“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.”
Southern Michigan Conference of
the Free Methodist Church
Multiplication Grants
New churches that choose to be a part of the Southern Michigan Conference of the Free Methodist Church are eligible to apply for a matching grant up to $50,000.
The Multiplication Matching Grant exists to encourage and empower Southern Michigan Conference churches and leaders to multiply churches. Grants are provided to selected new initiatives based on their proposed plans, and the availability of funds. Multiplication Grants are for the express purpose of reaching new groups of people with the gospel and organizing them into new missional churches. Initiatives which are seeking funding should be working among the unchurched (and dechurched) people to establish a new church.
Who is eligible to apply
Parent Affiliated New Church – These are emerging churches that are initiated by local church leaders and find their affiliation to a Society of the SMC. The parent Society is responsible for the leadership, mission, doctrinal adherence, conduct, and maturation of these emerging churches. The goal of these emerging churches could be to become their own Societies or remain as campuses, venues, multi-site locations or missional outposts of the parent Society. Parent Affiliated New Churches may apply for a matching grant of up to $25,000.
Conference Affiliated New Churches – These are emerging churches that are initiated by or in concert with the parenting efforts of the SMC and are affiliated to the SMC new church incubator, Mission Igniter. With these churches Mission Igniter is responsible for the leadership, mission, doctrinal adherence, conduct, and maturation of these emerging churches. The goal of these emerging churches could be to become their own Societies or become missional outposts of a new parent Society. Conference Affiliated New Churches may apply for a matching grant of up to $50,000.
Develop A Plan for a New Apostolic Ministry
A Free Methodist leader with a vision for a new apostolic initiative must develop a multiplication plan. Parent Affiliated initiatives should be developed in collaboration with the leadership of the Parent Church. Conference Affiliated initiatives should develop their plan in collaboration with Mission Igniter. Multiplication plans should follow the standard template (located here) and should demonstrate a thorough design for launching and growing a new church reaching new people. Special attention should be given to how the new work plans to move to self sustainability or whether the plan will be a missional outpost. The plan should clearly outline the ‘Church Multiplication Model’ which will be utilized and must identify the leadership structure. Parent Affiliated apostolic initiatives must have their plans approved by their local church board before requesting funds from SMC. Contact Dustin Weber (dustinweber@smcfmc.org) to get started on your proposal.