£1.75M grant money has been awarded to local groups, who submitted proposals to the Connexional Grants Committee (CGC) in order to develop a range of Methodist projects all over the United Kingdom. These grants will provide substantial financial support to ventures including property, chaplaincy, church planting and projects tackling poverty.

Mission for Everywhere is a new JMA Commissioning Service on the Methodist Church website. The theme is Mission for Everywhere showing why mission is a Christian imperative. The worship service includes a range of resources and offers valuable biblical content on the theme of mission.

The Becky lecture, ‘Politics and Faith in the US: Pursuing justice in divided times’ will be on 1 July, 7.45pm at The Methodist Conference, Hilton Birmingham Metropole, Warwick Suite. Guest speaking is Revd Dr Susan Henry-Crowe, General Secretary of the General Board of Church and Society for the United Methodist Church. She is at the forefront of helping the Church to live faithfully, seek justice and pursue peace in the US. Register for free.

‘Divine Darkness, Divine Light’ is the theme of the next Five-Day Community for Spiritual Formation event to be held at Cliff College from 24 – 29 November. There will be presentations by the Revd Cathy Bird and the Revd Steve Radley as well as in silence, worship and discussion. For more details contact the Registrar, Jill Baker or visit the Community for Spiritual Formation website to download the flyer or registration form.

Methodist Homes Association (MHA) invite church groups to celebrate MHA Sunday on 9 June by observing the theme, ‘One Sunday’, looking at encouraging inclusive worship. As the Sunday coincides with Pentecost, some churches may prefer to hold a service on an alternative Sunday. A range of worship resources can be downloaded from the MHA website

A free lecture, ‘No Abiding City: Somewhere, Anywhere or In Between’, by the Revd Jennifer Potter will take place on 11 June at Hinde Street Methodist Church, London at 7.30pm. It is part of ‘Moving Stories’, a two year project from the London District aimed at celebrating the contribution migrants have made to London, and to Methodism. 

Sign up for the JMA newsletter:

• Be the first to find out about the content of Rainbow magazine before each issue is sent out.

• Be kept up-to-date with mission-focused stories (both at home and abroad) to share with your JMA group, Sunday School or youth groups.

• Find child-friendly worship resources including prayers and mission-focused Power Points.

A new Sports Mission Pack is available for this summer of World Cups. The Sports Mission Pack contains a breadth of quizzes, films, sports tournament tools and marketing resources to help people run sports-themed evangelistic events. The pack is available from the Christians in Sport website.

The Methodist Church Volunteer Awards is your church’s chance to say thank you to the most dedicated volunteers of the church. Each church can make one nomination on behalf of the church – either a volunteer or a group of volunteers. There will be 11 churches selected from each region, winning £1000 and an overall winning church that will receive an additional £2000. More information and entry form available here.