The Diocese of Mara in Tanzania recently received a grant to run a Church & Community Integrated Training Programme for 168 participants.

This training programme is important for for these clergy and lay people because it helps give them necessary skills to grow self-reliance. Some of the participants have gone on to set up small micro-enterprise groups, having a positive impact on their own personal economic situations and communities.

“Poverty is still a big challenge in our communities. I believe that through this training, things are going to change...the topic of the advantages of micro-economy was very interesting.”

— Neema Magangira, Kibara Parish

The short answer is across the world! We work with theological institutions, dioceses and provinces across the Anglican Communion and are especially keen on receiving applications from areas we have not funded before in the majority world.

This map above gives you an idea of the Fellowship grants given in 2022. But this is just a snapshot as many other grants have been given to a wide range of places over the years. Below is the scholarship grants from last year.

We’d love to hear from new institutions or dioceses who would like to apply for a grant. Get in touch!

The Amos Bible School in the Episcopal Diocese of Ezo, (Western Equatoria Internal Province) in South Sudan received a grant from St Augustine’s to run a theological training course enabling students to outreach to traumatized communities. The course received students from 18 parishes in the Diocese and these students go back to their churches and communities to pass on their skills.

Hear what John Elias Elisama said about this course:

“I am happy that I have been a student of Amos Bible School in the whole of this year. In the time that I spend here, I have learnt new ways of facing challenges that come my way. I have been able to know why my family and community have not been able to move along well. This has changed my way of relating to my family and the people around us. Humility, love, forgiveness, care and peace now rings in my mind all the time. I am also able to understand the importance of living and working in unity with one another. Three of us in ABS come from Bafuka parish, and we have already agreed that once we go back to our Church, we shall work jointly to see that we train at least 10 people for a start who can join us in reaching out to our communities in a number of ways including door to door, open air, visit to places like health Centres, prisons and other places of gatherings. Thank you so much.”

Emmanuel (pictured here with his wife Vicky) is the Principal of Bishop Allison Theological College, Yei in South Sudan. Recently he received a grant from St Augustine’s to complete a masters degree. The topic of his thesis is fascinating and very pertinent:

“The effect of civil conflicts on the development of the church: A Case of the Episcopal Diocese of Yei.”

HIs thesis had three main objectives:

1. Investigating the causes of civil conflicts in South Sudan

2. Assessing how civil conflicts affect the development of the church

3. Examining strategies devised by the Church to maintain its development amidst civil conflicts in South Sudan.

His thesis helps the church and the community to prevent the emergence of civil conflicts after identifying the causes of the conflicts in the society and how it affects the development of the Church and the community so that the church should keep its development awake amidst conflicting civil societies.

Emmanuel pointed out that, “Most researchers focused on the conflicts within the church and how it affects her development and growth; the role of the Church in conflict resolution and peace building. But few research is done on how the external factors influence the affairs of the Church and affects her state of development and growth. In this regard, my study established its foundation from this phenomenon based on the theories of conflict emergence and its effect on the society.”

We have three areas of our grant programme: Scholarships, Fellowships and our Innovation Fund.

The main aim of our grant programme is to support theological education for church leaders, theological educators and students across the world but specifically in the Majority World.

Funding is often one of the biggest barriers to in depth and quality theological study and so have a look at how we can support you, your Diocese, church or Province.

Keila Bichet da Silva Gomes is a Priest and the secretary of the Anglican Diaconry and Development service in Diocese Meridional, Brazil. A grant from St Augustine’s Foundation enabled her to study English at a higher level enabling her to better communicate with the Anglican church globally and with local foreigners and international missions.

She serves in three communities: Missao da Santa Criz, Missao do Bom Pastor and Missao Maria Madelana doing a wide variety of work on top of teaching and lecturing. In one, she works as a University Pastor providing a space for young people of different nationalities. The project aims to serve vulnerable people prone to depressive and suicidal thoughts. Communicating in English in these situations is a vital tool.

Judy is a full-time Lecturer & Dean of Studies in Sabah Theological Seminary in Malaysia. She is also a tutor in the Anglican Training Institute of the Diocese of Sabah and has been teaching in the Sabah Theological Seminary too. She is a licensed Pastor and preaches regularly at All Saints Cathedral in Kota Kinabalu, Sabh as well as in other Anglican & indigenous churches in Malaysia.

A grant enabled her to have a refreshment programme in Ridley Hall, Cambridge and finish her PhD thesis and write a book on worship in the Malay language. It is wonderful to see this photo of her at the Christian Conference Asia this year.

In 2021, a grant was awarded to Missio Africanus in partnership with CMS to enable four students to train in their pioneer leadership training programme.

One student was Rachel Karanja: Rachel is in her second year studying with CMS, and also works with the sister organisation CMS Africa in Kenya where she leads a range of holistic mission and community transformation projects.

For Rachel, training with CMS is providing her with incredibly valuable, in depth biblical knowledge to aid her in her social outreach in Kenya. She has shared that for her the African MA is unique in having been designed specifically with African-background learners in mind. This has made it easy for her to apply what she is learning to her own context in Kenya.

She has also expressed immense gratitude for the bursaries provided and writes that:

“After I joined the MA course I was worried on how to raise the funds for my course. The generous bursary support from St Augustine’s Foundation is greatly appreciated and I am very confident that my dream of attaining an MA in African Christian Diaspora will soon be a reality.”

Having resources and funding to train new evangelists is one of the biggest hurdles the Diocese of Biharamulo in northern Tanzania.

St Augustine’s Foundation was therefore delighted to be able to support this Diocese in 2022 with a grant to train 45. These evangelists are planning on planting new churches and training 25 more evangelists in the future.

We continue to pray for them that their faith has deep roots in the gracious, loving and peace-filled Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We were delighted to support the Ministry Experience Scheme Diocese in Europe visit to the Holy Land in July 2022.

Listen to some of the quotes from its participants:

“Visiting the Holy Land for the first time is one of the best experiences I have ever had.”

“The most heart wrenching part of the trip was visiting Yad Vashem. What surprised me was howmuch actually survived, especially the stories. Just hearing them really humbles oneself. It was good to also hear both sides of the story.”

Take time to watch to this video from the group about their time in the Holy Land and how impactful it was