Funded Projects

Funded Projects in 2021

  • Grantee: Dr. Brinton Rutherford, LMC
    • Grant Title: Influencing Behavioral Health and Wellness of LMC Leaders and Members with the IDI Psychometric Tool and Qualitative Wellness Assessment
    • Grant Focus Area: LMC Leadership and the African-American Intercultural Leadership Team (AAILT) seek to increase intercultural competence in LMC. Since 50% of LMC congregations are predominantly people of color, this is critical for mission. LMC worships in 10 different languages: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, French, Karen, Mara, Amharic, Swahili, Nepali, and Creole. The project equips leaders and members to increase intercultural competence and, hence, increase overall wellness.
    • Award: $24,000 with intention for additional funds over the next 6 years of the project.
    • Project Description: The project will first address internal LMC policy questions. Second, the project will address resource development by the AAILT to aid leaders and congregations to move out of “minimization” toward “acceptance,” and “adaptation” in the language of the Intercultural Development Inventory. The IDI process combined with qualitative wellness assessment will equip LMC leaders and congregations to gain intercultural competence and to increase overall health and wellness in the pursuit of mission. Lack of intercultural competence creates stressors that reduce overall wellness and reduce mission effectiveness.

Funded Projects in 2020

  • Grantee: Jordon Kauffman, New Person Ministries
    • Grant Title: Building on the Foundation
    • Grant Focus Area: Our mission is to bring healing and restoration through Jesus Christ to those affected by incarceration by providing care of returning citizens and their families through housing, social service assistance and spiritual guidance.
    • Award: $45,000.00
    • Project Description: This project is a continuation of the mission and vision of NPM.  It allows for better care of NPM residents in a more holistic way by addressing needs that are currently unmet.  It creates additional living space for residents while adding a long term program for additional discipleship after the conclusion of the short term program.  This project continues to build on the foundation that is already in place.
  • Grantee: Stephanie Winkeljohn Black, Penn State Harrisburg
    • Grant Title: Building Spiritual Strength to reduce Moral Injury in Church-based Volunteers working with Refugees
    • Grant Focus Area: Our research team’s mission is to promote the fact that mental and spiritual health are intertwined, and that religious and spiritual beliefs and practices can serve as coping mechanisms for various stressful experiences. Religious communities often support those in need in their communities (in this case, refugees), and could benefit from added resources, such as our program, that allow them to accomplish these works in a way that deepens the whole community’s wellbeing.
    • Award: $38,903.00
    • Project Description: This project focuses on the mental and spiritual health of church-based volunteers (CBVs) who work with refugee populations in Cumberland and Dauphin counties. Both co-investigators have ties to faith communities in the region; one has experience with spiritually-integrated behavioral health and one with organizing refugee resettlement volunteer programs. The aim is to tailor and then test an existing, empirically-supported group intervention, Building Spiritual Strengths (BSS) to the needs of local CBVs. BSS is a manualized, group intervention that addresses mental and spiritual health concerns arising out of moral injury. The BSS manual will become a resource for the local community.
  • Grantee: Janae Allgire, Trinity Neighborhood Church
    • Grant Title: Pursuing Mental Wellness
    • Grant Focus Area: We believe that the good news is holistic, and a specific part of our calling as a church community is to offer hope and empowerment for mental wellness. We realize the importance of the mental health of our parishioners, the local church body, and our neighborhood. We would like to provide a simple structure for people to increase their awareness of their mental health and know how to pursue increased mental wellness. Our vision is to offer a Christ-centered approach to mental wellness that is available to church members as well as the broader community.
    • Award: $25,000.00
    • Project Description: Trinity Neighborhood Church seeks to spearhead mental health wellness training within the context of the church via the evidenced-based curriculum, Wellness Recovery Action Plan®.
  • Grantee: Linda Crockett, Safe Communities
    • Grant Title: Safe Communities: Expanding Impact Project (SCEIP)
    • Grant Focus Area: Our vision is to see communities where all children and teens are free from sexual abuse, and survivors are empowered to live healthy, joyful, and vibrant lives. Our mission is to assist congregations and other organizations to develop culture-shifting policies and practices to prevent sexual abuse; to inspire and equip staff, parents and other adults to keep kids safe in all their social spaces; and to create faith-informed models that enable adult survivors to collectively heal and participate in uniting communities to end child sexual abuse. 
    • Award: $50,000.00
    • Project Description: To bring primary prevention of child sexual abuse workshops to congregations, provide survivor-centered curriculums for churches, and offer several modalities of healing circles for adult survivors of sexual abuse within and beyond congregations. 
  • Grantee: Dawn Landes, Habecker Mennonite Church
    • Grant Title: SEED – A Church Leadership Development Program for English Language Learners
    • Grant Focus Area: A goal of SEED is to resource second-language/culture church leaders so they can begin to connect families to local financial, social, and para-church services and networks that support families.  This model builds in sustainability through a “training of trainers” model of equipping.  As more leaders are trained, they can walk with more families who learn how to better help themselves and can then reach out to help others with similar needs who come to the United States.  
    • Award: $40,360.00
    • Project Description: SEED is a three-year church leadership development program that is designed for second-language learners and those relatively new to the United States.  Courses provide Biblical study, leadership foundations, and church ministry basics.
  • Grantee: Brinton Rutherford, LMC
    • Grant Title: Distance Learning with the Training in Ministry program
    • Grant Focus Area: The primary innovation of the Training in Ministry program is the delivery method of distance learning for a geographically spread out LMC and CMC. While the course bundle itself is an innovative package for congregational training as well as the target audience of training pastor and congregation for mental health maintenance and early intervention mental health, a greater innovation is the pedagogical eLearning framework. 
    • Award: $65,000.00
    • Project Description: LMC, with partners, is developing two tracks of six undergraduate distance learning courses to raise the level of mental/behavioral health for the pastor, the congregation, and the neighborhood around the congregation respectively. 

