NEW PHONE NUMBER 517-258-0038 | To care for UCC clergy and churches in Michigan.
NEW PHONE NUMBER 517-258-0038 | To care for UCC clergy and churches in Michigan.
The Michigan Conference has received a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. for $1,250,000.00 for the Michigan Conference Mitten Project: Knitting together children and adults in worship and prayer.
The future of the church depends on passing traditions down through generations and innovating to make traditions relevant in each new generation. Faith is caught as well as taught, and the Michigan Conference UCC is committed to using this funding for ongoing support in local churches to nurture and encourage multigenerational worship and prayer practices. To strengthen the future of our local churches, this 5-year program will invite congregations to engage children in worship, so that all of us, in each generation, can leave church more deeply connected with the spiritual and ready to find the sacred in our everyday lives.
The two main objectives of the
Michigan Conference Mitten Project are:
1) to strengthen worship and prayer practices that attend to and respect how children (age 0-12 years old) experience God and express their faith
2) to enhance worship and prayer practices that more intentionally connect with the daily lives of children and families in the Michigan Conference UCC
Our goal is to inspire a deep cultural shift in the Michigan Conference UCC to include children in worship and prayer. We wish to nurture the gifts and leadership skills of children, and to equip ministry leaders, parents, and caregivers to invest in training for forming faith in children under the age of 12. The relationships that will be built in the congregations of cohort churches, among pastors who learn together, children’s ministry leaders who support one another, and parents & caregivers who can more deeply engage with their children, will each have a sustainable impact on the worship and prayer practices of children in the Michigan Conference UCC.
We have already started to hear from folks interested in knowing more about the Michigan Conference Mitten Project and how they might start engaging in the process of knitting together children and adults in worship and prayer.
Please be on the lookout for needs assessment and engagement survey requests. We have high hopes for 100% church participation as we collect data and begin our research.
If you and your organization are interested in applying for funding through the Mitten Project, you can start to form your Implementation Team. Teams must include a local pastor, a children’s ministry leader, and a parent. Having children as part of the team is a PLUS. Begin brainstorming what project makes the most sense to implement in your setting next year that meets one or both of the Mitten Project objectives, and dream up your plan while you wait for the application to open later this summer.
Engagement opportunities range from passive to deeply committed, with targeted learning for five unique audiences each year – parents, children, children’s ministry leaders, pastors, and churches. As we move through the 5 years of the program, there will be new and relevant content that encourages and invites continued participation from all settings in the Michigan Conference. Yearly programs will include:
1) Themed resource kits for all Michigan Conference UCC churches
2) On-site one-day events for parents, caregivers, children, pastors and ministry leaders to learn together
3) Online training for Pastors
4) Online training for Children’s Ministry Leaders
5) Online training for parents & caregivers
6) 12 local churches will receive $5000.00 in grant funding to implement Children’s Ministry research in their setting, and up to an additional $5000.00 for their implementation-cohort team to participate in additional training and a weekend retreat. Pastors, Children’s Ministry Leaders, parents, children and supportive adults from the 12 cohort churches will also be required to participate in onsite and online learning/training events listed above.
Timeline for rollout of the Mitten Project Summer 2025
May
● Communicate receipt of funding
● Send Conference-wide needs assessment
June
● Develop cohort application and engagement evaluation tools
July
● Open application for churches to apply for funding and cohort participation
(Application deadline of 12.01.2025)
August
● Send the Initial Children’s Ministry engagement survey
The 2026 program calendar will be available by early fall
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