Congregational Leadership Fund

The purpose of the Congregational Leadership Fund (CLF) is to strengthen leadership capacities in Atlantic Coast Conference Congregations by providing assistance for continuing education of pastors & leaders, assisting short term congregational leadership needs, and resourcing faith formation initiatives that strengthen leadership.

The vision for this fund is to partner together to create healthy congregational communities by strengthening congregational & pastoral leadership. At times congregational leaders and pastors need financial resources beyond their capacity. Small and congregations with less financial capacity and bi-vocational pastors would be prioritized as recipients of this fund.

Guidelines

  1. The applicant must be a member of both the Mennonite Church USA and a congregation of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
  2. Priority will be given to continuing education for pastors or lay leaders, faith formation and short term congregational leadership needs. In addition, congregations with less financial capacity and bi-vocational pastors will be prioritized as recipients of this fund.
  3. Preference will be given to courses provided by a Mennonite college or seminary or by a
    Mennonite-administered pastoral training program and shall relate directly to congregational ministry. Other continuing education resources will be considered according to their relevance to the congregational context. Funding requests for sabbatical coverage will not be prioritized.
  4. The applicant must have the endorsement of his/her congregation (i.e., elder or church council chair) and conference minister relating to his/her congregation.
  5. The applicant shall have sought a financial commitment by the congregation via the conference minister relating to his/her congregation.
  6. The applicant should be open to a personal interview by the Executive Committee, if the committee so desires. This may include an evaluation of the applicant’s personal goals and commitment.
  7. All grants/scholarships will be processed by and granted twice annually at the discretion of
    the ACC Executive Committee. Those received December—May will be reviewed in June,
    and those received June–November will be reviewed in December.

Apply

All grants/scholarships will be processed by and granted twice annually at the discretion of the ACC Executive Committee. Those received December—May will be reviewed in June, and those received June–November will be reviewed in December.

Find the application form HERE.

Apply for a CLF Grant

Contribute to the endowment

Our goal is to grow the CLF to an endowment of $500,000 which will provide annual income for scholarships. To help us meet this goal, checks may be made out to Atlantic Coast Conference, memo: CLF, and mailed to ACC, 100 Quarry Road, Leola, PA 17540.

You can also set up a one-time or recurring payment through PayPal at paypal.me/ACC1974.