Mission Project grants give funding for mission initiatives in churches where the lack of funds would otherwise prevent these missional ideas from getting off the ground. The application has to come from the church meeting, via the Association. The Church accounts must accompany the application. Some will be projects that are directly evangelistic, others will be bridge building projects that will enable evangelism to develop in the church. Areas of social deprivation will take priority when there are insufficient funds to meet all the applications
Grants are not normally awarded for building work or for audio visual equipment
2012
Hawkwell Baptist Church have invited local schools to the church for 5 years now to experience the Christmas story through a “labrynth” during Advent. 2000 children have gone through their doors with as many parents and school staff.
They wanted to use this successful model to share more of the Easter story with the contacts they have built up over these 5 years. This telling of the Easter story will link in with the school Key Stage groups. The community will also be invited to this Easter Labrynth so that more people will engage with the meaning of Easter.
A Mission Project grant of £1800 will enable this imaginative outreach to happen. For more information contact Revd Richard Iles on 01702 831453 Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this project
Braintree Baptist Church are engaging with other churches in the town to put on a Party in the Park as one of a series of events leading up to the Olympics. The Party in the Park will host Christian bands and entertainers, a gospel magician, personal testimony and “Braintree’s Got Talent”. It will take place on Saturday 9th June 2012 if you want to go along! In preparation for the event the churches will be participating in the “How To Talk About Jesus Without Bible Bashing” course, run by the Association. The training will run from February through to March . Braintree needed some help with the funding for this project and have been awarded a Mission Project Grant of £2,500 to make this happen. For more information contact Revd Vilma Broadhurst on 01376 342650. Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this mission venture
Attleborough Baptist Church have discovered that when they put food on, people come to the events in the church. God has sent people with catering skills and experience and so they focus their outreach on food and friendship. The church members have raised the money to refurbish their kitchen so that they expand and develop this sort of ministry. They were short of the funds for some of the equipment they needed. A group of Portuguese speaking migrant workers have also gathered at Attleborough and as soon as the kitchen is finished Revd Jorges Damascano of the AMIGOS project will be running an Alpha course for them. To help get this all under way a grant of £2,500 was made for equipment. For more information, contact Brian Montague on 01953 888883. Those who give to Home Mission are partners in Mission with this rural church
2011
A fairly small grant of £500 enabled Laindon Baptist Church, Essex, to invite mums from their toddler group, and other contacts, to do “Wellsprings”. This course was written by Revd Leesa Barton, one of our EBA Ministers. This has pampering activities alongside a light spiritual focus for each session. It is a really popular bridge to get to know women better and to open spiritual conversations. Rather than do the course on a “make do and mend” basis, the grant helped the church to invest in some good quality consumables and equipment. When they did a pilot course in 2010 one woman began to attend church as a result, this can be effective evangelism.
Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this mission
To talk about this project contact Jenny Baldwin on 01268 478478
The Church in Great Notley, Essex, is an ecumenical church on a new build estate has been an exciting story of growth. Meeting first in a portacabin, then in the community hall and now in their own purpose built premises the church is intentionally missional.
Their mission strategy has been to provide meeting space for people who would not normally connect with a church. They’ve done this through coffee mornings and an under 5’s group, a group for older people and inviting these contacts to special events. An Emmaus course had a fairly small take up but went ahead. The concept of Café Church is something that will work well in the culture of Great Notley and can be held in the church’s purpose built public coffee area. There’s a further strategic aim to develop a youth café when personnel are in place to do this. The only thing holding up the development of café church was money.
A grant of just under £2500 was given to help purchase more tables and chairs, crockery, training resources and equipment to make café church happen.
Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this mission
To talk about this project contact Revd Beth Bendry, on 01376 567971
During Easter 2010, Church from Scratch in Southend piloted an idea where they send texts to those who had requested them each day during Holy Week to bring alive the Bible story of the week leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus. In partnership with Premier Radio, during Easter 2011, Church from Scratch ran “Jesus Live”. Learning from the feedback of the pilot, Church from Scratch sent out texts and emails to people telling the Easter story on an “as it happened” basis. So, people would get a text with Bible verses or the story of what was happening, each day of the week leading up to Easter. Some of those who took part were Christians but large numbers were not members of any church. It appealed to younger people who are less likely to have heard the Jesus stories in general, or to have grasped the events leading up to Easter. Without the grant Church From Scratch would have run a small project for 2011. The Mission Project Grant helped them to take this initiative national in partnership with Premier Radio.
Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this mission.
To talk about this project contact Revd Peter Dominey on 01702 344222
2010
At the January 2010 meeting of the National Grants Committee we awarded a mission project grant of just under £2000 to Chase Cross Baptist Church near Romford. The church were altering their upstairs premises to make a space for their growing work among teenagers and young people. The young people had been actively involved in the planning of the space and church members were doing a lot of the building work themselves. The grant was to kit out the room with comfortable sofas and lamps and furniture.
