FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 3, 2024 GLEN ALLEN, VA— The Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church is pleased to announce that Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded a $1.25 million grant to the conference through its Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to help Christian congregations more fully and intentionally engage children in intergenerational corporate worship and prayer practices. The Virginia Conference proposal, known as “Hatching Faith Cohorts” (HFC), focuses on the creation of an environment throughout the Annual Conference where churches learn the joyful art of integrating and promoting children in worship, in all of their chaos, their questions, and their joy. These cohorts, made up of 10 local ministries per cohort, will launch seasonally with the anticipation