Funded Projects in 2019

  • Grantee: Paige Harker, GOAL Project
    • Grant Title: F.A.I.T.H. Initiatives Program (Face Addiction with Intervention and Training for Healing)
    • Grant Focus Area: F.A.I.T.H. Initiatives addresses addiction in all forms – both substance and behavioral, from prevention to overdose.
    • Award: $35,000
    • Project Description: GOAL’s innovative F.A.I.T.H. (Face Addiction with Intervention and Training for Healing) Initiatives Program provides certified, evidence based training for clergy and lay leaders facilitated and taught by skilled, professional trainers.  GOAL comes alongside churches so that they may offer transformational support for sustained healing to parishioners who may be afflicted by addiction or by the debilitating effects of loved ones struggling with addiction.  GOAL’s training provides illumination on the negative effects of shame induced fear, despair, and indifference towards individuals afflicted with addiction and more specifically, to the alarming opiate epidemic.  F.A.I.T.H. Initiatives training opens the  door to healing, compassion, acceptance and participation through three anchor workshops delivered over a 12-month period, followed by quarterly gatherings offering advanced skills training and a forum to share best practices.
  • Grantee: Alison Swann, Transition to Community/The Potter’s House
    • Grant Title: The Potter’s House of Ruth – Women’s Addiction Recovery & Discipleship Center
    • Grant Focus Area: The Potter’s House of Ruth will specifically address mental and emotional health (substance abuse, trauma, domestic and sexual violence, etc.) and physical health (health history) through 24/7 supervision and intensive intake surveys.
    • Award: $50,000
    • Project Description: The Potter’s House of Ruth project provides a new program and facility in Lancaster that is specifically designated to serve women as a safe place to recover from addiction and experience Christ-centered discipleship. The program ministers to the whole individual by addressing their physical (substance abuse recovery, housing), emotional (counseling, life coaching, family restoration), and spiritual (discipleship, church involvement) needs.
  • Grantee: Ms. Linda Witmer (EMU Lancaster partnering with We Rise International)
    • Grant title: Christian Faith Communities Improving Outcomes in Mental Illnesses and Addictions
    • Grant Focus Area: to build the capacity of Christian faith communities to support individuals and families living with mental illnesses or addictions.
    • Award: $69,000
    • Project Description: This project will empower Christian churches to understand the needs of individuals with mental illnesses and addictions in their churches and communities by providing them with helpful spiritual, emotional and social support and referrals to local mental health and addiction providers.  It will also incorporate churches more effectively into the system of care by creating partnerships between faith communities and mental health and addiction providers to increase all-around support to individuals and families experiencing mental illness or an addiction.
  • Grantee: Mr. Joseph Wesley Furlong, Sr.
    • Grant Title: City Flourish
    • Grant Focus Area: to develop a research, development and training center dedicated to equipping the church for effective community development.
    • Award: $59,400
    • Project Description: City Flourish a research, development and training center dedicated to equipping the church for effective community development. The vision for City Flourish is not to replace the ministry of the local church.  As a church, we must know and love our neighbors and practice hospitality.  It is vital that we get to the place where people look to the church meet real needs.