Jon Beight, executive director of Crossroads Fellowship
Crossroads Fellowship has received a $600,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to strengthen its organizational capacity to support Christian churches, pastors, and ministry leaders across Indiana.
This grant will support a multiyear capacity-building effort focused on leadership development, pastoral care, church health, and strategic ministry support. The initiative will feature collaboration with local churches throughout Indiana, regional ministry partners, and national church-support organizations engaged in leadership training, church revitalization, and church planting.
The central focus of the grant-funded effort is to enhance Crossroads Fellowship’s ability to serve churches more effectively by expanding ministry infrastructure, strengthening leadership pipelines, improving pastoral support systems, and developing sustainable resources that help congregations adapt and thrive in changing ministry contexts. The work will be carried out in partnership with the Fellowship’s network of 93 churches across 30 Indiana counties.
“The support from Lilly Endowment Inc. comes at a pivotal time for churches across our state,” said Jon Beight, executive director of Crossroads Fellowship. “This grant allows us to invest in the people, systems, and relationships that help churches remain healthy, mission-focused, and deeply rooted in their local communities. We are grateful for this opportunity to serve Indiana churches with a renewed commitment to saturate Indiana with the gospel by reaching all 92 counties in our state.”
The capacity-building effort is funded through Lilly Endowment’s Supporting Hoosier Churches Initiative, which seeks to strengthen the capacity of regional denominational organizations and church networks in Indiana to help their congregations thrive and contribute to the quality of life in the communities they serve. The grant to Crossroads Fellowship is one of 37 grants awarded through this initiative.
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 grant-making 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 about religion and lift up in fair, accurate, and balanced ways the roles that people of all faiths and various religious communities play in the United States and around the globe.
