SHARING CHRIST’S LOVE AND JOINING IN THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN OUR COMMUNITIES AND BEYOND.
Beginning a New or Strengthening an Existing Ministry
Behavioral Health Ministry Team
in partnership with Rev. Kris Leaman & Amy Mellies
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$5,000
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Mental Health is a leading cause of death in all age groups, especially in youth where suicide is now the second leading cause of death for teens, and many of us do not know how to handle a crisis situation or talk about mental health. Education is key and the Behavioral Health Ministry Team would like to educate as many inside and outside of our congregations as possible on how to help in a mental health crisis, take care of themselves and others, and provide open and safe spaces for mental health discussions. The Behavioral Health Ministry Team (which begun out of previously received GILEAD Grants) has learned so much about mental health in the past two years and has built relationships with several local mental health organizations. We plan in the coming year to set up more educational opportunities. We are looking into creating retreats for youth and members of the LGBTQ+ community, sending out resources for clergy and creating educational opportunities for them as well. We want to partner with and support providers who serve some of our neglected communities in the diocese. As we continue to craft and refine BHMT, we hope to serve as a model for other dioceses in The Episcopal Church. Grant funds will be mainly be used on educational sessions for all within the diocese. We are planning schedule sessions around the diocese with several specialists in the mental health arena, and continue to partner with local and statewide mental health organizations.
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Caring Conversations
at Christ Church, Cedar Rapids
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$2,418
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There are many excellent groups that provide mental health and suicide prevention resources within the Cedar Rapids area, but we have learned that an underserved community is the faith community. Too often faith leaders don’t have the training and resources to deal with people in their congregations who might be dealing with either suicidal ideation, a mental health crisis, or the aftermath of a suicide, and faith leaders are not always uniformly trained on how to support parishioners who are either struggling with mental health issues and suicide themselves, or who have a loved one who struggles. We feel that in training faith leaders, congregations themselves will be healthier. We are also aware that the diocese of Iowa has in the past funded other mental health initiatives, most notably the Behavioral Health Ministry Team. Inroads have already been made to potentially link and share resources and ideas between our group (which we have titled “Caring Conversations”) and key members of the Ministry Team. We are proposing a day long workshop on mental health as well as suicide awareness and prevention specifically geared towards faith leaders. Proposed topics would include addressing the stigma of mental illness and suicide. Myths surrounding mental illness and suicide. An overview of national and statewide crisis lines. And, perhaps most importantly, how to make your faith community a safe place for a parishioner suffering from suicidal ideation and mental health issues. Grant funds will be used to advertise the event in the area, inform the community of this program, and to provide honorariums for guest facilitators and a light lunch for participants.
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Celtic Evensong with Holy Communion
at Christ Church, Cedar Rapids
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$5,000
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This fall we would like to start a Celtic Evensong with Holy Communion service. A Celtic service is a centuries old form of worship begun in Ireland which spread to Scotland and Britain and has its roots in honoring God’s gift of our creation and the creation that surrounds us. The elements of the service promote a deeper and more visceral experience as we find God’s presence through the ordinary in life. It is with listening to the music, singing the hymns, being present in the quietness, and lifting our prayers that we become fully immersed in the service and in knowing God’s presence. The intent of having this service offered is to establish a consistent place and time in which people of all faith traditions and those without a faith tradition can come together as a community for the purpose of deepening their own spirituality and experience a time of healing. A Celtic service can provide a prayerfully meditative, contemplative, and restorative service where those attending might discover something uniquely healing. This type of service is not offered in the community of Cedar Rapids and so we feel that it can fill a spiritual and healing need for both the members of this church and for those in our surrounding community. We also know that families and others who cannot attend the traditional Sunday morning services due to timing or activities may find this Sunday evening service time more accessible. Grant funds will be used to purchase needed candles, bulletin copies, and advertisement, and the biggest expense they will help with is the stipends or honorariums for the Celtic musicians. The service will take place each Sunday evening at 6:00pm at the church.
