Press Release August 2023

Contact: Rev. Anna Taylor Sweringen, 718-483-2526 anna.taylor1@gmail.com

The First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, NY has received a grant of 1.25 million dollars from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish Queens Congregational Cohort for Christian Parenting.

The project is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to help parents and caregivers share their faith and values with their children.

The churches participating in Queens Congregational Cohort for Christian Parenting will reengage old parenting practices while creating new ones in a distinctively black context. The goal of the program is to enable parents to become the primary source of their children’s faith. Program partners include the Parish Resource Center of Long Island West Inc., Ministry Architects and a network of congregations in Southeast Queens.

Collaboration is key to renewing and strengthening a community,” said Reverend Patrick O’Connor, lead pastor of First Presbyterian Church. “With support from Lilly Endowment Inc. we will explore creating and providing resources to support a diverse group of Black Christian parents as they seek to develop practices in a post COVID-19 era. Each congregation will develop programming unique to its context, yet what they learn and develop will offer possibilities for strengthening the work of African American Christian parenting all across the nation.”

First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica is one of 77 organizations that are receiving grants through this competitive round of the Christian Parenting initiative. Reflecting the diversity of Christianity in the United States, the organizations are affiliated with mainline Protestant, evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox Christian and Pentecostal faith communities. Many of the organizations are rooted in Black church, Hispanic and Asian Christian traditions.

“We’ve heard from many parents who are seeking to nurture the spiritual lives of their children, especially in their daily activities, and looking to churches and other faith-based organizations for support,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “These thoughtful, creative and collaborative organizations embrace the important role that families have in shaping the religious development of children and are launching programs to assist parents and caregivers with this task.”

Lilly Endowment launched the Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative in 2022 because of its interest in supporting efforts to help individuals and families from diverse Christian communities draw more fully on the wisdom of Christian practices to live out their faith fully and well, passing on a vibrant faith to a new generation.

About Lilly Endowment Inc.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. A principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate portrayals of the role religion plays in the United States and across the globe.