LCANZ’s Local Mission Fund launched

If your congregation has a local mission idea that needs financial support to become a reality, then the LCANZ’s new Local Mission Fund may be the answer to your prayers. Launched on 2 July 2024, the fund is now open for expressions of interest and applications for funding from congregations, districts and agencies. A total of $400,000 is being made available annually, with several seed project funding grants of up to $10,000 each year and a number of major project (Local Mission Fund) grants of up to $100,000 each.

Local Mission Coordinator Jodi Brook says the fund aims to support church entities as they ‘seek new ways of reaching their local communities with the gospel’. ‘Through the Local Mission Fund, we are seeking to support the mission needs of a church in an ever-changing environment, as we all work to share the unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ’, she says.

LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith is hopeful that the fund – the establishment of which was authorised by the General Church Board earlier this year – will help to ‘enhance a missional culture across the church’. ‘This is a new approach to local mission’, Bishop Paul says. ‘This fund is designed to help keep a strong focus on our witness and our service to our Lord in our local communities. This is to enhance what is called a “missional culture”, as we walk together by faith in the mission of God. So, I encourage you to consider what mission activity in your local community could be the focus of an application for support. This begins with your prayer, as you ask the Lord to guide you.’

Applicants for the larger Local Mission Fund grants may wish to submit an expression of interest and receive feedback before submitting an application.

For more information, including the fund application process, guidelines and full selection criteria, visit the dedicated webpage here. You can also download expression of interest and application forms and watch the launch video.

Expressions of interest close on Wednesday 24 July 2024. Applications for Local Mission Fund and Seed Project Fund grants close on Monday 26 August 2024.