Phoenix, AZ (December 10, 2025) – Grand Canyon University has received a grant of $9.9 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to establish the Flourishing Pastor Network (FPN), a transformative initiative led by Grand Canyon Theological Seminary to advance the formation of future pastors through church-embedded residency programs.
The Flourishing Pastor Network is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, which supports theological schools across the United States and Canada as they confront the most pressing challenges in preparing pastoral leaders for Christian congregations both now and into the future. GCU’s grant is one of 45 that were approved in this competitive round of funding to support theological schools as they lead large-scale collaborations among seminaries, universities and church-related organizations.
Through FNP, GCU will significantly expand the capacity of churches and partner organizations to host high-impact pastoral residencies. Seminary-trained individuals will apply what they have learned in immersive environments under the guidance of experienced ministry leaders. The result is a deeply formative process — cultivating spiritual maturity, pastoral wisdom, leadership competence and Christlike character.
During the five-year grant term, GCU will facilitate the first phase of a collaborative network that includes five theological schools and one parachurch organization:
- Grand Canyon Theological Seminary
- Northwest Nazarene Divinity School
- Palm Beach Atlantic University
- Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
- Trinity Anglican Seminary
- Made to Flourish
During the grant term, the network plans to invite additional seminaries to join as secondary collaborating partners.
“We strive to prepare students who have answered God’s call on their lives,” said GCU President Brian Mueller. “Thanks to the Lilly Endowment’s generous support, we can strengthen our shared mission of equipping the next generation of godly leaders for a lifetime of faithful ministry.”
Dr. Jason Hiles, Dean of GCU’s College of Theology, said the large-scale collaboration is a tremendous blessing. “This will strengthen practical ministry training, foster habits of lifelong learning and more fully integrate churches into the formative process — ensuring that graduates are shaped, supported and deployed in partnership with leading seminaries across the country.”
Lilly Endowment launched the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative in 2021. Since then, it has provided grants totaling more than $700 million to support 163 theological schools in efforts to strengthen their educational and financial capacities and to assist 61 schools in developing large-scale collaborative endeavors such as the Flourishing Pastor Network.
