New Iowa Ministry Fund Process Puts Churches at Center

Since 2016, BCI has contributed over $400,000 to gospel ministries that meet tangible needs through the Iowa Ministry Fund. However, one weakness of the previous process was that no direct involvement of BCI churches was necessary. BCI exists to help churches take their next step to multiply gospel ministry. By redesigning the Iowa Ministry Fund, we hope to champion the churches of BCI by adding fuel to their community transformation efforts and strengthening their ministry partnerships to accelerate what churches are doing.

Putting Churches at the Center of the Process

BCI will help individual churches expand their investment and involvement in ministries that meet physical and spiritual needs which are challenging for individual churches to address in vulnerable populations in their communities. Rather than putting out an open invitation to ministry organizations (as in past years), we invite BCI churches to submit an application to increase support of “serving ministries” which meet tangible needs while also providing opportunities for gospel-centered evangelism among the vulnerable. The BCI church will be actively involved with the serving ministry through volunteering and financial support and make a specific commitment to increase support in the following year. Through the application process, ministries will be screened for both proven effectiveness in meeting needs and fruitfulness in gospel evangelism. The ministries must meet needs in one of the ten approved ministry categories: Crisis Pregnancy, Addiction Recovery, Troubled Youth/Adoption/Foster Care, Emergency/Transitional Housing, Prison Ministry/Aftercare, Religious Liberty/Justice Advocacy, Disaster Relief, Poverty Impacted, Human Trafficking, and Cross-Cultural Ministry. The Foundation Committee will meet to review applications submitted by churches and make decisions about how to award funding.

Year-Round “Open” Application

One other change is that we intend to leave the application “open” for churches to submit throughout the year, rather than just during the primary application period. New applications will be reviewed by the Foundation Committee via email once per quarter. Any applications approved will be able to receive quarterly grant funds for the remainder of the current cycle. (E.g., if an application is approved before the 3rd quarter begins, they will receive checks for the 3rd and 4th quarters).

Simplified Annual Renewal

At the end of each 1-year grant cycle, churches will need to renew the grant to affirm that A) the church has contributed the amount specified in the application and B) that the supported ministry is still in good standing. Churches will complete an IMF Renewal Application, which will include a simplified version of the primary application and collect a written report and photos of the ministry for inclusion in BCI communications (newsletter and website).

NAMB Funding Support

Thanks to our partnership with the North American Mission Board, we hope to dramatically expand our collective investment in these gospel-based serving ministries. Through NAMB Evangelism Strategy funding, BCI will receive $50,000 per year for three years toward the Iowa Ministry Fund. In previous years, BCI has distributed $100,000 per year through the IMF so these NAMB funds will substantially lessen the budget burden for the next three years.