La Sierra University has received a US$1 million Individual School Grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, funding a new multi-year project at the H.M.S. Richards Divinity School. The grant will support the launch of The Center for Vocational Discernment and Formation (CVDF) during the current school year, with programming planned for 2025–2030, according to the university.

Implementation will be aided through partnerships with ministerial organizations around the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The initiative is intended to reinforce the divinity school’s capacity to uphold its core mission: preparing Christian leaders for effective ministries in the church, academy, and world.

“This grant is important because it recognizes the reality that the future of seminary education relies on the future of congregational life,” said H.M.S. Richards Divinity School Dean Friedbert Ninow. “Through the generosity of the Lilly Endowment’s latest round of its Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative the H.M.S. Richards Divinity School will be able to tie seminary and congregation together in a process that will help students as well as congregants to discern their calling.”

The divinity school initially received a US$50,000 non-competitive Individual School Grant in a first phase of the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative toward preparing a proposal for the second phase, $1 million award. The second phase grant opportunity was opened to eligible theological schools in the United States and Canada accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS).

The divinity school’s dean, Ninow, and La Sierra University President Christon Arthur signed a grant request letter in May.

Addressing a crisis in ministry

According to the divinity school’s proposal, the center responds to challenges identified through focus groups and conversations with clergy and denominational leaders in the western United States.

Organizers said those discussions indicated that some ministers feel uncertainty about purpose and calling, contributing to burnout and, in some cases, leaving ministry. The divinity school identified spiritual formation as a key area for growth, emphasizing formation alongside academic training.

University leaders said the CVDF will work toward three primary goals: supporting discernment of lay and ordained ministry within congregations; strengthening spiritual formation for divinity students; and partnering with congregations for lay ministry training and long-term ministry collaboration.

Program scope and collaboration

The CVDF will operate as a hub for recruitment, ministerial preparation, and support for alumni. The discernment-formation program will be a co-curricular requirement for all divinity school students in professional programs, integrating seamlessly with their theological education.

Key activities administered by the center will include organizing an annual Vocational Festival for the larger community, including an annual Discernment Day for university students, establishing discernment ministry teams for congregations, offering spiritual direction for ministerial students, and providing counseling services to students. Festival and Discernment Day activities will include keynote speakers, breakout sessions, worship, and opportunities to speak and fellowship with divinity school faculty as well as students, pastors, chaplains, religious educators, and alumni.

Current divinity school students will begin the process of discernment and formation within congregations where they worship, as part of their educational degree requirements. The center will form, in each partnering congregation, discernment ministry teams to accompany students engaged in the discernment process. Curricular revisions have also begun in a curated list of classes.

The program will be overseen by a director and an administrative assistant, who will work alongside the divinity school faculty.

The H.M.S. Richards Divinity School, which is the premier ministry training school for Seventh-day Adventist churches in the western United States, intends for the CVDF to serve the expansive Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. This region includes the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah, encompassing 729 congregations and 721 official Adventist ministers, as well as numerous non-denominational congregations in the Southern California Inland Empire.

La Sierra University’s Divinity School is collaborating closely with several ministry organizations, including the Ministerial Department of the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Adventist Health, The Pacific Union Conference Growing Young Leaders Initiative, and the Nevada Utah Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Further support and commitment to partnership have been expressed by the Southern California Conference, Hawaii Conference, Central California Conference, Nevada-Utah Conference, and Southeastern California Conference. These partners highlight the critical need for the center, noting that traditional Adventist Christianity lacks a formalized discernment process for those called to ministry.

“The opportunity to collaborate in helping the next generation discern their call to ministry and develop the skills to thrive in that calling is both timely and essential,” said Will Penick, ministerial director of the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and an alumnus of La Sierra’s divinity school. “Through the Growing Young Leaders program and scholarship, SECC remains committed to supporting students on this journey, and we’re excited to see La Sierra University’s grant further strengthen resources for this vital work of vocational formation.”

Alumnus Aren Rennacker last fall took the reins of the new Growing Young Leaders initiative at the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, under which the SECC and six other conferences operate.

He noted, “I am thrilled to hear about this generous grant for La Sierra University. Developing the next generation of leaders in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church is a paramount venture that La Sierra has long been undertaking — now, they can do so in even greater ways,” Rennacker said. “As someone who works directly with students at the H.M.S. Richards Divinity School, and a graduate myself, I am excited for how these additional resources will further enhance the school’s mission of preparing and equipping pastors and leaders of all levels.”

Arthur, La Sierra’s president, noted the importance of the grant’s programs in helping students discern their spiritual calling. Discernment is a continual process, and the discernment of a calling must take place before a career path is chosen, “because by that time you’re so far down the runway that it’s hard to re-direct,” he said.

Bradford C. Newton, president of the Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, discussed the grant’s alignment with the Pacific Union’s goal of fostering young leaders by helping them discern their vocational calling in Christ.

“Our objective for the union is, we want people to have a sense of their own calling as disciples of Christ [in] whatever they’re going to be doing,” he said. “And that may be pastoral work or being a teacher for the church. But it could also be any kind of activity that you do, having a sense that God’s calling you towards a life work that’s meaningful.”

The original article was published on the La Sierra University news site.