Connecting a National Network of Christian Storytellers
The National Storytelling Coordination Program supports projects funded through Lilly Endowment’s National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life. By connecting and equipping grantees across the initiative, the program strengthens collaboration, shared learning and the collective impact of stories being discovered, lived and shared across the United States. The program supports a broad and growing network of storytellers and organizations working to identify, produce and share compelling stories that portray the vibrancy and hope of Christian faith and life.
About the Initiative
Lilly Endowment’s National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life aims to unlock and tell compelling stories that portray the vibrancy and hope of Christian faith and life and to inspire and help people from a wide variety of backgrounds to come to know and love God.
The National Storytelling Initiative funds projects that advance the following objectives:
- Identifying stories about Christian individuals, groups, churches and communities that are compelling examples of authentic and vibrant Christian faith and life
- Producing compelling stories about these examples of Christian faith and life in various media formats
- Sharing these stories through different media with a wide variety of people in a broad spectrum of contexts and from many different backgrounds
The initiative was launched in 2024 through an invitational pilot round of grants to twelve organizations. In 2025 following a national competition that drew more than 1,100 applications, the Endowment awarded grants to an additional 49 organizations.
About the Coordination Program
Through a coordination program funded by Lilly Endowment, Belmont University supports the grantees in the National Storytelling Initiative by providing connective infrastructure that encourages innovation, collaboration and learning across the network. As the initiative continues to grow, the coordination program cultivates like-minded peer communities, cohort-based learning and opportunities for consultation that strengthen relationships and amplify impact.
The program accompanies grantees by creating space for shared discovery and by offering resources and insight, particularly around reaching many types of audiences and understanding the impact of storytelling through engagement and analytics. In a culture in need of good stories and within a rapidly evolving storytelling landscape shaped by emerging technologies, the coordination program helps grantees remain connected and supported.
How the Coordination Program Supports Grantees
- Facilitate and foster a national network of grantees through webinars, annual conferences and convenings
- Support peer-to-peer learning and exchange of experience, knowledge, discoveries and resources among grantees
- Develop resources for grantees based on emerging patterns and needs
Expanding the Reach of Christian Storytelling
The National Storytelling Coordination Program supports organizations, storytellers and institutions across the United States and beyond. Grantees include congregations, seminaries, universities, nonprofits and media organizations producing storytelling projects through film, visual art, podcasts, music and in-person gatherings. Together, these organizations are advancing a wide-ranging and creative vision for Christian storytelling that illuminates the vibrancy and hope of Christian faith and life.
Why Belmont University
A nationally recognized, Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee, Belmont brings together academic excellence, creative practice and a strong network in service of meaningful storytelling.
Founded in 1890, Belmont has grown from a 90-student college to a university with nearly 9,000 students and more than 160 academic programs. Belmont has intentionally cultivated storytelling as an interdisciplinary skillset for many years and continues to expand and deepen its work in areas such as film, media, publishing, music, theology and emerging technology.
Belmont also serves as the institutional home for the Creative Arts Collective for Christian Life and Faith (CAC), a Lilly Endowment-funded initiative in which the arts and the practice of storytelling are central. Together, the CAC, Belmont’s academic programs and its creative network form a robust ecosystem that aligns closely with the objectives of the Endowment’s National Storytelling Initiative.
Conducted by Belmont University. Funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.
