Perkins 'Testimony HQ' Initiative Announces Second Cohort
The Lilly Endowment-funded initiative at Perkins School of Theology, “Testimony HQ,” has selected eight congregations for the second cohort of developing thriving congregations through the practice of testimony as community engagement.
DALLAS (SMU) – The Lilly Endowment-funded initiative at Perkins School of Theology, “Testimony HQ,” has selected eight congregations for the second cohort of developing thriving congregations through the practice of testimony as community engagement.
The second cohort includes:
- Acts 2 United Methodist Church, Edmund, OK
- Brock United Methodist Church, Brock, TX
- Christ Episcopal Church, Dallas, TX
- Custer Road United Methodist Church, Plano, TX
- First United Methodist Church, Denton, TX
- First United Methodist Church, Terrell, TX
- Grace Avenue United Methodist Church, Frisco, TX
- Grace Presbyterian Church, Plano, TX
These eight congregations were selected from applications submitted from churches within a 350-mile radius of Dallas.
“We carefully studied every church’s application and were inspired by the stories of resilience and creativity in many ministry contexts,” said Rev. Dr. Edgar Bazan, Testimony HQ Advisory Board Member and Senior Pastor, New World United Methodist Church, in Garland, Texas.
The cohort congregations will each receive up to $5000 in grant funding to support their Testimony HQ work from January through December, 2023. The following year, in 2024, each of these churches will mentor a church selected to participate in the third cohort.
About the Testimony HQ Initiative
SMU is one of 92 organizations funded through Lilly Endowment’s Thriving Congregations Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to strengthen Christian congregations so they can help people deepen their relationships with God, build strong relationships with each other and contribute to the flourishing of local communities and the world. The grants will support organizations as they work directly with congregations and help them gain clarity about their values and missions; explore and understand better the communities in which they serve; and draw upon their theological traditions as they adapt ministries to meet changing needs.
Over the five-year course of the grant, the Testimony HQ program will help up to 30 congregations master how to utilize testimony as community engagement; lead each cohort congregation in four concentric circles of learning communities; develop a prescribed course of study for a Perkins Certificate of Practical Ministry in Evangelism; and establish the grant website (www.testimonyhq.com) as the vehicle for sharing resources, such as podcasts, webinars, downloadable resources and written materials.
The Rev. Dr. Priscilla Pope-Levison, Research Professor of Practical Theology, and Bart Patton, Director of the Office of External Programs, are the co-principal investigators on the grant. This is the second Lilly Endowment grant awarded to SMU to fund the work of Patton and Pope- Levison; the first was a $1 million grant awarded in 2018 to strengthen congregational ministries with youth.
###
Perkins School of Theology, founded in 1911, is one of five official University-related schools of theology of The United Methodist Church. Degree programs include the Master of Divinity, Master of Sacred Music, Master of Theological Studies, Master of Arts in Ministry, Master of Theology, Doctor of Ministry, and Doctor of Pastoral Music as well as the Ph.D., in cooperation with The Graduate Program in Religious Studies at SMU's Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.