To accompany and better assist the development of our congregations, we are offering small grants of up to $8,000 that will be given out as soon as they are approved. These grants will be reviewed and approved by our Congregational Development Grants Committee and dispersed quarterly (until our annual funding runs out). The due date for the first round of applications is Friday, May 24, the second is Friday, August 9, and the third is Friday, November 22. You may fill out the application at any time.
The overall purpose of the congregational grants program is to assist congregations in the Diocese as they develop, with God’s help, into healthier, more faithful, and more effective communities of faith. We are interested, therefore, in making grants to congregations that have a vision for their own development and want our assistance in making progress toward that vision. Special priority will be given to requests that are able to articulate the developmental benefits in concrete ways.
These grants cannot be used to cover budget shortfalls, basic operating costs, large capital projects, or a program solely for outreach to human need by the church.
Some examples of the kind of grants we would like to support are:
- Grants that develop engagement with a specifically identified group of people (i.e. young adults, newly retired people, families with children, newcomers to your city/town),
- Grants that seek to build the capacity of a congregation to attract and form children in Christian faith via the initiation of Godly Play or some other program of children’s formation,
- Grants that help build up and empower lay leadership,
- Grants that help congregations build capacity around difference through cultural competency training and conversation,
- Grants that support the development of a third liturgy that will attract new people and/or a different population to a congregation,
- Development of pilot programs of any size that would be of benefit to the broader Church.
