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1.1 Questions are raised by many concerning the future of the United Reformed Church. Much less is made of examples of success. It is some of these latter that are celebrated here by detailing some of the grants paid through the Mission Councils Advocacy group on Grants and Loans.

1.2 The stories told below concern situations where an apparently small amount of money given from Assembly funds has been able to make a surprising difference: struggling projects have suddenly taken off, an initial grant demonstrating the church’s faith in a development has enabled those involved to obtain other, often much bigger, grants to secure the future of the work.

2.1 Some of the grants are to support general areas of work, such as for County Ecumenical Officers (CEO) and educational chaplaincy. For example, 22 CEOs receive support, and l6 education chaplaincies, mostly in higher education establishments. In the latter, grants are often given to situations where the chaplain is being provided by another Church, but the United Reformed Church is a partner in the work.

2.2 Grants also help the development of ecumenical ministry in Orpington, Swindon and Weston-super-Mare. There has also been a recent pastorate grant to a rural group of churches in the Brecon area of the Mid Wales District to support an inter-denominational team ministry.

2.3 There have also been grants to cover the expenses of Church Related Community Workers, Special Category Ministers, and a major contribution over five years to the Birmingham Inner City Mission Council. This Council was established by the District to help and co-ordinate projects particularly in the inner city churches, and it is the only instance where a block grant is made to an organisation, rather than to individual projects. The Council also receives substantial matching funds from local churches and the West Midlands Province. The variety of projects involve work at the Balsall Heath, Bloomsbury, South Aston, and Lodge Road and Winson Green Churches, and cover nurseries, work with women, lunch clubs, a day centre for the elderly, and youth groups.

3.1 The following are a sample only of the projects supported across the Provinces. Please note that grants are annual ones, normally given for up to three years.

3.2 £3,000 has gone to Woodhouse Park Family Centre in Wythenshawe, Manchester, to help fund a Family Worker to provide support and play opportunities for children and families in the areas through an After School Club, Contact Sessions, and a Pre-school Drop-in Group.

3.3 The ecumenical Old Trafford Community Development Project has received, £2,300 towards the training costs of a Development Worker. The Project is helping ensure local residents have a voice and the opportunity to play a full part in local life, and is working with the local council to regenerate the area. The Project also receives support from the local authority, the Health Authority, the churches Urban Fund, and the local TEC agency. Locally, Kelloggs has already promised an additional £5,000 a year for five years. Future plans include the production of a local newspaper.

3.4 £3,000 has gone to the Kings Cross Project in inner Widnes towards a Counselling and Advice Worker. The Project has been going for five years working with a wide range of groups, and providing a large number of services to the local community. It is supported by several of the churches and receives funds from trusts and the local authority.

3.5 The Children and Family Project at Shiregreen URC, Sheffield, part of the Sheffield Inner City Ecumenical Mission, has received £3,000. Since 1993, the Project has run an increasing range of activities for under 11s, over 11s and parents on a 1930s council estate. The Project has been able to employ a Project Worker and, as well raising funds itself, also receives support from the Yorkshire Province, Children in Need, the Church Urban Fund, the City Council and various local trusts.

3.6 The Bridge Centre is part of the Boulevard Community Ministry in the urban priority area of Hyson Green, Nottingham. It has received £3,000 for the placement of a ‘Time for God’ volunteer and is a drop-in centre offering affordable meals, clothing and toys, art and keep fit groups, etc. It is planning to set up an alcohol treatment centre.

3.7 Friary URC in West Bridgford, Nottingham, has had £3,000 towards the costs of its drop-in centre for the homeless and unemployed. Local Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches support the Centre and, among the many services provided, there is now a GP surgery.

3.8 £3,000 was given towards the expenses of the Justice and Peace Worker from South India at the Milton Keynes Peace and Justice Centre, and £4,650 for the expenses of a CRCW at the Ortons, Peterborough.

