Apply for a New Beginnings Grant

New Beginnings Grant application (Word)

Apply for a NEW BEGINNINGS grant

To apply for NEW BEGINNINGS seed funding, download and complete the application form on the right. Send completed forms, and get in touch if you would like advice before completing your form, to Neil Harland, District Mission Enabler mission@sheffieldmethodist.org

Your application will be assessed by a small team. We will respond to you as soon as possible but please allow a few weeks before your planned start date in case members of the team are temporarily unavailable.

If your grant is approved, we will pay an initial grant of £500. If you still wish to continue your new ministry after 12 months we will pay a further £250. So that you and other churches can fully benefit from this programme, we will need you to complete simple evaluations after 12 and 24 months, and support us in sharing stories and growing a supportive network of people creating NEW BEGINNINGS.

Grants are for costs associated with new activities:

• Starting new Christian communities/ congregations for new people;
• Offering an active invitation to relationship with Christ for new people; or
• Earning trust and developing community with a clear plan and intent for this to lead to inviting people to explore Christian faith as part of your existing or a new congregation

We recognise that some valid aspects of our mission do not fall within this definition. NEW BEGINNINGS is a targeted scheme to support us with one part of our mission about which we sometimes feel unfamiliar.

All activities funded must be under the authority of a Methodist church or circuit or Local Ecumenical Partnership within Sheffield Methodist District. There is no limit on the number of applications per organisation, but each should be targeted at a different group of people.

Funded costs could include any aspect of hospitality, resources, publicity or running costs for your new activities, but do not include capital works or employment of staff (see larger grants available ). New Places for New People grants include allowance for activity costs, so if your activity is supported through an NPNP grant it will not be eligible for NEW BEGINNINGS funding.

As a general rule, if you have already delivered an activity more recently than 2019, we would not consider it to be "new" for the purpose of this seed funding.