Missional Experiment Grants

Missional change happens slowly and through experimentation.  This is the “experimenting” part of our learning cycle:  listening -> discerning -> experimenting -> reflecting.  
Our presbytery wants to encourage missional experiments that are often difficult to fund within a typical church budget.  Missional experiments do not have to be big (but they can be).  There are two key elements that must be included for an experiment grant to be approved by the Strategic Team:
  1. The experiment must primarily engage a group that is not part of the congregation (preferably the experiment happens outside the walls of the church building).
  2. The experiment must be new – it cannot be something your congregation is already doing.

Some examples of past experiments:

  • Gift baskets and cards for teachers at the nearby school as an encouragement during the pandemic
  • Helping transform an unused building so it could become an after school youth center
  • A thank you lunch in the park for all school district employees to thank them for their work during the pandemic
  • Support group for teens that struggle with anxiety (the grant paid for the licensed therapist who facilitated the group)
  • Date night for neighborhood parents (the grant paid for advertising in the neighborhood, professional speaker, cost of daycare for kids when parents went out on a date)

If you would like help designing an experiment that engages your neighborhood please contact our Missional Expeditor, Katie Stark

Grant Application