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The Listening Post, a ThreeHouse Campus Ministry
with St. Luke’s, Cedar Falls
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$5,000
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The Listening Post (a ThreeHouse Campus Ministries collaboration) on the UNI campus provides a safe space for students and faculty to have conversations and connect with compassionate and encouraging listeners, and is centered on modeling the radical message of the Gospel, “God loves you. No exceptions.” Through extensive research, campus and community conversations, and in collaboration with UNI’s Counseling Center, we identified an increasing need for providing safe and welcoming listening spaces in which people can share their experiences of isolation, transitions, discernment, and discrimination. Listeners receive training in matters of mental health, LGBTQ+ ally, veteran issues, and other relevant areas, including how to refer people to professional help if needed. Through feedback received from students, faculty, and staff we know that The Listening Post provides a welcomed and consistent space and presence on campus, especially in the current climate of political and social division, ever-restricting legislation, increasing mental health issues exasperated by the pandemic, and global distress. We intentionally started with a small group last year so that we could be flexible and make changes as the semester went on, and we were able to further asses the need for such a ministry and to learn key factors necessary in creating and maintaining a thriving, sought-after presence on campus. We plan to double our listening offerings to twice a week in the fall. To help with that expansion, we will double the number of listeners, inviting other ThreeHouse partnering congregations (Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Disciples of Christ) to become trained listeners. Grant funds will be used to provide the necessary trainings for our listeners as well as provide funds to purchase much needed signage, snacks, table toppers, and printed materials so we can continue to expand our identity on campus.
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Formation for Youth or Young Adults
Youth Minister
at St. John’s by the Campus, Ames
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$5,000
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St. John’s by-the-Campus has traditionally been a tent pole for Youth Ministry in the Diocese of Iowa, and parents and youth have expressed a desire for increased opportunities for formation, discipleship and fellowship. Through a recent conversation, framed in the language of asset-based community development, we discerned that St. John’s is richly blessed with gifts to serve youth and families. We believe we are strongest when our children and youth are empowered and supported and feel called to continue this ministry. We hope to hire a part time minister for youth and children who will aid the priest in gathering youth already present, empowering parents and volunteers, and advocate for the needs and gifts of this segment of our community. We want youth to feel safe and that they belong just as they are, learn about the many opportunities of service within the church (ie. acolyting, altar guide, choir, etc), and learn how they can make change in the community we live in. We would love to connect the youth at St. John’s with the outreach ministries we already work with (Food at First, Good Neighbor, and Bridge Home) and also introduce them to other non-profits in the community that they can help with and learn from. Grant funds will be used to fund the stipend of the youth minister.
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Music Scholars
at St. John’s, Dubuque
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$5,000
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Dubuque is a unique university town, home to the University of Dubuque and Seminary, Loras College, Clarke University, Northeast Iowa Technical College, and Wartburg Theological Seminary. Nearby within the tri-state region are Divine Word College and the University of Wisconsin at Platteville. In the last five years, St. John’s ministered to students from many of these institutions, welcoming some as regular worshippers and participants in parish life. We also welcomed twenty students in one of our scholars’ programs and these students energized our congregation and in turn these students told us we ministered to and positively impacted their faith and lives. We believe it is time to reboot our ministry to and with young adults attending the academic institutions in our region, and we intend on doing this by establishing a music scholars’ program, as well as through regular fellowship and service opportunities for young adults. Young adults who are gifted and interested in music, traditional and contemporary, will be invited into the life of St. John’s for a semester. During this time, students will be encouraged in their faith, given opportunities to develop their musical talents, and to learn about the Episcopal tradition of Christianity in worship, service, fellowship, and formation. The music scholars will form the core of what we will hope will be a renewed ministry to young adults at St. John’s. Grant funds will be used for stipends for eight music scholar positions, food and supplies for six fellowship and/or formation opportunities for the scholars and Dubuque young adults, and marketing and advertisements for the positions/opportunities.
