News & Ideas

Monday's News & Ideas - 1/7/2019

  • Redesigning sacred spaces
  • Getting simple right
  • Faith on the Hill
  • Evangelicals & Trump
  • Faith & money in politics
  • Kids tell terrible jokes

Redesigning sacred spaces to serve their communities -- and save their congregations
Religion News Service: Philadelphia organization shows what three houses of worship could do if they were redesigned to realize their potential for both congregational and community programming.

Getting simple right
Cardus: The art of organizational vitality.

Faith on the Hill
Pew Forum: The religious composition of the 116th Congress.

Evangelicals have hired their own Goliath
The Washington Post: By all indications, the reluctant support by white evangelical Christians for Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton in 2016 has solidified into something like devotion, says Michael Gerson.

Evangelical mega-donors are rethinking money in politics
The Atlantic: In recent years, Christianity has become publicly associated with conservative political causes. Some wealthy Christians are pushing back.

The Spark

Knock knock. Who's there? Kids. Kids who? Kids tell terrible jokes.
Orange you glad someone wrote an article about this? The Atlantic explains why kids make these weird, often wildly unfunny jokes.

Want to get News & Ideas in your inbox every weekday?
Subscribe to our News & Ideas newsletter or receive our RSS feed in your RSS reader.


Sign up to receive religion news every weekday in the free News & Ideas newsletter

Signup options

Most recent News & Ideas

Friday’s News & Ideas - 2/6/2026

  • National Prayer Breakfasts
  • Progressive Christian campus groups
  • How polarization affects churches
  • Theology of immigration
  • Legacy of St Francis
  • Mass market paperbacks

Thursday’s News & Ideas - 2/5/2026

  • Different types of protests
  • Muslims renewing NY
  • Canada’s new archbishop
  • Reprieve for OH’s Haitians
  • Rafah crossing opens
  • Murder of The Washington Post

Wednesday’s News & Ideas - 2/4/2026

  • Clergy’s protest music
  • Polarization killed mainline
  • Syrian Jews reclaim homes
  • Charlotte Communion dispute
  • Muslim-owned thrift shop
  • Children with schizophrenia
View all News & Ideas
Lilly logo

Lilly Endowment Inc. announces Exploring Christian Practices Initiative

The Exploring Christian Practices Initiative aims to multiply opportunities and increase access to settings that help individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds explore and engage in Christian practices to address their spiritual interests and questions, find and build community with others, nourish their religious lives and grow in faith. 

In this open and competitive initiative, the Endowment invites charitable organizations to submit proposals for grants of up to $2.5 million each that may be used for up to a five-year period to develop new and/or enhance existing programs that present promising strategies for advancing the aim of the initiative and provide compelling and thoughtful responses to its guiding questions. The Endowment anticipates awarding approximately 60 grants and announcing grant awards in December 2026.

The Endowment will host four virtual information sessions (February 17, 19, 24, and 25) to discuss the Exploring Christian Practices guidelines for submitting a proposal. An Interest Form and Letter of Interest are due March 25, 2026. Complete proposals are due May 18, 2026.

Learn More and register for information sessions