Grantee Directory

The Church Working Right Initiative (CWR) is a cohort-based approach to congregational renewal. Task forces of ministers and lay leaders from each participating church walk a guided 12-18 month pathway of research, vision clarification, planning, and implementation with support from veteran coaches. Each church develops a simple, customized, context-specific strategic plan to reach specific impact goals with available resources. Cohorts of churches meet monthly to track progress and share learnings and encouragement.

Converge North Central’s program aims to help our congregants faithfully pass on their spiritual and monetary gifts in order to enhance the ministry of the Church. We offer professionally-led presentations on estate planning, giving, and retirement planning using a biblical worldview to an audience of pastors, congregants, and community members. Step one is our “Who Will Inherit the Mess” workshop, a one-hour seminar for the general public that focuses on estate planning and leaving a legacy with the purpose of capturing interest and raising questions about who will oversee your inheritance, how it will be divided up, how to make that process easier for your loved ones, tax liability, and giving options. Our second step is to provide individualized estate plans with an emphasis on increasing giving. As people express interest at the “Who Will Inherit the Mess” workshops, we offer the next step of a free, one-hour, one-on-one consultation to review assets and consider options. Many uncover potential giving they didn’t think was possible. As planning options are identified (i.e., wills, trusts, power of attorney, etc.), we offer a second meeting to draft those documents at a subsidized price. In summary, our program is narrowly-focused on estate planning, which lines up with the “Fostering ministries that are relevant to the lives of congregants and, at the same time, connect congregants more deeply to God,” area of focus. So many congregants worry about money, so financial and estate planning is speaking to a relevant issue. Focusing on generosity and serving others has the potential to revitalize lives and congregations, and deepen an individual's connection with God as a result.

Thriving Congregations is hosted by South Florida’s only Historically Black College and University (HBCU), Florida Memorial University (FMU). While this program is open to all churches looking to enhance their congregational identity and impact, it is geared toward Black churches in South Florida and its neighboring vicinities. Black churches have been instrumental in building strong and healthy communities, but the reach of the Black church goes beyond Black communities, transforming the entire world around them. In order to strengthen the churches, FMU’s Thriving Congregations program will help churches explore their mission statements, ministries, and leadership with the support of a pastoral cohort, theology faculty and staff from the university, and a practical theologian. Twenty churches will be served each year, totaling 100 churches over the course of five years and beyond. HBCU’s have historically been supported by churches, and they will be able to partner in ways that will transform the academy, the church, and the society.

Ignite Church Planting has a more than 100-year history and is uniquely positioned to help non-denominational Christian Churches in the greater Chicagoland area to thrive in a post-pandemic world. This new program, Ignite Thriving Churches (ITC), is a new department of Ignite Church Planting. The organization’s core focus remains starting new churches, and this new branch of Ignite is focused on helping existing non-denominational Christian Churches in Chicagoland. The program functions according to three key steps: evaluation, training, and coaching. The first step is evaluation, as many congregations must consider if they are healthy. And yet, simply knowing the issues is not enough, so the second step of training allows church members and church leaders to gain the needed tools to address their unique context. From navigating immigration or racial and ethnic issues to exploring how to connect to the youngest generations, churches need new ways of thinking and new strategies to minister to the current culture. Even this step of having knowledge is not enough, as change happens best in the context of a supportive community. This is the third step of the program, coaching from both peers and mentors, which provides encouragement and accountability to church leaders. Helping churches thrive must include a direct effort to assist church leaders, and coaching relationships to give them the resources that they need. ITC works with Christian Churches in Chicagoland through this three-step process to help them to thrive.

The Center for Appalachian Ministry (CAM) will design and execute a three-year cohort structure comprised of lay leaders and staff of 6-10 small, Northeast Tennessee congregations (100 or fewer congregants). Participants will gather quarterly, with the help of an experienced facilitator, to imagine, innovate, and discern how their congregations can reorient towards God’s mission in their context. Lay leaders and pastors will begin with exercises in appreciative inquiry. These responses will be gathered to determine emergent themes or findings. With the help of a church planting partner in the Independent Christian Churches, each church will undergo a contextual analysis of their community. Participating churches will receive mini-grants to strengthen and sustain a ministry endeavor on behalf of their surrounding community. And churches will be provided two consultation meetings with a church architecture firm to explore ways to better leverage their spaces for the community's benefit. Participating congregations will be paired with a paid undergraduate ministry student who will intern at the church 10-15 hours per week. Students will serve as outreach coordinators for churches to help create or strengthen connections with non-profits, other churches, or organizations in the area. In partnership with Ballad Health, the CAM will provide workshops in which elders, lay leaders, and staff of small Northeast Tennessee congregations will receive pastoral care training from chaplains on essential topics. And we will design a new certificate program in Appalachian Ministry that will better equip lay leaders and elders to serve their churches and celebrate our heritage.