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Simpson Youth Academy
in partnership with Rev. Eric Rucker
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$5,000
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The Simpson College Youth Academy is a year-long, ecumenical program for Iowan high school youth grounded in the conviction that young people have gifts and power that are essential for the healing of the world now. Through college-level intellectual engagement, training in worship and prayer leadership, and reflective service around community issues, we help youth step into mature young adult Christian faith as they discern their particular callings as agents of justice in their churches and the world. One example of this collaboration with the local church is SYA’s successful utilization of Gilead growth grants in 2020, 2021, and 2022 to recruit four youth to the current student cohort. During those years and currently, we continue to adapt and grow the program by utilizing feedback from our participants and partners. Grant funds will be used to provide tuition scholarships for Episcopal youth, LGBTQ youth, and youth whose racial or economic status inhibit their ability to pay tuition for the program’s summer residency. Scholarships for these populations address critical needs in our communities. First, the Episcopal Church in America is rapidly aging and shrinking. Thus urgent, intentional investment in forming young Episcopalians is needed to sustain our church institution. Second, American LGBTQ youth are faced with consistent marginalization at higher rates than non-LGBTQ youth by the general public and by religious communities. And third, this Diocese is committed to acting tangibly to combat racial and economic injustice. Therefore, the Diocese and Academy’s decision to offer financial assistance to such youth would be a prophetic statement of radical welcome for queer, BIPOC, and poor youth in the name of Christ. The Diocese and the Academy share a commitment to forming and sending disciples of Christ who are hungry for justice and our proposal will help the Diocese provide Episcopal and LGBTQ, and BIPOC, and poor youth with a unique and powerful opportunity to grow as Christian leaders for social change.
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Liturgical Space Renewal
Small Gathering Space Renewal
at St. Timothy’s, West Des Moines
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$10,000
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This project involves a transformation of our gathering facilities, encompassing furnishings, space, and technology. Our goal is to better serve the spiritual needs of our in-person community while expanding the reach of our programs through enhanced technology. We believe that we cannot achieve this goal without addressing physical space enhancements and technology improvements simultaneously. We are seeking to create a dedicated gathering space in support of Bible Study, Adult Forum, Seasonal Devotional Series, and other small group liturgical gatherings. By updating and improving the space with furnishings, lighting, privacy features and technology, we plan to make these gatherings more conducive to study, contemplation and prayer for those present in person while greatly enhancing our ability to include more actively those participating remotely. Our vision is to offer our programs to members unable or unwilling to attend while attracting new members and serving those outside our community in need of our programming. We anticipate recording many of our gatherings and establishing a library to allow access to our programs on demand. This new facility is also expected to host Book Clubs / Small Social Gatherings, Vestry Meetings, Partner organization board meetings and more. Grant funds will be used to transform our largest classroom into a renewed gathering space for small group study and worship. We plan to obtain new chairs, tables, lighting, and a professional conferencing tool. We further plan to redeploy assets previously acquired to complete the transformation.
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Expanding Tools & Technology
Audio/Video Upgrade
at St. Martin’s, Perry
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$4,996.52
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St. Martin’s is looking to improve the quality of the audio for those who are hearing impaired and also to improve the audio and video quality for those who worship with us online. We have a few elderly, homebound members who watch the services on Facebook and a hearing-impaired member who would benefit from the increased clarity of new equipment. Grant funds will be used for the following: we are proposing to purchase a new speaker and 2 microphones. One will be a headset for the priest to wear and the other is a wireless mike to pass around to others who may be speaking. To improve the video content, we would like to purchase 2 additional cameras to get better angles of the services and to focus on different areas of the Sanctuary. The remainder of funds will pay for a technician to livestream the services and to teach a couple of church members how to do the livestreaming in the technician’s absence so we can sustain the use of this equipment into the future (and the equipment chosen is very user-friendly).
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