By Carolyn Tomlin
The Alabama Baptist
Grant money exists to help improve people’s individual situations as well as provide the assistance needed to build positive, healthy communities.
Churches — along with living out their primary role of sharing the gospel and making disciples — also typically nurture community members with hearts of compassion.
Why not request some of the grant money available from private foundations, corporations and community foundations to help build those wheelchair ramps or stock the supplies needed for free medical and dental clinics?
What might be possible
A grant is not a loan, and grants don’t have to be tied to the government.
Think about things in your church that are needed merely to continue serving the members as well as the community. Would it help if items such as playground equipment or updated kitchen essentials were covered outside the routine budget?
Also dream about what might be possible if extra funds were available.
Could your church members offer after-school tutoring sessions or maybe youth music lessons with instruments provided for those participating?
How about apprenticeships in photography or car repairs or other skills for developing future career opportunities?
Funding from grants truly could be the answer to expanded outreach opportunities and a healthier church routine.
Churches and schools have a federal tax number. If they meet certain requirements, they are automatically considered tax-exempt and do not need to apply for 501(c)(3) status, which designates a tax exemption for nonprofits intended for religious, charitable, educational and other purposes.
So the first thing to do is determine the gap between what you have and what you want to do, then launch an effort to discover what grants are available to a religious institution.
Start with the local businesses in your area and expand from there.
The business owners in your congregation will likely know how to organize a plan for researching and seeking out options.
Along with private companies, area banks, insurance agencies, restaurants, utility companies and hotels or motels, also consider nonprofits and Baptist organizations.
Some grantors release grants annually while others provide them quarterly, and information should be available regarding funding periods and deadlines and requirements for qualifying.
Determining the specifics of what a grantor supports will help narrow the options as well.
Once you have a list of options available, work through the online application process.
Contact the proper people as needed to help guide you, and involve a top-level staff member from the grantor organization in the plan if possible.
Fill out the application as directed. Do not exceed the number of pages requested. If needed, additional information can be provided in an appendix, but the board is not required to read this optional material.
Include two or three digital images or renderings of the planned project (and even people involved) if possible. This is especially important for those requesting repeat funding.
Six key questions
Answers to the following six questions are typically required for most applications:
- What do you plan to do, and what is the gap between what you have and what you need? How will extra funds help accomplish the goal?
- How do you plan to launch the project? Will you appoint a committee, work with other churches in the community, etc.?
- Whom do you plan to serve? Will it be school-age children in a tutoring program, migrants who need basic supplies, etc.?
- What do you plan to accomplish? Will you meet a need and tell them about the love of Jesus, give out Bibles, etc.?
- How will you spend the funds provided through the grant? You will need a detailed list of all items needed with current and credible estimates for the costs of the planned purchases. Always use the funds for what you stated in the application process.
- How will you give a final report of the grant? Will you outline how and where all funds were used and provide detailed receipts?
Tips for communicating with grantors:
- Always write a thank you note to the granting organization’s board chair, no matter the outcome. If you did not receive funding, express gratitude for being considered and note that you plan to apply again (if that is the case).
- Ask children in your church to draw illustrations or write a note to the CEO or manager of the organization that provided the grant.
- Invite a leader from the organization that awarded the funds to attend a service, and present them with a plaque or framed certificate from your church.
Securing grants for your church can provide funds for projects and programs not included in the regular church budget. Research shows millions of dollars in grants are missed out on each year.
You may not always get selected, but the answer is most definitely “no” if you don’t ask.
Carter’s faith helped China’s churches
By Bob Terry
Editor emeritus, The Alabama Baptist
Hearing of President Carter’s death Dec. 29 brought back memories of a brief press conference from almost 20 years ago.
Why the story he shared that day was never officially recorded I am not sure. But I am thankful for President Carter’s willingness to share his faith with China’s Deng Xiaoping and for how the Holy Spirit prompted Deng to respond by reopening churches in China even if he chose to not personally believe in Jesus Christ.
Carter shared with Baptist media representatives in 2005 about the incident that happened in early 1979 during the historic visit of Deng to the United States. It was the first official visit to this nation by any leader of the People’s Republic of China.
Carter said he shared his Christian testimony with Deng, presented the plan of salvation to him and invited him to accept Jesus as his personal Savior. While Deng declined, he did say he could reopen the Christian churches in China, Carter shared.
During the 13-year-long Cultural Revolution led by Mao Zedong in the 1960s, Christian churches across the mainland had been shuttered.
History affirms Deng kept his word to Carter.
The story of Christianity in China is not without its bumps and setbacks. Christians still face great obstacles in that country. Yet, there are more openly avowed Christians in China today than there are Communist Party members.
Many missiologists point to the growth of the church in China as the greatest miracle of the 20th century.
Read the full version of this article at thebaptistpaper.org.
“The exact same part of the brain that triggers during anxiety also triggers during gratitude. That makes it impossible to focus on anxiety and gratitude at the same time.”
Shane Pruitt
@shane_pruitt7
“At the core of all of these topics is an identity issue. There is an identity issue in people trying to find their fulfillment and satisfaction in someone or some thing other than Jesus,” said Luke Taylor, pastor of Veneration Church in Kalispell, Montana. Taylor shared this during a sermon series, “Culture Clash: a biblical look at culture’s hottest topics.” The series presented and explored several hotly debated, sometimes celebrated and culturally condoned topics like licentious heterosexuality, homosexuality, transgenderism and abortion.
“We want to try to train young people to be future leaders because that’s what we’re going to need. That’s where we started with the DOM job. … We began to talk in our meetings about what will happen to this association if we don’t have our younger families develop a burden to carry on,” said David Case, former DOM of Eleven Point River Baptist Association in Missouri.
“We subscribe to the idea that all truth belongs to God, and so we’re going to evaluate every song based on the song. If so-and-so writes a song and uses truth from God’s Word, they don’t own that song even though they may monetize it,” said Nate Jernigan, director of Crescent City Worship, a worship team with New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. “So that truth that’s always been true about God — it always will be true about God — is something that’s worth proclaiming. We want to sing songs; we want to be known as a people who are theologically insightful and thoughtful in the ways that we choose songs based on the truth it represents.”
“The voice of God is a friendly voice. No one need fear to listen to it unless he has already made up his mind to resist it. … Whoever will listen will hear the speaking heaven.”
A.W. Tozer
Author, “In Pursuit of God”
“Sometimes we are afraid of what Jesus will tell us to do because we don’t understand the why of what He’s telling us to do. We are only afraid when we don’t know the heart of the Rabbi.”
Alex Himaya, pastor
BattleCreek Church
Oklahoma
“We desire for the parents to realize that they didn’t cause this situation, learn how to create boundaries for their children and know that they are not alone in this journey. We want to reach parents who are struggling and whose children have turned away from God,” said Julie Cordry. Cordry and her husband, Pacer, serve as director of Prodigal Child Ministries. The ministry seeks to encourage and equip parents of prodigal children.
“We desire to glorify God through this ministry and ask daily for His wisdom and direction in the choices we make and to follow in obedience to Him. The relationships formed in this group are
never-ending. There is no beginning, and there is no end. It’s a beautiful picture of the gospel.”
“Romans 8 reveals … Christians are people under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They are being led in paths of righteousness, mercy, love and grace. By means of His powerful leadership and provisions, there is the kind of life which God not only promises but also provides to His people. It is a life under the guidance of the Spirit of God. It guarantees no alienation from God.”
Morris Murray Jr.
Jasper
Share with others: