Glenbrook Uniting Church receives Synod Growth Grant

Glenbrook Uniting Church is one of the congregations awarded a grant from the Synod growth fund. The grant will go towards supporting a youth minister and an intentional Christian community.

Mark Tjoelker led the grant application process.

“Over the course of the five year project, growth Funds will help support a full-time gifted youth minister to build relationships within the church and wider community,”  Dr Tjoelker said.

“They will create new discipleship pathways for high-school aged youth and young adults and work with families and congregations in the Blue Mountains to embed mission-focused ministry.”

“St Andrews dreams of establishing a vibrant, intentional Christian community of young adults who will develop their leadership in the church through cultivation of outward-focussed mission and discovery of a prophetic voice, and thus become agents of renewal in the church and world.”

“St Andrews is committed to the creation of Banksia House, a residential share-house for four young adults, forming an intentional Christian community in Glenbrook and hub for wider community engagement. Banksia House will embed leadership development with mission and discipleship in a linked portfolio of ministry, spanning high-school youth and young adults.”

Dr Tjoelker told Insights that the application process was rigorous and multi-staged, beginning with the development of an expression of interest.

Finalists were invited to prepare a full proposal that included a detailed project design and budget. Glenbrook’s team produced a brief video describing their project and were interviewed by the Synod selection panel.

“We assembled a small sprint team to put together the proposal over a several month period,” Dr Tjoelker said.

“We consulted with Synod and our Presbytery in scoping discussions to help develop our project ideas and align our project outcomes with Synod growth goals.”

According to Dr Tjoelker, St Andrews is a “microcosm” of Uniting Church, facing many of the same challenges as other congregations, and hope that their new projects will help, particularly when it comes to catalysing young people and integrating new people into the life of the church. 

“The Synod Growth Fund empowers congregations to cultivate and implement new projects at the grassroots level that will help address these challenges,” Dr Tjoelker said.

“What a powerful testimony we can now share that the wider Uniting Church and Synod in particular has stepped out in faith to empower and support this new partnership with our congregation.”

The Synod growth fund is the way that local congregations can access the Future Directions resourcing framework.

Watch the Facebook video here about Glenbrook’s initiative for an intentional community of young adults, supported by the Synod Growth Fund.

Tuggeranong Uniting Church is another congregation that has received a grant.