In its most recent set of grants, the Brethren Faith in Action Fund (BFIA) distributed grants to five congregations across the Church of the Brethren. The fund provides grants using money generated by the sale of the upper campus of the Brethren Service Center in New Windsor, Md. Find out more at www.brethren.org/faith-in-action.
$5,000 was granted to Eglise Des Freres Haitien, an ethnically Haitian Church of the Brethren congregation in West Palm Beach, Fla. The grant will help purchase a pre-owned van for the church to be able to transport community and church members. This is a vital ministry since many community and church members are unemployed and/or undocumented. The congregation applied for and was granted a waiver of the matching fund requirement.
Please pray… For the congregational ministries supported by these grants, and the people they will serve.
$4,999.65 was granted to WildWood Gathering, a Church of the Brethren congregation in Olympia, Wash., to enhance the way it supports, engages, and evangelizes within its community. Having returned to in-person gatherings, the congregation is upgrading and simplifying its tech system. Community garden space will be enhanced with a pathway and benches for Garden Sundays and for community use during the week, and new signage. A new outreach project, “Taco-bout It,” is planned as a monthly gathering where community members can explore social justice topics while eating a local restaurant’s food. The congregation applied for and was granted a waiver of the matching fund requirement.
$3,325 was granted to Papago Buttes Church of the Brethren in a growing area of Phoenix/Scottsdale, Ariz., for community outreach events planned for October and the Advent and Christmas season. The grant will support a Trunk-or-Treat event in October with various activities and games, followed by a Christmas Eve service for the community. Grant funds will support marketing, supplies, and signage for both events. The congregation requested and was granted a waiver of the matching funds requirement.
$1,000 was granted to Roaring Spring (Pa.) First Church of the Brethren for its Wednesday evening ministry for children and families. The Recharge Program focuses on a meal and opportunity for family time, with separate children’s, youth, and adult Bible studies following the meal. The congregation’s youth leaders plan to open the program to the youth of two other area Churches of the Brethren that do not currently sponsor Wednesday activities.
$755 was granted to Hanover (Pa.) Church of the Brethren to purchase and install an automated external defibrillator (AED). Having an AED is a benefit to the outreach ministries of a congregation that regularly hosts outside groups including AARP which helps low-income seniors complete their tax forms, Alcoholics Anonymous which holds weekly meetings and special events to support people with addictions, two or three blood drives each year, in addition to the congregation’s own activities.
‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
Find more Church of the Brethren news: