Our church is once again the recipient of a grant from the Florida-Bahamas Synod Vision-to-Action program. V2A was launched in 2023 as the granting program of the Florida-Bahamas Synod to fund innovative new ministries focused on intentional evangelism and growing new faith communities. V2A supports “out-of-the-box,” new ways of being church in a rapidly changing cultural landscape.

Our Family Worship service received a large grant last year from the Synod for experimenting with worship in new forms that made it easy for all generations to participate in informal, more interactive worship. This year’s grant of $26,000 is even larger, and was given so we could further build on what has been started.

This year’s goal includes trying to find ways to bring some of the messaging and experience of that worship to those connecting online at different times. Since privacy is a concern, we will not stream this service, but instead we will find ways to provide some of the content online, minus the interactive moments. This came from input from the Synod, where a major goal is to provide connections in as many ways possible to spread the gospel and develop community.

We are grateful that our Synod supports congregations that are striving to initiate new ministries in new models for our changing times. V2A is funded largely from funds from the sale of properties from churches that have closed. It is a resurrection program, looking to use former ministries to plant seeds for the future of the gospel. We are also very thankful that for two years now, the funding for our new second service has been met through dedicated funds and grants.