When the Regional Minister went to make the site visit before the application was put forward she was shown around by two of the young people. One of these teenagers was going to be baptised a few weeks later and spoke of how he could bring his friends to a cool space in church. He said that this would surprise them and if they were surprised by a cool space then they might listen to him telling them about Jesus. A visit during 2011 showed a space that was being well used and bearing fruit
Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this mission
To talk about this project contact Revd Anthony Gill on 01708 736299
From suburban Chase Cross in Essex up to rural Bottisham in Cambridgeshire. Lode Baptist Church took the incredibly courageous step of moving their services from their traditional chapel to the school in Bottisham where they had been holding monthly events called Re:New. The church needed musical equipment to make this work. Faced with a bill for weekly hall rent now they applied for a grant and were given £1700 to buy the equipment that they needed to move into the larger village of Bottisham and hold family friendly services, a kids club and a café church.
Since then Lode/Bottisham/Re:New have entered into a new and courageous partnership with the struggling church at Great Wilbraham.
Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this mission
To talk about this project contact Revd Simon Goddard on 01223 812881
Elmswell Baptist Church in rural Suffolk is a small church that do not have a minister. This does not prevent the church from being active in mission in their village though. In 2009 they were in conversation with Age UK about setting up a lunch club for elderly people who were unable to get out much and therefore could feel isolated and lonely. The clubs that Age UK had in mind all happened in someone’s home. Elmswell BC dreamed of a club in their church so that people could make the connection between their hospitality and their faith in Jesus. Initially they asked for a grant for just a few hundred pounds to buy the equipment they would need for larger numbers to be catered for.
When the Regional Minister made the site visit they were encouraged to look at asking for the cost of some new tables as well. They were awarded a grant of £1250. At their Christmas Meal at the end of 2010 they used all of the tables to cater for the full house of guests. Good thing they had some extra ones from the grant money!
Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this mission
To talk about this project contact Tony Cock on 01359 241541
In June 2010 Worstead Baptist Church in rural Norfolk participated in a area wide mission lead by Through Faith Missions. Worstead have 14 members but were really keen to take part in this mission. They had spent a significant amount of money upgrading a room in the church and needed a grant of £1400 so that they could buy tables and chairs to have the room ready for use in time for the Mission activities. The church was working in partnership with other local churches, Baptist and ecumenical. The Mission project grant helped them to be ready to participate in the Mission and also equipped their room for their own ongoing mission activities.
Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this mission.
To talk about this project contact Revd Patrick Coghlan on 01263 734739
From idyllic rural Norfolk to buzzing urban Southend. Also in June 2010, Church from Scratch applied for a Mission Project Grant of £2600 to publicise and kit out their new “Shared Space”. This is their base in Southend from which they interact with the community in the form of a charity shop which is staffed by volunteers with many and varied needs. Most of the funding for the £45,000 project came from statutory authorities in recognition of the valuable work that Church from Scratch were doing with marginalized people in the community. For Church from Scratch this was a major development, moving from their home based church groups out into a community based project. “Shared Space” is at 453 London Road, Southend and you’d be welcome to call in.
Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this mission to vulnerable people
To talk about this project contact Revd Ivan King on 07986 803420
2009
Like most churches Christchurch in Coggleshall have some children’s toys and equipment. The church wanted to make a specific effort in 2009 to make good contacts with young families. Their strategic planning was good and well researched. They applied for a grant of just over £2500 to purchase equipment that could be used at their weekly coffee morning to make it more child friendly, then at the new children’s club “Kidzone” that they were setting up. The same equipment and furniture would be used at the Messy Church events that they were going to hold throughout 2009.
Because Christchurch is an ecumenical church where Baptists are one of the partners they hadn’t realised that they could apply for Baptist Mission grants. They were delighted to be awarded the grant and a visit during 2010 showed the equipment being well used by a growing group of young families now in contact with the church.
Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this mission
To talk about this project contact Louise Shrubsole on 01376 564880
Bildeston Baptist Church in Suffolk applied for a Mission Project Grant to help with the setting up costs of their Community Coffee Centre. Rather than opening the church and running a coffee morning they wanted to provide high quality surroundings and decent coffee. In a culture where most people will be used to Costa/Starbucks quality it seemed right to provide a coffee centre in the village that matched such standards. The grant helped them to purchase a decent coffee machine and equipment.
They were also awarded a grant by the County Council and the Parish Council as they were providing community facilities in an area where there were few of these available. The café quickly took off and relationships were built between the church volunteers and people in the village who would not have otherwise had any contacts with the church. The Coffee Centre is now self funding
Those who give to Home Mission are partners in this mission
To talk about this project contact Tracey Ross on 01206 619380. Please note that Tracey no longer lives in Bildeston but the project continues and she would be the best person to put you in touch with the current leaders there.
