Disciple: Imagine the Possibilities

New Mission Endowment Grant offers opportunities for outreach on broad scale

By Diocesan Staff

Have you ever had a great idea but no way to launch it into action? Have you ever been called to do something but simply didn’t have the resources you needed? Has a conversation with others outside your church ever led to a wish you could work together to make that possibility a reality?

With the new Mission Endowment Grant announced by the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, ideas, imaginings, partnerships and possibilities have a chance to become real.

The Mission Endowment Grant is a permanent endowment created for the specific purpose of supporting the diocesan mission strategy of establishing the Episcopal presence of Christ in communities in ways that brings the community to see Christ’s presence among them.

It begins with who is eligible to apply for the grant. Eligibility for the Mission Endowment Grant is open to a wider range of applicants than any other grant offered by the Diocese. Grant projects must relate to missionary initiatives located within the 38 counties of the Diocese, but they do not have to be exclusively associated with Diocesan entities. Only one person or part of the project must have an association with a Diocesan entity. This means the door is wide open for strategic partnerships, including interfaith and secular entities, companion relationships, and partnership ministries of congregations, institutions and organizations of the Diocese.

In addition to expanded eligibility, the Mission Endowment Grant is also designed to work either on its own or in tandem with other Diocesan grant offerings, such as the Mission Resource Support Team (MRST) Church grants and the North Carolina Episcopal Church Fund (NCECF) grants. An example of how these grants can work together might include a scenario where the Mission Endowment Grant is dedicated to materials or startup costs, with MRST offering staff salary support and NCECF fulfilling support needs in other areas.

“By bringing together [these grants], we want them to work collaboratively,” said the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. “We want people to think bigger, to think Galilee, to think beyond the doors of the church to imagine the new church.”

The Mission Endowment Board will fund and administer a maximum of five grants per year, each ranging between $5,000 and $25,000. One and two-year grants are available.

If you are one with the idea, dream or calling that’s just waiting to be brought to fruition, the Mission Endowment Grant is one you’ll want to explore. You do not have to be a member of the clergy to apply. You do not have to be a member of the vestry. Anyone within the diocese can apply for a Mission Endowment Grant. This grant is about an opportunity for anyone – clergy or lay – to collaborate with others either within or outside of the church for the sake of Christ’s mission in the world.

Applications will be accepted beginning November 30, 2014; the deadline is January 31, 2015. Grants will be awarded and announced in April 2015. Applications and additional information can be found on the diocesan website.

JUST THINK....

What kind of projects might the Mission Endowment Support? Two examples took place before the grant ever existed. Imagine what could be possible now that it does?

Feeding Body and Soul
Once upon a time, a woman who attended Nativity, Raleigh, and her neighbor, who attended Temple Beth Or, decided to reduce hunger in Raleigh. Their idea of food recovery and redistribution began small, and, while each had ties to her respective house of worship, the ministry began outside the governance of either. Jill Staton Bullard and Maxine Solomon, full of the Holy Spirit, blazed a trail. Their Inter-Faith Food Shuttle has become one of the two primary hunger-relief agencies in the Triangle and a shining example of an organization of explicit faith, of which The Episcopal Church remains a part.

Building a Home 
When Advocate, Chapel Hill, relocated an old church building to serve as their permanent home, moving the building was only the beginning. It needed total restoration and upgrading to be brought up to code. The congregation made it happen by putting several diocesan grants and resources to work. A low-interest loan from NCECF provided a financial jump start, while a Green Grant went toward energy-efficient roofing and insulation. MRST assisted with the vicar’s salary to keep resources directed at the renovation. It took years, planning, hard work and a lot of perseverance, but the Advocate, Chapel Hill, now worships in their new home every Sunday, serving as a shining example of what can be done when resources are brought together.