MACON, Ga. — Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music was recently awarded a $1.25 million, five-year grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish the project Enhancing Worship for Neurodivergent Children Through Music and the Arts. The project aims to study the experiences and needs of neurodivergent (ND) children in worship to enhance their worship experiences through music and art.
The program is funded through Lilly Endowment’s Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. The national initiative aims to support faith-based organizations as they help children grow in faith and deepen their relationships with God.
Dr. Nathan Myrick, assistant professor of church music, was the lead faculty member on the proposal and will serve as grant director. He said the project’s goal is to develop educational resources for congregations to better include neurodivergent children in worship.
“Despite calls for greater inclusion (of neurodivergent children), there is uncertainty about how to achieve this,” said Dr. Myrick. “The project will explore how neurodivergent children respond to liturgical elements like music and develop practical guides for inclusion.”
Dr. Myrick, an ethnomusicologist and theological ethicist, studies how music facilitates human flourishing in religious and quasi-religious communities and says he is fascinated by the ways musical activity forms and frames human relationships.
“There are roughly five million North Americans whose neurological abilities differ from typical expectations, but remarkably little has been published, and therefore broadly known, about their needs and experiences in worship—to say nothing of children,” said Dr. Myrick. “Perhaps, we may learn by listening to what ND children are saying.”
The Townsend School of Music is one of 170 organizations funded through three rounds of the initiative, which was launched in 2022. The grants are funding efforts to help organizations that serve congregations in a broad spectrum of Christian traditions develop new and/or enhance existing programs as they design worship services and prayer practices that more intentionally and fully engage children.
“I am excited about this opportunity for the Townsend School of Music,” said Dr. Gary Gerber, dean of the School of Music. “There is such a need for the study and subsequent development of worship materials and resources for neurodivergent children. This grant will enable the School to conduct research to develop these materials, which will enhance and nurture the worship experiences of neurodivergent children.”
About Townsend School of Music
Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music, the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings and the Townsend-McAfee Institute for Graduate Studies offer undergraduate and graduate professional music studies in a comprehensive university environment. Townsend is nationally recognized for its outstanding faculty, award-winning students, performance ensembles and state-of-the-art facilities. The McDuffie Center, a special institute within Townsend School of Music, is a highly selective program that prepares string students for success in the real world. Students study with some of America’s most renowned string musicians, receiving music instruction of conservatory quality, while earning an academically well-rounded education from a comprehensive, nationally recognized university. For more information and a complete listing of this season’s concerts, visit music.mercer.edu or call (478) 301-2748.
About Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. The principal aim of the Endowment’s religion grantmaking is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate portrayals of the role religion plays in the United States and across the globe.