Sustaining Pastoral Excellence

The Louisville Institute, a Lilly Endowment-funded program based at Louisville Seminary, has announced the availability of a new round of Sabbatical Grants for Pastoral Leaders.

These awards, either $10,000 or $15,000 for extended sabbatical periods, offer pastoral leaders “a chance to step out and step back from the pace and pressures of ministry.”

For more information about eligibility requirements and applications visit their web site:

http://www.louisville-institute.org/Grants/programs/sgpldetail.aspx

The Louisville Institute is a Lilly Endowment-funded program based at Louisville Seminary supporting those who lead and study American religious institutions. The fundamental mission of the Louisville Institute is to enrich the religious life of American Christians and to encourage the revitalization of their institutions, by bringing together those who lead religious institutions with those who study them, so that the work of each might inform and strengthen the other.

We are pleased to announce the beginnings of a network of resource persons within the Covenant to assist other pastors and laity in accessing the ministry of spiritual direction. This list, organized by Church Conferences, contains the names and email addresses of individuals who have volunteered their availability for this endeavor.

Follow this link to reach an in-progress bibliography of books and other resources for those interested in exploring Spiritual Direction.

Religion in the News

A new report on the U.S. religious landscape from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life made headlines across the country. Below are two links for a series of demographic studies.

http://www.divinity.duke.edu/programs/spe/articles/200803/5.html

The Pew Forum: http://religions.pewforum.org/

The Pew Forum has some very valuable studies. There are good demographic breakdowns on a variety of topics of interest to pastoral leaders.