The Foundation for Evangelism will award 31 grants in June to churches and organizations totaling $230,000 as part of the inaugural Equipping the Local Church Grant Cycle. From the 100 applications received, the Foundation’s grant review committee and board of trustees sought proposals that launched an experiment or initiative to share the Gospel, tell faith stories, and invite others into a relationship with Jesus.
Rev. Dr. Heather Lear, Vice President for Grant Administration shared that, “The selected proposals represent four Wesleyan-tradition denominations including the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Church of the Nazarene, and The United Methodist Church. We are excited that our grant funding will be received across 17 states – from California to New York – and the projects and initiatives are unique to the needs of applicants’ respective communities. No two are the same.”
The Equipping the Local Church Grant builds upon The Foundation for Evangelism’s 73-year history as a catalyst to equip disciples to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. The goal of the grant is to empower pastors, laity, and smaller local congregations to dream, take risks, and partner with God in the transformation of lives and communities.
“The Foundation for Evangelism recognizes that Christian disciple-making happens in the local church. With the Holy Spirit’s guidance, the local church invites members of their community to enter a life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ, grow in grace, and live out their faith by loving and serving God and neighbor,” shared Foundation President Jane Boatwright Wood.
While some churches and organizations plan to connect through recognizable efforts such as Fresh Expressions of Church, others plan to build upon lessons learned and skills gained during the pandemic, building ways for people to connect and grow in their faith online. Ranging from work in engaging and empowering minority populations to satisfying spiritual and physical hunger, from growing churches in rural communities through technology to bringing multi-lingual congregations together to impact their community, the proposals represent the God-sized dream of Christ’s church engaged in sharing the Good News, inviting all into life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Foundation for Evangelism’s board of trustees is pleased to award the 2022 Equipping the Local Church Grant and will announce the 31 recipients publicly in June.
About Equipping the Local Church Grant
The Foundation for Evangelism’s Equipping the Local Church Grant has categories for $5,000 or $10,000 awarded to small and medium church congregations, or clusters of churches working together, in a Wesleyan-tradition denomination. Selected applicants must show how the grant can launch an experiment or initiative to share the Gospel, tell their faith stories, and invite others into a relationship with Jesus.
About The Foundation for Evangelism
The Foundation for Evangelism is a Wesleyan-tradition grant-making organization located at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina. Chartered in 1949 by Dr. Harry Denman, then the General Secretary of the Board of Evangelism of the Methodist Church, and a group of visionary laymen, it was designed to “diffuse the blessing of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Today, we carry out that vision by providing grants that can be a catalyst to equip disciples to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. We focus our grant-making in three specific areas: Raising Up Gospel Leaders, Equipping the Local Church, and Engaging the Ministry of the Laity.
For more information about grants from The Foundation for Evangelism, visit our Grants page.
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