Deadline extended for UMCOR’s Mustard Seed Migration Grant application

August 23, 2022 | Atlanta, GA
For release: IMMEDIATE

Media Contact:
Dan Curran for Global Ministries and UMCOR
media@umcmission.org

For the second year, churches across the United States will be able to help refugees and migrants living in their local communities thanks to a grant program from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Open to United Methodist churches, the Mustard Seed Migration Grants program continues the agency’s more than 80-year focus of helping refugees, immigrants and migrants seeking to build a new life. The application deadline has recently been extended to September 30, 2022.

The Mustard Seed Migration Grants, inspired by the well-known parable about growth, provide up to 50 congregations with as much as $2,000 in funding to support one-time, community-based service projects. Churches will have the opportunity to get to know and assist refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented people and migrants of all types in their own cities and towns.

“As Jesus described in his parable, small mustard seeds have the potential to grow into something pervasive that spreads throughout a field,” said Roland Fernandes, general secretary of Global Ministries, which includes UMCOR. “Our hope is that, by learning more about migrants in local communities and addressing their needs through these Mustard Seed Migration Grants, the ‘seed’ of welcoming strangers will be planted in new ways in congregations around the country.”

United Methodist churches across the country have used the grants to make meaningful impact:

A church in Washington, D.C. provided children of migrant families with school uniforms and school supplies helping the congregation learn that “our neighbors are people from all over the world, some who have gone through terror to make it to this country and make a better life for their families.”
A collaborative of churches in Albany, NY learned that outreach “doesn’t have to be gigantic to be meaningful” when they provided new bicycles to immigrants needing transportation to employment opportunities, reaching more than 10 families.
A church in North Carolina had an open conversation about migrant families living in their community for the first time and, through education and programs supported by the grant, had the opportunity to experience the growth and blessing that comes from giving.

“The Mustard Seed Migration Grant program can help local churches live into a new understanding of the kingdom of God as they actively engage in caring for the most vulnerable in their midst,” said the Rev. Jack Amick, director of global migration for UMCOR.

Eligible applicants will be local United Methodist churches located in the United States. Because only 50 grants will be awarded, this is a competitive process, and not all applicants will receive grants. Completed applications are due by September 30, 2022. Grant recipients will receive an award notification within one month of submitting their application.

For more information about the Mustard Seed Migration Grants or to complete an application, visit https://umcmission.org/migration/mustardseed.

About UMCOR and the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church

Founded in 1940, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is the global humanitarian relief and development agency of The United Methodist Church. A part of UM Global Ministries, UMCOR works in more than 80 countries worldwide, including the United States and its territories. The agency’s mission, grounded in the teachings of Jesus, is to alleviate human suffering with open hearts and minds to all people. Working in the areas of disaster response and recovery, sustainable development, and migration, UMCOR responds to natural or civil disasters that are interruptions of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community’s ability to recover on its own. Learn more about Global Ministries by visiting www.umcmission.org or by following www.facebook.com/globalministries and twitter.com/umcmission.