2025 Thriving Congregations Gathering

The Rev. adwoa Wilson and I (Hannah Cooper) were able to attend the Thriving Congregations Cohort Two Annual Gathering in Indianapolis, October 8-10, 2025. At the gathering, we were among the 230 people representing the other grantees of the Lilly Endowment’s Thriving Congregations grants. What a holy space!

We prayed, shared meals, heard plenary sessions, and discussed several different components of the grant-funded initiatives with faithful people across the United States, representing countless Christian denominations and communities.

One of the goals for our time together was to cultivate a practice of abundance. This concept of operating from a perspective of abundance, rather than a scarcity mentality, has been present for adwoa+ and me in our work together, with the members of our first cohort, with hopeful new cohort members, with Lenten devotional writers, with staff and colleagues across Province I, and now with our siblings through Thriving Congregations. We heard this concept in scripture, when Jesus fed the crowd of 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and two fish. We shared our hopes, fears, and longings for our initiatives with others seated next to us in the room. The shared wisdom of the faith-filled, initiative-leading individuals overflowed, the very embodiment of abundance. A little bit like God’s abiding grace, poured out for His people!

We are invigorated by this gathering and the fruitful conversations and connections. We will take our learnings and incorporate them in future plans for new cohorts and other projects we will offer as part of our initiative.