Mission Expansion

Eligibility for mission funding is contingent on churches faithfully supporting the diocese.

• Before considering the application, the Diocesan Council will verify with the Chief Operating Officer that MPP applicants are consistently supporting the diocese with at least 10% of their undesignated offerings, or have an active plan to reach this level of support. If your church is not currently meeting these standards but still would like to apply, please contact the Chief Operating Officer to create a plan for reaching the tithing requirement.
  • NOTE: We understand that a nascent church plant that is seeking a Ministry Grant may be operating on a thin margin in terms of tithes, offerings, and expenses. Nevertheless, it is crucial to establish the principle of faithful 10% support as early as possible in the life of a parish. Stories abound of God’s blessing to and through those who honor him with faithfulness in offerings. In addition, the Diocese of Christ our Hope gives 50% of its offerings to the work of the Gospel though granting Ministry Grants and other missional efforts. We are only able to do that because the churches and church plants of the diocese are faithful and generous themselves.

Funding must be used only for the purpose for which it was requested and granted. Changes to the purpose of the funding must be requested in advance in writing to the Working Group. Redirection of funding without permission from the Diocesan council will result in withdrawal of the grant.

Grant Recipients are required to submit semi-annual reports to the Working Group regarding the status of the project funded by the grant. Reports are due on January 31 and July 31 every year for the duration of the grant. Failure to submit a report in a timely manner may result in withdrawal of the grant.

The standard Church plant grant is a 6 year grant totaling $210,000. The amount given per year is recommended as 20k-40k-60k-50k-30k-10k. The final amount, length, and allocation can vary from recommendations. Any variance is explained in the application. It is understood that some rural or regional plants may require additional funding.

Church Planting is the creation of a new DCOH church that has an eye towards these three long term goals.  Namely, that the church becomes:

1. Self-governing – the congregation is led internally with a properly selected and confirmed rector in conformity with our diocesan Constitution and Canons, and naturally develops an elected, rotating vestry (leadership council) in conformity with our Constitution and Canons. 
2. Self-replicating – the congregation grows toward the capacity and vision to be able to participate actively in planting new Anglican churches in the Diocese through the normal deanery mission strategies and faithful 10% support to the diocese. Additionally, a self-replicating church will, by definition, expand its own Gospel mission in other strategic, creative, and prayerful ways in coordination with DCOH leaders and clergy, other Anglican entities, etc.
3. Self-sustaining – the congregation is able to fund its basic ministry operations, diocesan tithing, and the Rector’s full-time compensation from monies generated internally.

A Church Planting Grant is designed to contribute substantially to the creation of a new church plant by supporting one of the two pathways:

1. A new work that has a church planter in place with approximately 20 participating adults. 
2. An existing congregation to support a church planter who is actively being trained and supported to plant a daughter church out of their existing congregation. The development of the daughter church includes the recruiting, training, empowering, and releasing of a church planter with a launch team. Such a process is assumed to be completed and a new church well-launched in no more than 6 years.  In this case, the new plant would not be eligible for an additional church planting grant once the 6 years of funding for the grant are completed.

*All church planters within the diocese receiving grant funds must participate in the Diocesan church planter assessment, training, and coaching process of the diocese.

To provide consistent, quality training for newly (or soon-to-be) ordained deacons and priests, churches can apply for funds to support the creation of a 10 year Curacy Accelerator Program (CAP). This program, built on the Made to Flourish model will offer a DCOH-designed curriculum for training curates and will be funded over the course of multiple years, tapering off year by year,  with the expectation that the local church will make up the balance of costs each year until they are able to fully support curacies from within their own budget for years ahead. We do encourage churches applying for a curacy incubator to also apply for funds through Made to Flourish. 

The standard CAP Grant is a six year grant for $210,000. The amount given per year as 60k-50k-40k-30k-20k-10k.

In order to properly evaluate and discern funding opportunities, all MPP applications must adhere to the following timeline and deadlines.

All documentation is to be submitted electronically to the Chief Operating Officer.

All Grant application steps are to be completed before the dates noted below. 

February 1st: All Ministry Grant Applications are sent to their Dean and Deanery.  

March 1st: Deanery meeting held to give the applicant feedback, not approval.  This meeting is recommended to be separate from the Deanery Retreat. The Diocese requests it be done via a recorded virtual meeting process (Zoom, Google Meet…). The recording will be submitted as part of the application process.

April 1st: Final Grant Application is submitted via the online application.

May 15th: The Working Group reviews applications, interviews applicants and produces a Report of Recommended Grants to the Diocesan Council.  

June 30th: The  Diocesan Council votes on final grant decisions.

July 30th: All Grant applicants are notified if their application has been funded.

If you have any questions, please contact the Chief Operating Officer