Grant empowers house churches for ministryThe CGF and the RCA Church Multiplication Team are partners in a grant program that supports new ministries. The multiplication team decides which grants to award. The CGF provides the funds. Each grant is awarded over a period of three years and is for program costs only. The maximum grant amount is $22,000 and covers up to one-third of the cost of a project. The grant recipient must raise the remainder from other sources. 
Each of the 16 cell groups that make up Lighthouses of Oxford Valley, a network of house churches in Penndel, Pennsylvania, looks a little bit different. Most meet once a week, each with a distinct focus.
"We realize that the body has a lot of different gifts--mission, ministry, study, teaching," says Heidi Butterworth, one of the pastors at Lighthouses. "Each group tries to focus on whatever the passion of that group is. For example, a group of 20-somethings was meeting at Panera Bread, and they got into missions--now they take up nothing but mission projects. Another group feels called to prayer. Another group is a Bible study for new Christians, focused on development of the basics. There is a group focused on worship and worship music."
There's also a house church designed just for the kids. "A notorious problem with house churches is: What do we do with the kids when we're meeting?" says Butterworth. "We have one woman who really felt she could lead kids. That's her way of giving back to the community."
Every Sunday morning, the house churches gather together for a time of worship in a facility rented from a local fire station. "We have a commitment to places in the community," says Butterworth. "We decided to rent from a firehouse because 100 percent of our rent goes back into the firehouse, for equipment and other needs."
The church received a Church Multiplication Team grant (funded by the CGF) in 2007. They've used the grant money to help purchase equipment for worship services and to jumpstart programs of community outreach.
"It's given us the ability to really move fast to open up our region, to not just plant a church but also do some other things to pour back into our classis, our community," says Butterworth. "We're looking to help revitalize other churches around us. We can get into missions right away, rather than having to wait until we build a core of people who start giving. That helps us make an impact early on.
"People are attracted to that; they're attracted to the kingdom. We need to start reaching across lines to see how the kingdom transforms people. It's really about seeing the kingdom of God transform the lives of the people on the streets."
Lighthouses recently received a second grant to assist with the start of their second campus, which launched in September on the north side of Philadelphia.
Posted 6/17/09
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