By Sara White
February is funding month for congregational development. We receive reports from the treasurer’s office as to the apportionment monies paid to Congregational Development Line Item.
Congregational development is funded 100 percent by the line item monies collected in the previous year. In other words, we have money to spend in 2014 that is collected in 2013.
After the available funds are reported, the work turns to receiving the grant applications that are funded from the Existing Church allocation. These applications are received by district committees, prioritized and then forwarded to the conference Board of Congregational Development. The final funding decisions were made on Feb. 22, and the approved projects will receive funds in March.
Receiving the grant applications is one of the most exciting times of the year. At first glance the applications seem like the simple compilation of average worship attendance, budget figures, blueprints in some cases and projections of need. It’s the ministry plans that make the difference. The ministry plans are the place where you can begin to put faces on those who will be the beneficiaries of a funded request and who in turn will benefit from what they put in place.
Now, obviously we each have differing skills in writing. You will have noticed by now that I am not a polished writer. My writing has generously been described as sounding just like I talk; which makes me worry about the way I communicate.
However, a ministry plan should be written in such a way that it answers in words the desire for a picture. The old questions of who, where, what, how and why are such powerful parts of creating the ministry plan that will move from a simple request of funds to an invitation to shared ministry. Plus, if we cannot clearly describe what we are trying to do, who benefits and why, then we really aren’t ready to move forward.
In a revised application going forward, we are going to ask for a clear plan for each request, not simply a statement of intent. Every church will be advised to seek the help of the District Committee on Congregational Development as they prepare and partner in some cases with the District Board of Church and Location.
Local churches don’t have to prepare alone. Just as shared connection dollars fund the applications, it is possible for shared United Methodist leadership to propel the applications. It’s a real paying-it-forward process that we’ve created with our support of congregational development.
Obviously, I can’t report the results of the funding since they are not complete, but let me share a few stories of the possibilities that local churches in S.C. are addressing. The smallest group that made a request has the most obviously missional request; however, we need to continue to recognize the blurring of lines between our different ministry emphases because every grant application is missional in some way. This small group of folks continues to provide an impressive hunger ministry in their community and asked the annual conference to help ensure its health and continuance with permanent housing.
The largest group has after years of preparation moved into a building program that will serve not only the congregation but as a community hub for a rural area.
When a conversation begins with questions and ends with celebration, then you know you have seen some ray of hope and promise. And that hope and promise are what keep people looking at the church as a place where God and people are still working to make a difference. We use big words of transformation in our mission statement. So these congregations are some of the places that are trying to put their actions into the reality of the word.
With around $120, 000 to use in the funding process for Existing Church applications, obviously not every requested grant can be addressed. Some will wait till next year, others we will assist in finding other funding sources and still others will look at the requests and say that it is not their or God’s time for the request.
Others will move forward, and their question isn’t “what if?” anymore. It’s now, “What’s next?”
