Partners and Collaborators

The Pepperdine Center for Faith and Learning has served as a catalyst for significant collaborations between Pepperdine and other notable organizations listed below.

Lilly Endowment

CFL has been a faithful steward of the Lilly Endowment’s generosity through programs for vocational development, COMMUNITAS for early-career pastors, and the Lilly Fellows Program for young scholars at church-related institutions. Christopher Coble, the Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion, recently reflected on all these collaborations through the years: “We are quite pleased to support the Pepperdine Center for Faith and Learning’s important work.”

COMMUNITAS: Serving Early-Career Pastors

participants in COMMUNITAS

Starting in 2014 and based on invitational grants from the Lilly Endowment, CFL envisioned and has been implementing COMMUNITAS, a pastoral leadership program. The program serves early-career pastors from the greater Los Angeles area and supports them in their development as leaders who can guide their congregations toward becoming agents for positive change in their communities. The pastors participate in a series of retreats and seminars over a one-to-two-year period that brings them into conversation with business and civic leaders, and with Pepperdine faculty who have particular expertise related to various social and economic issues.

Lilly Fellows: Nurturing Young Scholars

The Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts links Pepperdine to a national network of church-related universities and has enriched our academic and religious mission through its Postdoctoral and Graduate Fellows Programs. Through the years, Pepperdine’s participation in the Lilly Fellows Program has especially been nurtured by Paul Contino, who served for many years as the associate director of CFL. Mark R. Schwehn, the founding director of the Lilly Fellows Program, has said: "Pepperdine and its Center for Faith and Learning have served the Lilly Fellows Program and the larger world of church-related higher education in the US with high distinction and great devotion for many years."

Empower and Equip: Rural Church Initiative

In the fall of 2024, Mike Cope (formerly of Church Relations) and John Barton (director of CFL) were also instrumental in securing a new grant from Lilly that will fund a five-year project serving rural and small town Churches of Christ throughout North America. At $7.5 million, it is the largest Lilly grant that Peppedine has ever received.

The Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education

John Barton speaks at NetVUE Conference 2024

The Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) is a nationwide network of colleges and universities formed to enrich the intellectual and theological exploration of vocation among undergraduate students. David S. Cunningham, director of NetVUE, says: “Through the Center for Faith and Learning, Pepperdine is making important contributions to a project that is helping to renew American higher education.” The Center for Faith and Learning oversees Pepperdine’s NetVUE membership and John Barton, the director of the center, serves on NetVUE’s national steering team. In that role, Barton has organized and hosted seminars and regional meetings for NetVUE on Pepperdine’s campus, and he also cohosts NetVUE’s podcast, Callings: Conversations on College, Career, and a Life Well Lived.

CFL has secured several grants for this work from NetVUE, and John Peterson, an English professor and one of CFL’s associate directors, oversees the various curricular and cocurricular efforts.

The Yale Center for Faith and Culture

audience at "Pedagogy of the Good Life"

The Yale Center for Faith and Culture is an international leader in examining and promoting practices of faith that advance human flourishing and the global common good. In recent years, CFL has partnered with the Yale Center for Faith and Culture in some of these initiatives. Miroslav Volf, director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture has said, “We are thrilled to welcome Pepperdine’s Center for Faith and Learning as a supporting partner for our project on ‘The Pedagogy of the Good Life.’”

The Christian Scholars Conference

The Christian Scholars Conference (CSC) is the leading academic conference associated with Churches of Christ.  John Barton, director of CFL, chairs the committee that oversees one of the CSC’s endowed lectures named in honor of the late Landon Saunders. In this way, CFL helps keep Pepperdine connected to its religious heritage. The former director of the Christian Scholars Conference, David Fleer, has stated, “Pepperdine’s Center for Faith and Learning is a great partner with the Christian Scholars Conference and a leader for various Stone-Campbell initiatives.”