Harding School of Theology

Project Information

• Initiative: Individual School Grant (ISG)
• Project Title: Christian Workers Institute
• Project Description: The Christian Workers Institute (CWI) is a strategic initiative designed to strengthen and sustain Harding School of Theology's capacity to prepare and support pastors and lay ministers across North America. This project responds directly to widespread leadership challenges we identified through nine listening sessions with 143 church leaders from diverse settings. These sessions revealed four recurring needs: lack of training opportunities, a need for unity and connectedness among churches, a leadership deficit, and the need to respond to a spiritual awakening within congregations. The CWI will address these needs by providing accessible, flexible, and high-impact training to lay church leaders who may not pursue traditional theological education. Our delivery models will be designed to accommodate the busy schedules of lay leaders, offering timely and practical instruction in areas such as discipleship, biblical literacy, leadership, spiritual formation, and lay preaching.
• Project Area: Business model innovation | Church vitality and equipping lay leaders | Competency-based models | Congregational and denominational collaborations | Non-degree and continuing/lifelong learning | Spiritual direction and student formation | Technological intervention | Upskilling pastoral and ministerial leaders | Organizational partnerships and networks
• Project Start Date: 25-Oct-01
• Project End Date: 30-Dec-31
• Project Amount: $1,000,000