Two CRC Congregations Win National Grant

June 27, 2008 -- The Fund for Theological Education has given a $12,000 leadership development grant to a pair of Christian Reformed Church in North America congregations that have been working together in youth ministry, according to a press release sent out this week by the FTE.

Madison Square Church and Oakdale Park Church, both in Grand Rapids, Mich., are the only CRC congregations that will receive one of the six grants awarded this spring.

Coming from the FTE's Culture of Calls grant program, the money will go toward the Madison/Oakdale Leadership Initiative. This collaboration, says the press release, is "focused on developing a deeper sense of God's call on young lives. Working with mentors and instructors, journaling and self-reporting, young people identify their own gifts as leaders." 

Madison Square and Oakdale are located in the same neighborhood on the southeast side of the city. Oakdale is Madison Square's mother church.

The FTE is supported by the Lilly Endowment. Grants for spring 2008 were also given to a Catholic campus ministry in Dallas, Texas; a Congregational church in Glen Ellyn, Ill.; a college church in Berry College, Ga.; a Lutheran church in Edgewood, Wash., and a United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, Minn.

The FTE's overall Calling Congregations initiative seeks to establish a national network of 500 congregational and church-related partners by 2009. The Fund also offers regional workshops and national conferences; training programs; teaching tools and Web-based resources, and up to 40 fellowships annually which match a congregation's financial support toward tuition and expenses for a young church member's first year of seminary. 

The leadership development grants provide funding for congregations and church-related organizations that are involved in the lives, education and vocational discernment of young people in their congregation or local area. Each award ranges between $3,000 and $12,000. September 1, 2008 is the deadline for submission of letters of intent for the Fall 2008 grant cycle for interested congregations and church-related organizations.

For more information about FTE, visit www.thefund.org or view their congregational grants page.

- CRC Communications