Evangel awarded $7.5M grant

Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation Lilly Endowment Inc. has made its fifth grant award to Evangel University since 2022.

The latest grant, valued at $7.5 million, is earmarked for Evangel's Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, according to a news release. With the latest funding, Lilly Endowment has issued nearly $15 million in grants to the school in recent years.

“Our hope is that these grants will provide much needed resources and support to rural and small-town churches to help them address their challenges and enhance and extend the many ways that they serve their communities,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion, in the release.

Evangel's grant through Lilly Endowment's Ministry in Rural Areas and Small Towns Initiative allows its embedded seminary, AGTS, to develop educational resources, internships and a resource hub with existing partners to support the needs of rural pastors and congregations. The resource hub is envisioned as a network of local and national representatives who would work directly with rural churches to deliver region-specific programming.

“We are profoundly grateful to Lilly Endowment for its visionary initiative and extraordinary generosity,” Evangel President Mike Rakes said in the release. “This grant empowers EU and AGTS, along with key partners, to take bold, strategic action in equipping churches in rural America to become cornerstones of hope and renewal for their communities.”

The partners include Assemblies of God USA, Rural Compassion, Trinity Bible College and Graduate School and 13 networks/districts under the Assemblies of God.