Innovation Fund awards for 2021

In October 2021, St Augustine’s trustees awarded five new Innovation Fund grants to support exciting new initiatives.

Two grants – to the Province of Tanzania and Bishop Balya College, Uganda – were in direct response to the necessary innovative changes due to the restrictions imposed by Covid. The Province of Tanzania are to mount a training programme for the Heads and Academic Deans of the provincial theological colleges in making better and greater use of IT in their teaching. Bishop Balya College is setting up an E-Learning Centre in the College to strengthen its teaching approaches.

The Diocese of Muyinga in Burundi wishes to offer further training to it ministers by bringing cohorts of 50 together for an intensive 5 day course. By doing it in this way the grant will have an impact of significant numbers of their clergy and lay ministers.

Two grants were awarded that will offer opportunities for African ordinands and the African diaspora to build their capacity in ministry. St George’s College, Jerusalem will be working with CAPA to offer bursaries so African ordinands can participate in the study pilgrimages the College runs. Church Mission Society (CMS) in partnership with Missio Africanus were awarded a grant to offer bursaries to those in diaspora churches to explore the issues behind their ministries through a recently created Master’s degree course.

There will be more news on each of these together with formal reports as these initiatives get underway.