Bexley Seabury Seminary, together with NAIITS (formerly the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies), has been awarded a $10 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to establish a program expanding access to Indigenous theological education.
The Indigenous Theological Circle (ITC) will provide sponsorship and support for master’s and doctoral students and faculty across theological institutions committed to Indigenous scholarship and ministry, develop contextualized curricula, and host an annual conference bringing together ministers and lay leaders serving Indigenous congregations.
The Rev. Dr. Jason Fout, interim president of Bexley Seabury, told The Living Church that the seminary’s partnership with NAIITS—particularly with its director of graduate studies, Dr. T. Christopher Hoklotubbe—was central to the development of the idea.
Indigenous faculty members and church leaders also played a key role in shaping the concept, including the Rev. Canon Dr. Bradley Hauff, former missioner for Indigenous ministries for the Episcopal Church, and the Rev. Canon Mary Crist, the seminary’s visiting professor of Indigenous studies. Hauff is also a member of the seminary’s Indigenous Advisory Council, which met for the first time in June.
The seminary’s leadership believes the ITC can become an enduring center for teaching and learning for leaders in Indigenous churches in the Episcopal Church and beyond, as the program is designed to be ecumenical.
“We’re also very specifically working with Presbyterians, with Lutherans, with Methodists … and very intentionally,” Fout said. “I’m particularly proud that we’re able, through this Lilly grant, to secure a future for this kind of theological education for Indigenous folks or those who serve Indigenous communities throughout North America and perhaps even beyond.”
In a press release announcing the grant, Hoklotubbe said, “By weaving together the gifts of NAIITS, Bexley Seabury, and our ecumenical partners, we are creating new pathways for Indigenous leaders to integrate their faith, culture, and call to ministry.”
Of the $10 million, $5 million will support the launch of the ITC. The remaining $5 million is contingent on ITC raising matching funds for two endowed professorships: one in Indigenous Theological Studies, to be shared by NAIITS and the ITC, and a second in Indigenous Congregational Studies, to serve Bexley Seabury and the ITC.
The Rev. Dr. Mark Lee, who will begin serving as the seminary’s president in June 2026—the first Asian American appointed to the post—said the program’s leadership will have strong connections to Indigenous communities, and the approach will emphasize “working from within and what works best in that cultural context.” A professor and director for the ITC have already been identified but have not yet been officially appointed.
Both Lee and Fout noted that the formation of the ITC aligns with the historical commitments of Bexley Seabury’s predecessor institutions, tracing back to a declaration known as the Evanston Covenant, drafted in 1985.
The covenant emerged from efforts led by the Rt. Rev. Steve Charleston, retired Bishop of Alaska and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation. It read in part: “We recognize there is a leadership crisis confronting the Episcopal Church in its Native American ministry. While we affirm the many efforts in the past to meet this crisis, we assert the need now for a cohesive, consistent, cooperative effort at the national level.”
Episcopal News Service reported in 1989: “The covenant proclaimed Seabury-Western to be ‘the’ center for Native American theological education, with broad commitment of time, energy, and resources to the effort.”
Seabury-Western, which merged with Bexley Hall in the mid-2000s to form Bexley Seabury, was the result of an earlier merger between Western Theological Seminary, founded in 1883, and Seabury Divinity School, founded in 1858 in Faribault, Minnesota, by the Rt. Rev. Henry Benjamin Whipple, the first Bishop of Minnesota.
Whipple was a staunch advocate for the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples in his growing diocese, and the school he founded was intended to serve the diocese’s Indigenous congregations.
The grant to Bexley Seabury Seminary is one of 45 that was approved in the competitive round of funding.
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
