Goshen College has received a $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment through its National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life 2025.
The grant will support the college’s launch of five innovative storytelling projects under the new media hub, More Than Just Stories.
“This grant represents a powerful affirmation of who we are as an Anabaptist-Mennonite faith-based college: an academic community where faculty and students collaborate to speak about faith and life with courage, creativity and compassion,” said Dr. Rebecca Stoltzfus, Goshen College president, in a press release. “I am excited because we will be able to create stories for young people, about young people and by young people that show courage, faith and love in action.”
Goshen College is one of 60 organizations from across the United States that have received grants through the initiative since 2024. The awardees include media organizations, denominational judicatories, church networks, publishers, educational institutions, congregations and other nonprofit charitable organizations.
Through More Than Just Stories, faculty and communication experts will work collaboratively with students to create:
- Just Stories — a podcast for faith-based stories of criminal justice and the people shaped by it
- The Gratitude Letters — a podcast built on the conviction that it’s never too late to say thank you
- Peace Talks — a regional and national speech competition highlighting peacebuilding and courageous communication
- Beyond Sunday Service — a documentary film project following four young people as they live out their faith and commitments in daily life
- Risk, Resilience and Love in a Time of Climate Change — a national storytelling conference examining what it means to live faithfully and courageously in the face of ecological fragility
Faculty in the Communication Department and the Religion, Justice and Society Department will provide interdisciplinary leadership, expertise and resources for the five-year storytelling initiative. The initiative will begin in January.
