The Diocese of Newark has been awarded a 2016 Roanridge Trust Award grant to help support Going Local. The Trust received 26 different applications from across the Church, with requests for funding far exceeding available resources. Sixteen dioceses were awarded grants, including Newark whose grant application for Going Local has been funded in the amount of $15,000.
Going Local is an innovative initiative that invites clergy and congregations to learn new ways to go about Jesus’ work. It’s a process of experimentation and evaluation in which we continually seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Through the Going Local journey, relationships are formed and developed with God, each other, and our neighbors so that we join with God and one another in shaping our future.
The third cycle of Going Local is being formed now. If interested or curious, please contact the Rev. Ginny Dinsmore.
The Roanridge Trust was established by the Cochel family, who donated a working farm in Missouri called Roanridge to The Episcopal Church. The interest from the sale of the farm generates the grant funds. Grants are awarded annually for new and creative models for leadership development in small communities across The Episcopal Church. The trust defines rural and small-town communities as those with a population of 10,000 or less. Two of the seven congregations currently involved in Going Local are part of communities fitting this category: Church of the Messiah in Chester, population of 7,838, and St. Andrew’s in Harrington Park, population of 4,664, according to the 2010 census.
