Earn CEUs and certificates as participants in justice-centered seminars, preaching symposia, grief management sessions, trauma healing workshops, or theological leadership training. Howard University School of Divinity leads with head and heart, and its centers and programs demonstrate its commitment to advancing academic excellence and building beloved community.
Centers and Programs
Howard University School of Divinity centers and programs provide lifelong learning opportunities in Black theological studies for adult learners. Our esteemed faculty experts, distinguished alumni, and vast network of congregations and civic organizations join together to equip both clergy and lay leaders with co-curricular educational experiences.
CEUs and Certificates at Howard University School of Divinity
Black Congregations Resource Center
Meet the Team
Kenyatta R. Gilbert, Ph.D., Compelling Preaching Initiative Program Director
https://profiles.howard.edu/kenyatta-gilbert
Harold Dean Trulear, Ph.D., Black Congregations Resource Center Executive Director
https://profiles.howard.edu/harold-trulear
Eric Brewer, D.Min., Black Congregations Resource Center Project Coordinator
https://profiles.howard.edu/eric-brewer
About
In 2012 a three-year national research project was launched at the Howard University School of Divinity under the leadership of our former dean, Dr. Alton B. Pollard, III, a sociologist of religion who served as principal investigator. “Equipping the Saints: Promising Practices in Black Congregational Life” was designed to identify, document, and showcase some of the effective practices that contribute to the holistic health and well-being of congregants and communities.
Dr. Pollard and his team of faculty collaborators focused our research on five site-specific topics: The Preached Word in Atlanta, GA (Dr. Kenyatta R. Gilbert); Youth and Family Services in Detroit, MI (Dr. Harold Dean Trulear); Gentrification in Washington, DC (Dr. Cheryl J. Sanders); Economics and Health in Macon County, AL, and Openness and Inclusion (Dr. Pollard).
Major funding was provided by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation. Dean Pollard left Howard in 2017 to assume another leadership position in theological education. In recent months the remaining team of faculty collaborators launched the second phase of this project with Dr. Gilbert in the role of principal investigator. Our purpose is to continue to “equip the saints” by convening conversations, compiling data, conducting analyses, and constructing narratives about promising practices in Black church contexts.
Mission
Equipping the Saints: Promising Practices in Black Congregations Resource Center at Howard University School of Divinity aims to “equip the saints” by identifying, documenting, and showcasing some of the effective practices that contribute to the holistic health and well-being of congregants and communities.
Vision
Equipping Black Congregations with Promising Practices
Wisdom Keepers, Hope Seekers
Transforming Black Theological Education through Intergenerational Partnership.
Wisdom Keepers, Hope Seekers (WKHS) is a Lilly Endowment Pathways for Tomorrow initiative housed at the Howard University School of Divinity, created to strengthen the future of the Black Church and the institutions that serve it.
The Black Church stands at a generational crossroads. Seasoned leaders — our wisdom keepers — carry decades of hard-won insight, while a rising generation of hope seekers is answering the call to lead in a changing world. Too often, these generations labor apart, and congregations face transitions without preparation, pastors without successors, and institutions without secure futures. WKHS exists to close that distance.
Through three interconnected pathways, the initiative forms and equips the next generation of faith leaders; advances sustainable, innovative models of ministry, lifting up the stories and living wisdom of the Black Church; and works alongside partner HBCUs and historically Black theological institutions to secure the long-term future of Black theological education.
Rooted at Howard — where scholarship, faith, and service have met for more than a century — WKHS advances the School of Divinity's Divinity Forward.
Vision
Honoring the dreamers who brought us here while resourcing the dreams still being realized.
Meet The Executive Director
Tarsha Banister, DMin
Executive Director
Wisdom Keepers, Hope Seekers (WKHS)
Howard University School of Divinity
Sojourners Theology, Racialized Policing, and Justice Reform Digital Course
An asynchronous course in partnership with Sojourners. The virtual course is modeled after Sojourners' Thriving In Ministry initiatives exploring the intersections of theology, racialized policing, and justice reform. Please follow the link below to stay informed.