The overall purpose of 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 grants that are able to articulate the concrete ways in which this grant project will increase congregational health and vitality, faithfulness, or effectiveness as a community of faith.
Examples of the kind of grants we would like to support are:
• Grants that seek to increase attendance, Christian formation and stewardship within a congregation via the development of a third liturgy that will attract new people and/or a different population to a congregation
• 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 develop engagement with a specifically identified group of people (i.e. young adults, families with children, newcomers to your city/town) through special non-liturgical means (coffee shop, special events with follow up etc).
• Development of pilot programs of any size that would be of benefit to the broader Church.
To note, the Diocese does not typically fund capital projects through its congregational grant program or make grants to congregations that are not a congregation in good standing or have worked out an agreement about how they will become a congregation in good standing. Additionally, grants and grant applications should demonstrate ways in which the project or effort will over time move toward being self-sustaining. Finally, all grants are made subject to the approval of the Diocesan budget at Diocesan Convention, which takes place each year in the fall.
2023 grant applications will open in the spring of 2022.
For more information about the congregational grant application process, contact the the Rev Mark Miller, chair of the Grants Committee or the Rev Canon Alissa Newton, Canon for Congregational Development and Leadership Formation.