Church and Society Board Awards Social Justice Program Grants for 2024
As a tangible way to extend the justice ministry of Church and Society, the board of directors awarded $100,000 in grants to 39 ministries across the Connection.
Below are the 2024 grant awards to United Methodist congregations and groups related to The United Methodist Church through the Peace with Justice, Ethnic Local Church and Human Relations Day programs.
PEACE WITH JUSTICE GRANTS
The board approved funding for 13 grants totaling $30,000. View grant recipients.
Funding for projects is generated by local United Methodist churches and Conferences from the Peace with Justice Sunday offering which “witnesses to God’s demands 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 paragraphs of the 2016 Book of Discipline 263.5 and 823.5)
ETHNIC LOCAL CHURCH GRANTS
The board approved funding for 9 grants totaling $30,000. View grant recipients.
Church and Society provides these grants that directly impact 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: Social Principles of The United Methodist Church).
HUMAN RELATIONS DAY GRANTS
The board approved funding for 17 grants totaling $40,000. View grant recipients page one and continued on page two.
Human Relations Day is a church-wide 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. These grants provide funds to promote ministries that respond to non-violent young offenders through advocacy and community engagement. 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.