3.9 £2,100 was given for URC ministerial expenses in Church Langley, a new village on the outskirts of Harlow where 10,000 people will be living in a few years’ time. A new church and community centre have been established by the URC in conjunction with the Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and Roman Catholic Churches.

3.10 £5,500 has been provided to support a Methodist Diaconal Worker in a new housing area in North Swindon, which by 2011 will have a population of 200,000. The Free Churches are supplying ministry for the first site, and will be contributing to the second.

3.11 £l,000 has been given to the Hackney Churches’ Immigration Bureau, established in 1995 by the local Anglican and URC Churches as a response to the Government restrictions on applications for visas and right to stay. Based at the Rectory Road URC, by 1995-96 it had dealt with over 120 enquiries, being actively involved in 36 cases.

3.12 A grant has been made to the Hastings Village Ministry Project. This imaginative initiative of lay leadership was set up in 1993 to provide support for three village churches in the Hastings area through the work of two ‘Village Pastors’. They lead worship, run home groups, work with women and children, and undertake pastoral visiting in the churches at Ashburnham, Robertsbridge and Sedlescombe. Each church has a tiny membership and is in a different country situation. In each, the work has seen major developments, with growing congregations, increased outreach, and a greater ability for the churches to stand on their own feet.

3.13 The Vines and Cuxton URCs in Rochester have been granted £3,000 to support two young workers, whom it is hoped will eventually resource several local churches. Their work is to build on a core of activities for young people, mainly weekly youth clubs, and youth Bible study groups, as well as developing contacts with local schools.

3.14 Sheerness URC has received £2,000 for a mission audit worker to assess the viability of the church, explore the possible role of the church in the town, and encourage it to have the confidence to become more outward looking. The worker is accommodated by a neighbouring Anglican church, and also works with the youth of that parish.

3.15 £1,000 has been given to the Black/White Economy Project, part of the South London Industrial Mission, and led by the Pastor of the Emmanuel Inspirational Church of God in Croydon. The Project works particularly with black-led churches on questions of race equality in employment, and also receives funds from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Foundation.

3.16 Penrhys, Llanfair, has received a £2,000 grant for a student volunteer to serve as musical director. Penrhys is an isolated 1960s housing estate in the Rhondda Valley, with many problems, particularly long-term high unemployment. Much has been done through the church/community centre, especially in the area of education, which includes a music programme. This provides a children’s choir and free instrumental lessons run by the student volunteer.

4.1 The above descriptions are necessarily brief, but they serve to illustrate what small amounts of money can do when used imaginatively. In 1997, these totalled over £63,000 in new grants, and about £32,000 in extensions of grants.

They also show the very considerable involvement of the URC in all kinds of projects in local communities, frequently working ecumenically.

4.2 As the report from Penrhys says, it is ‘seed corn’, enabling something to be started. As Friary West Bridgford comments, ‘The grant proves invaluable both in supporting the work and in demonstrating that the URC nationally does care about the work’.

This is an Advisory Group to Mission Council established by Assembly in 1992 ‘to advise Mission Council and specialised Committees of Assembly on grants and loans from central funds in support of the local ministry of projects which are designed to develop the outreach of the church and which are applied for by a provincial synod or by a local church or district council with synod approval.’ It was reviewed by Mission Council in January 1996, and its continuation supported.

Apart from its Convener, Simon Rowntree and Secretary, David Lane, the membership is made up of certain Church House staff representing Committees of the Assembly.

The Group meets in April, July and December. Leaflets on ‘URC Grant-Making Bodies’ and ‘Grants for Projects: How to Apply’ have been revised and distributed via the Information Service recently for the use of local churches and others seeking funds. Those applying for grants do so through the Secretary, who prepares the papers for meetings, usually with a recommendation for action. He can be contacted at 49 Woodcote Avenue, Wallington, Surrey SM6 OQU.

Copyright © 1998, United Reformed Church

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