Kaji Spellman Receives Beatitudes Society Fellowship

Kaji Spellman, Senior Minister Elect of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa, has been awarded a $10,000 Beatitudes Fellowship.   Rev. Spellman is one of eight emerging faith leaders from across the United States selected for the annual award.

“We are delighted that Kaji is one of our game-changing new leaders,” said The Rev. Anne Howard, Executive Director of The Beatitudes Society. “We are working toward the day when we will see a thriving nationwide web of courageous, authentic, innovative faith leaders and their communities who are engaged in the public square on behalf of inclusion, compassion, and the common good, and Kaji will be a vital part of that network.”

 The Beatitudes Fellowship identifies and equips a select group of young entrepreneurial faith leaders with the resources and relationships that empower them to create new models for church and social justice, and grow vital communities of faith in a pluralistic world. 

The yearlong curriculum for the Fellows is project-based: each Fellow develops their own model for progressive ministry within their local faith community. The Fellows gather four times throughout the year for a week of coaching and customized mentoring to bring their idea to fruition. The curriculum is designed to develop each individual Fellow’s capacity for authentic leadership, while also building a community of peers for long-term mutual support.

The Beatitudes Fellowship provides each Fellow:

·        A $10,000 award (not a project grant);

·        A yearlong series of four Fellows’ gatherings at Easton Hall, in Berkeley, CA;

·        Customized, project-focused mentoring and coaching;

·        Project evaluation: how to figure out what projects need, from the tangible (people, money, time) to the intangible (faith, hope, courage);

·        Teaching, preaching, story-telling and community-building workshops: how to deepen faith, build community, inspire justice and engage communities in transformative change;

·        Sustaining spiritual practices: contemplative spiritual prayer and the Center for Courage and Renewal’s practices and principles for “leading from within”;

·        Peer community with other entrepreneurial leaders: time to relax and connect.

 To find out more, please visit: www.BeatitudesSociety.org