Church and Society Board Awards Grants for 2026

Below are the 2026 grant awards through the Peace with Justice, Ethnic Local Church and Human Relations Day grant categories.

Peace with Justice

Funding for projects is generated by local churches and Conferences from the Peace with Justice Sunday offering which “witnesses to God’s demand for a faithful, just, disarmed, and secure world.” Fifty percent of the offering is retained in the Annual Conferences and the remainder is forwarded to the General Church (see ¶263.5 and ¶825.5 of the 2020/2024 Book of Discipline).

The board approved funding for 12 Peace with Justice grants totaling $29,750.

• Build Peaceful Campuses (Sierra Leone Annual Conference)

• Christians and Muslims Walking Together (Northern Nigeria Annual Conference)

• Da Voz A Accao (Mozambique South Annual conference)

• Living Beloved Life (North Georgia Annual Conference)

• Lumbumbashi Youth for Peace (South Congo-Zambia Annual Conference)

• Montgomery Sacred Sites Justice Walk (Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference)

• Paix et Justice (North Katanga Annual Conference)

• Peace and Justice Students (Central Congo Annual Conference)

• Peace Through Representation (California-Pacific Annual Conference)

• Re-Engaging with History (Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference)

• TarPac Peace- Justice Advocacy (Tarlac Philippines Annual Conference)

• UMC Church- School Partnerships (Horizon Texas Annual Conference)

Ethnic Local Church

The program/project directly impacts one or more specific United Methodist racial/ethnic local church(es) or communities. Racial/ethnic persons comprise the majority of those impacted by this program/project. The program/project must focus on the self-identified needs of ethnic local church(es) and persons as they address one or more chronic social issues or concerns (cf: UMC 2025-2028 Social Principles).

The board approved funding for 13 Ethnic Local Church grants totaling $31,000.

• Amigos En Cristo (Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference)

• Building Bridges (Southern Nigeria Annual Conference)

• Cultures in Harmony (Kenya-Ethiopia Annual Conference)

• Équité et Voix Autochtones (Equatorial and Oriental Annual Conference)

• Hope Beyond the Streets (Tanzania Annual Conference)

• Language & Identity Workshop (Great Plains Annual Conference)

• Neon at MSU Mankato (Minnesota Annual Conference)

• Paix Continuite (Upemba Annual Conference)

• Sand Creek/Boarding School (Mountain Sky Annual Conference)

• Témoignages et Égalité (East Congo Annual Conference)

• Uplift IP Displaced Community (Mindanao Annual Conference)

• We Do Together (Virginia Annual Conference)

• Young People without Tribalism (West Congo Annual Conference)

Human Relations Day

The purpose of the Human Relations Day Grant is to provide funding to promote ministries that respond to non-violent young offenders through advocacy and community engagement. Human Relations Day is a churchwide Special Sunday of The United Methodist Church, offered on the closest Sunday to the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Ten percent of the Human Relations Day offering supports the Human Relations Day Grant. The Book of Discipline describes the purpose of Human Relations Day as a call to “the Church to recognize the right of all God’s children in realizing their potential as human beings in relationship with each other.” (2020/2024 Book of Discipline, ¶263.1)

The board approved funding for 15 Human Relations Day grants totaling $40,000.

• Advocacy for Civic Inclusion of Kisangani (Equatorial and Oriental Annual Conference)

• Camp Beloved Expansion (Michigan Annual Conference)

• Child Justice Initiative – Kasanja Children’s Home (Uganda-South Sudan Annual Conference)

• “Do No Harm to the Earth” (Liberia Annual Conference)

• Empowered Voices: Youth-Led (Kenya-Ethiopia Annual Conference)

• Kairos Blanket Exercise NIEA (California-Nevada Annual Conference)

• “Made in God’s Image” Youth Training (Kenya-Ethiopia Annual Conference)

• Mediators for Demobilized Youth (Equatorial and Oriental Annual Conference)

• Pax Silica Is Not Peace (Manila Episcopal Area)

• Peace Building on the Bateke (Western Congo Annual Conference)

• Restorative Justice Peace Circles for Des Plaines (Northern Illinois Annual Conference)

• Restoring Hope (Guinea-Bissau Mission District)

• Respecting Child Rights (Northern Nigeria Annual Conference)

• Second Chances, Shared Walls, Common Table (Virginia Annual Conference)

• UMC KASAI Entrepreneurship (Kasai Annual Conference)