Covenant United Methodist Church

$10,000–$75,000 · Annual cycle; letters of intent due each fall

Funds congregations and faith-based nonprofits serving the health needs of the least served — wellness programs, food security, mental health ministry, and community nursing. Strong fit for churches whose building or care ministry could host a health-focused outreach.

First step: List the health needs you already see in your neighborhood (food access, isolation, mental health) and which of your spaces could host a response.

Suggested because: Mission & Outreach averaged 2.5 / 5

$5,000–$25,000 · Quarterly review

Seed funding for new missional experiments — dinner churches, fresh expressions, neighborhood listening initiatives, and pilot ministries a church budget can't yet carry. Designed for trying something new, not sustaining what exists.

First step: Name one population your church is not reaching and sketch a 90-day experiment to be present with them; that sketch is the heart of the application.

Suggested because: Mission & Outreach averaged 2.5 / 5; Governance & Leadership averaged 2.3 / 5

Loan amounts vary; counsel at no cost · Rolling

Below-market financing and consultation for churches reimagining underused property as a missional asset — community kitchens, co-working space, affordable housing partnerships, shared nonprofit space.

First step: Run the trustees' missional asset audit: list every space and how often it sits empty, then bring the list to a TMF area representative.

Suggested because: Governance & Leadership averaged 2.3 / 5

Awarded through intermediary programs · Watch for conference-hosted cohort openings

Large national initiative funding congregational renewal — typically accessed through a conference, seminary, or foundation cohort rather than directly. Cohorts pair funding with guided discernment over 2–3 years.

First step: Ask your district superintendent which Lilly-funded cohorts the conference is hosting or joining this year.

Suggested because: Discipleship & Formation averaged 2.3 / 5

$2,500–$15,000 · Spring applications

Conference seed money for fresh expressions and new faith communities — dinner church, recovery ministry, school-based community, digital community. Usually requires a named pioneer and a sending congregation willing to release them.

First step: Identify the 2–3 people in your congregation best equipped to pioneer, and have an honest conversation about releasing them.

Suggested because: Mission & Outreach averaged 2.5 / 5

Underwritten; minimal cost to participants · Cohorts form annually

Peer cohorts for pastors and lay leadership teams wrestling with institutional-to-missional change — facilitated conversation, not curriculum. Especially strong for councils and SPRCs learning to define pastoral success missionally.

First step: Bring the idea to your SPRC and council chairs together — the cohort works best when lay leadership joins the pastor, not just sends them.

Suggested because: Governance & Leadership averaged 2.3 / 5

Varies; conference partnerships often cover cost · Rolling

Training and one-on-one coaching for lay and clergy pioneers starting new forms of church. Includes the Pioneer Learning Community model — monthly coaching alongside a national peer network.

First step: Send one curious lay person to a Fresh Expressions Vision Day (online or regional) and have them report back to the council.

Suggested because: Mission & Outreach averaged 2.5 / 5; Discipleship & Formation averaged 2.3 / 5

Low cost — materials and trainer travel · Rolling

Training in David Lowes Watson's Covenant Discipleship model — small accountability groups built on a shared rule of life, the modern recovery of the Wesleyan class meeting. The natural next step for Sunday school classes ready to move from content to accountability.

First step: Recruit 4–5 people willing to try a weekly accountability group for one quarter, and order the 'Disciples Making Disciples' guide.

Suggested because: Discipleship & Formation averaged 2.3 / 5

No cost · Rolling

A structured match with a pastor one or two steps ahead in the same shift — someone who has reoriented a council, repurposed a building, or launched a fresh expression and can say what it actually cost. Ask the district to broker the introduction.

First step: Email your DS naming the specific shift you're attempting and ask who in the conference has already made it.

Suggested because: Governance & Leadership averaged 2.3 / 5

Volunteer time; modest supply costs · Coordinate before the school year starts

A sustained relationship with the nearest public school — reading buddies, teacher appreciation, weekend food backpacks, mentoring. The most reliable on-ramp to genuine neighborhood presence, and schools will tell you exactly what they need.

First step: Call the school's front office, ask for the counselor or family liaison, and ask one question: 'What do your families need that no one is providing?'

Suggested because: Mission & Outreach averaged 2.5 / 5

Per-pound handling fees; far below retail · Rolling onboarding

Becoming a partner agency turns an underused fellowship hall or kitchen into a neighborhood pantry with professional supply chain behind it — and puts members in weekly, face-to-face relationship with neighbors.

First step: Check your regional food bank's partner-agency requirements (storage, refrigeration, volunteer hours) against your facility.

Suggested because: Mission & Outreach averaged 2.5 / 5; Governance & Leadership averaged 2.3 / 5

Space and utilities · Rolling

Hosting recovery groups is the lowest-barrier building partnership there is — and for many churches the start of a deeper recovery ministry or fresh expression. Trustees build the relationship; the congregation learns its building can serve people who never attend worship.

First step: Have a trustee contact the local AA intergroup office and offer a consistent weekly room at no charge.

Suggested because: Governance & Leadership averaged 2.3 / 5; Mission & Outreach averaged 2.5 / 5

No cost — shared effort · Start anytime

A covenant between nearby congregations to share what none can do alone — joint youth ministry, combined mission projects, pulpit exchange, a shared fresh expression. Counters the scarcity reflex that keeps small churches in preservation mode.

First step: Invite the pastors of the two nearest congregations to lunch and ask what each church does well that the others could borrow.

Suggested because: Discipleship & Formation averaged 2.3 / 5; Mission & Outreach averaged 2.5 / 5