New Projects approved at 2008 Annual Consultation

The 2008 Annual Consultation approved eight new projects to receive funding commencing in 2008-9.

SMRF provides resources for congregations, presbyteries and others in the New South Wales Synod of the Uniting Church to live out Jesus’ call to be at mission — connecting with their communities in different and meaningful ways.

Grants have been approved for:

• A regional Youth Worker based at Peteli Uniting Church, and working across most of Western Sydney with 2nd Generation Tongan / Australian young people.
• Support for the Korean Commission’s Lay Leadership Development program. This program is training ministers and equipping lay people to participate and lead in their congregations, and to engage in effective mission in the Korean community.
• The Marmung Fellowship is a UAICC faith community in the Lismore Area. A grant has been approved to establish a ministry with indigenous young people in and around Lismore. Relationships with young people will be built and nurtured through cultural programmes, spending time with elders and learning about and practising spirituality.
• Funding to enable Queanbeyan to increase their youth worker’s placement to full time. This ministry already has a good reputation and track record in the town. The grant will extend the worker’s capacity to contact young people at the high school and other places in the community, and to establish new groups with them.
• An Eco-Ministry in the Mid North Coast Presbytery. This ministry will start by establishing an eco-faith group in the Bellingen Area, and will develop leadership skills and understanding of the interaction between ecology and faith. Connections with communities elsewhere in the Presbytery will in time lead to the formation of more eco-faith groups.
• Support for the Riverina Presbytery in establishing a pioneering Mobile Resource Ministry. Grant funds will be used to purchase a mobile home, which will enable a Presbytery Resource Minister to spend a few months at a time in a town, so they can work intensively with a congregation in developing leadership for mission, worship and service.
• A grant to employ a Consultant for three years to develop Project Reconnect into a national project. This worker will support congregations already using Project Reconnect, and introduce the project more widely, to involve new groups of people in NSW, ACT and beyond.
• Continued support for the Far North Coast Alternate Lifestyle Ministry for a period of three years. This is a new ministry which has begun well and laid a good missional foundation. It needs more time to develop and to establish a sustainable model for the future.

If you have a dream to establish a new venture, renew or revitalise an existing congregation, develop a new faith community or parallel congregation, or creatively respond in another way to God’s call to mission, you are invited to contact SMRF.

New Quarterly Reporting Dates

As from 1 July 2008, the deadlines for quarterly reports will change. The new quarterly reporting dates are 1 March, 1 June, 1 September, 1 December.

This change has been made in response to feedback from grant recipients about the problems with submitting a report around 1 January each year.

To make this transition we ask all projects to submit a report on 1 July and then another one two months later, on 1 September. Obviously the September report can be shorter than usual, as it will cover only two months instead of three.

Grant recipients are reminded that late reports can lead to suspension of a grant . Please visit the Accountability Process page to read the updated accountability guidelines. Updated accountability reporting templates are also available on that page.

Key dates for 2008

The Annual Consultation will be held on May 7-8, 2008.

The SMRF Committee will meet on the following dates in 2008. Please note that agenda items will only be received up until the closing dates given.

SMRF logo

A copy of the SMRF logo is available in the downloads section of this site. Grant funded projects are invited to display the logo wherever relevant (on publicity materials, noticeboards etc) to acknowledge the support received from the Mission Resource Fund.