Lilly Endowment Grant Helps Fund

October 2, 1998

CENTER FOR FAMILY AND COMMUNITY MINISTRIES
A $450,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. will help establish a Center for Family and Community Ministries at Baylor University. Dr. Diana Garland, professor of social work, has been named director of the center.
Sponsored jointly by Baylor's George W. Truett Seminary and the social work program in the department of sociology, in partnership with Louisville Presbyterian Seminary's Center for Congregations and Family Ministries, the center will provide services, research, model development, and continuing education opportunities for church leaders and church agencies involved in family and community ministries. It also will serve as the editorial office for the journal Family Ministry.
"People perceive that families have lost the sense of community they need," said Garland. "The mission of the Baylor center will be to strengthen families and their communities and to increase their capacity for nurturing faith, through the ministry of congregations."
Garland said that churches and church agencies need resources, continuing education opportunities and access to research that will give them the knowledge and skills for effective family ministries. "Academic institutions whose mission is to support education and research in a Christian context and to provide support for the ministry of congregations need to step forward to address this need themselves and to partner with denominational agencies," she said.
The Endowment is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation, created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family--J. K. Lilly Sr. and sons J. K. Jr. and Eli--through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company.
In keeping with the wishes of its three founders, the Endowment helps support the causes of religion, education, and community development. It ranks as the nation's wealthiest foundation with $12.7 billion in assets and is expected to give away more than $400 million this year.