The Alleluia Fund for Mission - Funding New Starts in the Diocese of Atlanta
"Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations...."
The New Starts Task Force is charged with implementing the new church plant growth strategies of our strategic plan. Chaired by the Rev. Dan P. Matthews, Jr., rector of St. Luke's, Atlanta, the Task Force is commissioned to seek out areas underserved by Episcopal Churches, as well as to reach out to communities historically underserved by the Episcopal Church. Canon Alicia Schuster-Weltner is staff liason for the Task Force.
The funds for this mission are raised through the Alleluia Fund for Mission which is an Annual giving opportunity for every Episcopalian during the Great Fifty Days of Easter. Through the fund we give from our abundance to accomplish the goal of planting new churches in the many areas of the diocese crying out for them. The fund also gives a chance for everyone to participate in raising "venture capital for the Great Commission." The Fund is an essential step toward the creation of a climate in the diocese that will joyfully support future growth.
Welcome to
The Alleluia Fund for Mission
By your Spirit, fashion our lives according to the example of your Son, and grant that we may show the power of your love to all among whom we live; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Our Mission
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matt. 28:19
The Alleluia Fund for Mission (“AFM”) is an essential step toward [the goal of creating a climate in this Diocese that will joyfully support future growth]. The AFM . . . will provide every Episcopalian in this Diocese with an annual opportunity, primarily during the Easter season, to support the establishment of new congregations in this diocese. Funds raised will go toward:
Ø Hiring new mission developers and providing them with needed support,
Ø Purchasing land proactively,
Ø Establishing an endowment to support new growth in the Diocese for our generation and the next,
Ø Freeing up funds currently budgeted for new starts so that such funds can be used to assist established parishes,
Ø Strengthening the Diocesan budget by increasing the number of parishes in the Diocese (thereby creating greater opportunities for assistance to existing parishes and other diocesan ministries),
Ø “Making new Episcopalians,”
Ø “Widening our circle” by reaching out to communities not typically evangelized by our Church,
Ø Raising the profile of Episcopalians within our Diocese,
Ø Sharing God’s love as we fulfill Christ’s command to “go and make disciples.” (Mt. 28:19), and
Ø Demonstrating that even in times of transition we are committed to raising "venture capital for the Great Commission."
. . . As the report of the 20/20 Commission states, in our demographically changing society we have to decide “whether our church will embrace the opportunities of changing times with excitement and zeal or whether we will defensively retreat from all the opportunities being presented, thereby rendering ourselves increasingly marginal.” By this resolution, we invite the people of the Diocese to join us in spreading the gospel and extending the work of the Episcopal Church with excitement and zeal.
For more information about the Fund as well as the work of the commission, please contact Canon Alicia Schuster Weltner at the Diocesan Offices, 404 601 5349.
For more information about the Alleluia Fund for Mission, click here.
