St. Stephen’s Episcopal School has been awarded a 2026 United Thank Offering (UTO) Grant from The Episcopal Church to launch an innovative formation initiative that seeks to nurture the intellectual, emotional, spiritual, social, and physical flourishing of children through play-centered learning rooted in the Christian vision of shalom.
The initiative, Hearts, Bodies, Minds Together: A Play-Centered Model for Justice, Belonging, and Whole-Child Formation, is known within the school community as Practicing Shalom. The project will bring together faculty, educational researchers, and community partners to develop, implement, and evaluate an Episcopal model of whole-child formation that has the potential to serve schools and congregations throughout the wider Church.
United Thank Offering grants are funded through the daily spiritual practice of gratitude embraced by Episcopalians across the Church. For generations, individuals and congregations have gathered thank offerings in blue UTO boxes, transforming everyday expressions of thanksgiving into grants that support innovative ministries responding to God’s mission in local communities and around the world.
Every United Thank Offering grant is a visible reminder that gratitude is never an end in itself. Gratitude becomes generosity, generosity becomes mission, and mission becomes an opportunity for lives to flourish. Hearts, Bodies, Minds Together is one example of what can happen when the Church’s simple practice of giving thanks is transformed into ministry.
At the heart of Hearts, Bodies, Minds Together is the biblical understanding of shalom, a vision that extends far beyond peace as the absence of conflict. Throughout Scripture, shalom describes the flourishing God desires for all creation: lives marked by justice, belonging, healthy relationships, reconciliation, joy, and communion with God and one another.
Working in partnership with Lebanon Valley College, Joshua Group, Hope Academy and others in collaboration, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School will spend the coming year designing and evaluating practices that intentionally cultivate this vision of flourishing through guided play, restorative relationships, spiritual formation, and research-informed educational practice. Practicing Shalom will include ongoing assessment of student growth, school culture, educator development, and family engagement to help shape a model that is both effective and adaptable.
While this initiative begins in one Episcopal school, its vision reaches much further. From its inception, Practicing Shalom will be designed as a resource that can be shared across Episcopal schools, parish schools, congregations, and other ministries seeking practical ways to nurture the whole child. By combining theological reflection with educational research, the project hopes to contribute to the Church’s ongoing work of Christian formation in ways that are faithful, measurable, and readily adaptable to a variety of ministry settings.
The project draws upon the Church’s sacramental imagination, commitment to human dignity, and rich heritage of education to respond creatively to the needs of today’s children and families. We believe children flourish when they experience that they are known, loved, and valued as children of God.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal School expresses deep gratitude to the United Thank Offering Board, The Episcopal Church, Bishop Audrey Scanlan and the Diocese of the Susquehanna, Lebanon Valley College, and the many faithful Episcopalians whose daily acts of thanksgiving make UTO grants possible.
May we all experience the fullness of God’s shalom.