"2024-11-03T16:31:12","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T21:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/?p=56776"},"modified":"2025-10-08T14:08:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T18:08:18","slug":"bu-grant-from-lilly-en-familia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/bu-grant-from-lilly-en-familia\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston University receives $1.25 Million Grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to Launch “Nurturing Immigrant Children\u2019s Faith Experiences En Familia Program” Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boston University has been awarded a $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc<\/a>. to support the Nurturing Immigrant Children\u2019s Faith Experiences En Familia Program, a new program to foster the spiritual growth of children and teenagers, particularly those from immigrant backgrounds. The Program, which will be led by the Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH), is designed to involve and integrate children into worship and prayer services through multiple means of engagement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a great need for children and teenagers to not only participate in the life of the church, but also to sustain and innovate within their worship and prayer contexts. The En Familia Program recognizes that need and the grant from Lilly Endowment makes exploring best practices and methods for doing so possible. During the course of five years, methods and practices will be explored and documented to share as possible ministry for immigrant churches around the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The En Familia Program will also work to address the gaps between children and parents that exist generationally in engaging with their new contexts, as well as gaps both immigrant children and parents face linguistically, culturally, technologically, and economically. The Program will do this through a holistic and interdisciplinary lens, engaging multiple modes of formation and engagement. Those include visual and audible art, physical movement, and public speaking opportunities, all designed to draw children and teenagers into participation through intergenerational engagement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Associate Dean for Students and Community Life, Cristian De La Rosa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe are very thankful for the significant financial support Lilly Endowment provided to help us reach out and serve our immigrant communities,” says Associate Dean for Students and Community Life Cristian De La Rosa<\/a>, who will be leading the program at BUSTH. \u201cWe look forward to bridge-building between the academy, the churches, and these communities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a hunger and pressing need for this program within Greater Boston’s Latinx immigrant community,\u201d added Oscar Olmos, student facilitator for the En Familia program. \u201cLatino children represent a precious, growing population essential to the country\u2019s future. At BUSTH, we work passionately as hearts of love and hands of care for these beloved \u2018little ones.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Boston University 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCongregational 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,\u201d said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment\u2019s vice president for religion. \u201cThese 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.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lilly Endowment Inc<\/span><\/a>. 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\u2019 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\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boston University has been awarded a $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support the Nurturing Immigrant Children\u2019s Faith Experiences En Familia Program, a new program to foster the spiritual growth of children and teenagers, particularly those from immigrant backgrounds. The Program, which will be led by the Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12612,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[207,208,203],"tags":[395,279,194,401,303],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56776"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56776"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59290,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56776\/revisions\/59290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}