Two Oklahoma UMCs awarded grants for Testimony HQ initiative
DALLAS (SMU) – The Lilly Endowment-funded initiative at Perkins School of Theology, “Testimony HQ,” has selected 11 congregations for the third and final cohort of developing thriving congregations through the practice of testimony as community engagement.
The cohort includes:
- Ceili Community United Methodist Church, Oklahoma City, Okla.
- First Christian Church, Aransas Pass, Texas
- The Way, The Truth, and The Life Christian Church, Dallas
- First Rowlett United Methodist Church, Rowlett, Texas
- First United Methodist Church, Lubbock, Texas
- First United Methodist Church, Searcy, Ark.
- Iglesia Cristiana Bethel, Garland, Texas
- Market Street United Methodist Church, Eustace, Texas
- New Light United Methodist Church, Lawton, Okla.
- St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Houston
- The Springs Church of Christ, Edmond, Okla.
These 11 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 $5,000 in grant funding to support their Testimony HQ work from January through December 2024.
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 27 congregations master how to utilize testimony as community engagement; lead each cohort congregation in four concentric circles of learning communities; and establish the grant website (testimonyhq.com) as the vehicle for sharing resources, such as podcasts, webinars, downloadable resources and written materials.
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.