Date: August 8, 2025
In 2021, VTS received a $1M grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., to study models of mutual ministry currently operating across the wider Church and to
discern how our Seminary curriculum might best prepare seminarians for these contemporary realities in the Episcopal Church. VTS is uniquely positioned to engage on-the-ground research as we are well-connected with our robust alumni network that is seeking, finding, and sharing the Holy Spirit in widely varying ministries across the country and across the world. We are blessed with the unfolding treasure of research findings from 6 other Lilly grants that have been awarded to VTS in recent years to study everything from baptism to preaching to children’s spiritual growth and intergenerational worship. Over the last decade, our Lifelong Learning Department, under the direction of Lisa Kimball, Ph.D., with a tireless staff and the strong support of the Seminary Administration and Board, has become a contagious center of joyful, Gospel-driven research and development. The Mutual Ministry Initiative (MMi) is actively contributing to this holy think tank!
Mutual Ministry describes faith communities where lay and ordained people of all ages function in cooperation, allowing the discernment of gifts given by God to the universal priesthood of all believers to guide the alignment of people with ministries and responsibilities. A phrase that our grant team crafted and will share with the larger church to describe healthy church leadership is “lay-led, clergy supported communities.” The Sacramental roles and responsibilities for clergy are clear by Canons and by customs in parish life. But the great, often un-tapped resources of faith community life are the gifts and the vocations of lay leaders of all ages in the church. Our Mutual Ministry Initiative is amplifying the work of all the baptized with lessons learned from thriving faith communities that live by this ethos. Our research has already shown that when ministry is radically mutual, there is less leader burnout, less lay disempowerment leading to apathy, greater stability and resilience to handle cultural changes and leadership transitions, and there is more engagement with gifts from people historically on the margins. The grant goals include curriculum impact so that courses and co-curricular opportunities at VTS prepare seminarians for models of leadership and discipleship formation that take baptism seriously as the Church joins in God’s extraordinary mission.
The Rev. Tricia Lyons, D.Min.
Lead Consultant, Mutual Ministry Initiative