Sept. 22, 2022

Sioux Falls-based Kairos University has received a $5 million grant to expand its innovative approach to theological education.

The grant is from Lilly Endowment Inc., a private philanthropic 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.

It’s part of the organization’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, which is designed to help theological schools across the United States and Canada as they prioritize and respond to the most pressing challenges they face as they prepare pastoral leaders for Christian congregations now and into the future.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to steward the resources provided by this grant. In collaboration with our growing list of partner organizations, we are catalyzing a movement in theological education that empowers distributed and differentiated learning for the purpose of developing pastoral leaders who flourish in their vocations for the sake of others,” Greg Henson, CEO of Kairos University, said in a statement.

Although the school’s history dates back to 1858, Kairos University operates like a “164-year-old startup company.” In 2013, all of its students lived within driving distance of its campus in Sioux Falls, then Sioux Falls Seminary. Like many theological schools, its conventional approach to education meant that students completed programs by participating in traditional courses either online or on campus and often incurred crushing levels of educational debt along the way.

The university was the primary source and context of learning for students. The structure meant that even students who could afford a degree program or were willing to borrow often couldn’t enroll because the weekly, time-based structure of the courses made them inaccessible.

In response, the Kairos Project was launched in 2014 “with the mission of stewarding followers of Jesus who flourish in their vocations for the sake of the world,” the university said. What began as an experiment with 15 students now includes a community of more than 1,000 students, 1,500 mentors and dozens of partner organizations. Student borrowing collectively has dropped from nearly $1 million annually to under $50,000, and graduates are initiating contextually appropriate ministries in their local communities.

Kairos University is one of 16 theological schools that has received grants to fund large-scale, highly collaborative programs through the Pathways initiative.