By Jessica Griggs for Mennonite Church USA
En español ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Church USA) — Mennonite Church USA’s Church Vitality Office has awarded the 2024 Thrive: Church Planting Grants to five church plants across the denomination: Iglesia Cristiana Roca de Refugio, in San Antonio, Texas; Moveable Feast, in Chicago, Illinois; Summit Street Church, in Beatrice, Nebraska; The Intention Church, an online church community; and Wild Church Fresno (California).
The Thrive grant was created to help nurture MC USA-affiliated missional peace churches. The grants help relieve the financial barriers that new churches often face, creating more space for church plants to live out the gospel message and engage their local communities. New church plants — churches that are less than three years old — can apply for the $5,000 grant each year by July 31. Grant recipients may apply for a grant renewal for the two years following their initial disbursement, for a total of up to $15,000 across three years.
Three of this year’s grant recipients — Roca de Refugio, Moveable Feast and The Intention Church — received the grant for the first time, while both Summit Street Church and Wild Church Fresno received the grant for their third and final year.
“We serve a God who calls people together to create new peace churches! The Thrive grant is our small way of supporting these communities as they grow,” said Michael Danner, associate executive director of MC USA. “The Thrive grant is intended to give a boost to the work that is happening at the grassroots, in a way that empowers them to live into their unique calling.”
Iglesia Cristiana Roca de Refugio, San Antonio, Texas
Congregants from Iglesia Cristiana Roca de Refugio gather for a meal. Photo provided by Dianne Garcia.
Iglesia Cristiana Roca de Refugio is an immigrant-led church plant, serving and uplifting the immigrant community of San Antonio. Planted and pastored by Dianne Garcia, a second-generation immigrant, and shaped by a leadership team made up of four immigrant women, the church began meeting in April 2023, with a mission to provide a place of belonging and community to everyone. Recently, Iglesia Cristiana Roca de Refugio became affiliated with Mountain States Mennonite Conference.
Due to being a congregation made up mostly of asylum-seeking immigrants experiencing financial instability, the church has not been able to support itself financially and has mostly relied on grants and the support of others.
“The Thrive grant means so much to us as a small, relatively new, church serving a population of people who really want and need church but who have few tangible resources to contribute,” said Garcia.
The Thrive grant will provided the church with the ability to offer their Sunday community meals.
“We are so grateful for the support of the denomination,” said Garcia. “Since we are a church of people on the wrong side of the systems of oppression and injustice, this grant really demonstrates for us the whole denomination’s commitment to a shalom that is felt by all.”
Moveable Feast, Chicago, Illinois
Moveable Feast is an emerging community of faith that meets weekly in a restaurant/music venue in Chicago. Participants are actively engaged in peace and justice work, striving to dismantle racism, classism, misogyny and hierarchical systems. About every other month, they host an intergenerational theological activity that provides an opportunity for people of all ages to engage in faith and ethics formation in their own ways. The congregation also places an emphasis on the countercultural practice of keeping the Sabbath and prioritizing rest. Moveable Feast is affiliated with Central District Conference.
While attendees are eager to participate in acts of service, many are not yet prepared to support the church financially, so the Thrive grant will help cover rent for their Sunday worship space, provide the resources to help them engage in outreach efforts and allow for a pastoral stipend.
“The Thrive grant is helping our community focus on welcoming new people into our midst and building relationships with them,” said pastor Celeste Kennel-Shank. “I am excited about the work I am doing with several families to redesign our interfaith gatherings to have children and youth at the center. We will explore scripture and engage our creative gifts in an intergenerational setting.”
Summit Street Church, Beatrice, Nebraska
Summit Street Church is a missional church replant in Beatrice. Formerly Beatrice Mennonite Church, the church voted to start fresh beginning in 2021, focusing on becoming more missional and being a church for people who don’t feel like they belong or are uninterested in church. Summit Street Church is affiliated with Western District Conference.
“The ongoing Thrive grant distributions have allowed Summit Street Church to rebrand and take the initial steps toward acting more missionally,” said pastor Andrew Dungan. “We have grown relationships with other churches that are interested in what being missional means. A lot of the money from the past two years’ grants went to subsidizing pastoral financial support, but things are stabilizing, and today, the church is able to support me full-time.”
In addition to supporting the pastor, the Thrive grant funds have allowed the church to host an annual trunk-or-treat event that serves the wider community of Beatrice, purchase new lighting, support marketing initiatives and create a book study for people inside and outside of the congregation.
Read more about Summit Street Church and their previous Thrive grants here.
The Intention Church, an online church community
The Intention Church meets online, via Zoom. Names and faces blurred to respect their privacy. Photo provided by Tim Amor.
The Intention Church was founded by Trey Ferguson and meets online, via Zoom, weekly. This online gathering is not intended to replace, or even resemble, standard in-person services; rather, they meet together to form meaningful relationships, study the Bible and share in communion. They introduce Anabaptist and Black church theology to people who may not have ever encountered these ways of thinking before. The Intention Church is an emerging faith community affiliated with Central District Conference.
The Intention Church launched its first official services last month. The Thrive grant allowed The Intention Church to move ahead with their plans to launch in September. The grant is helping fund the pastor’s salary, at-home resources for individuals and small groups, and in-person regional and national gatherings planned for 2025.
“We’re most excited about providing a seat at the table for people who may be skeptical about church, but haven’t ruled Jesus out yet,” Ferguson said. “We’ve been able to connect people with very different journeys to the story of Jesus. In The Intention Church, people find that church is not about where we go, but who we are.”
Wild Church Fresno, Fresno, California
Attendees participate in Wild Church Fresno’s Easter Sunrise Hike 2024.
Photo by Ana Sanchez.
Wild Church Fresno is part of the worldwide Wild Church Network. They meet outdoors year-round, usually on the banks of the San Joaquin River, on the first Sunday of each month. They aim to create a safe and inclusive space where people of all walks of life can encounter God through reconnecting with all of creation — plants, soil, water and all creatures. Wild Church Fresno is affiliated with Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference.
The Thrive grant has offered Wild Church Fresno the opportunity to hire and pay an administrative assistant, who has increased their reach and efficiency, as well as provide honorariums for guest speakers. With some of last year’s grant funds, they were able to host a camping retreat to celebrate the Divine in nature and provide an additional avenue for fellowship, and they hope to use some of this year’s funds to offer another, similar retreat.
“We would encourage those who are thinking about starting a Wild Church fellowship to jump in,” said Heather Hilscher, a Wild Church Fresno council member. “We have been amazed at how many people are just looking to connect with the Divine in nature. They are hungry for fellowship with those who are seeking the same. It doesn’t have to be fancy or slick. It’s just you and the inspiration of nature.”
Read more about Wild Church Fresno and their previous Thrive grants here.
Applications for the 2025 Thrive: Church Planting Grant may be submitted by MC USA credentialed church plants May 1-July 31, with awards communicated and delivered in August. Find more information about the application process here.
Mennonite Church USA is an Anabaptist Christian denomination, founded in 2002 by the merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. Members of this historic peace church seek to follow Jesus by rejecting violence and resisting injustice. MC USA’s Renewed Commitments state the following shared commitments among its diverse body of believers: to follow Jesus, witness to God’s peace and experience the transformation of the Holy Spirit. Mennoniteusa.org