In the Mud Grants

In the Mud Grants is sponsored by Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ. Provides seed money for new, community-engaging ministries within Rocky Mountain Conference churches. Grantees should demonstrate a desire to actively engage in missions that extend beyond church walls, such as after-school programs, food pantries, or community gardens.

“In the Mud” Grants – Rocky Mountain Conference “Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear. ” — Matthew 13: 8-9 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

” — Hebrews 10: 24-25 The 2025 Application is now closed. Deliberations will occur during, and selected applicants will be notified in September. Questions?

Please contact Eleanor Downey, New Ministries Mentorship at epdowney@live. com or Melissa McCarl at melissa@rmcucc. org.

Thank you! The work of Jesus was done on the ground: He got his hands “in the mud” with the people he served, directly helping those who came to him – the outcasts, the sick, the poor, and the forgotten—and he asked his disciples to do the same. In 2016, our Conference voted to adopt a similar “in the mud” approach to sharing mission dollars.

Instead of sending funds directly to organizations, we now grant the funds to our local churches, empowering them to build new partnerships and ministries within their communities. In 2024, the RMC awarded “In the Mud” grants to a variety of projects.

Here are just a few: Columbine United Church sponsored a Kids Corner at a local Pride Celebration; Hayden Congregational UCC used their funds to create a new website for their church, improve worship technology, and start a new podcast series; Plymouth Congregational in Fort Collins used their funds to help support CSU students experiencing food and housing insecurity; and UCC Longmont helped a local non-profit organization renovate their building.

To learn more, please check out this blog post and check out the photos below. UCC Longmont shows off their renovations work for El Comite . Mountain View United Church used their funds to support programming for their Young Adult Group.

Black Forest Community Church used their funds to support programming for youth and train OWL facilitators. In 2023, the RMC awarded “In the Mud” grants to 10 communities.

Their proposed projects included some of the following: inviting Black women clergy to be guest preachers; building a wheelchair ramp; planning an interfaith Pride celebration and a church anniversary celebration; a new LED sign at the church building to help spread the word about church activities; commissioning a poem for a special event; and developing a pilot program to help Open and Affirming congregations continue to expand their welcome to the LGBTQ+ community.

Provo Interfaith Pride Service A new wheelchair ramp built by Black Forest Community Church Valarie Kaur at La Foret’s “Seeing No Stranger” Event Over the last few years, we have seen all kinds of new and innovative outreach programs sprouting up across our Conference through these grants.

From food pantries to playgrounds, to evening programs with progressive faith leaders, these small grants are helping local congregations have a greater impact in their communities. For the first few years of In the Mud, we were focused on awarding grants for church-based community outreach programs. In 2020, we shifted our focus towards technology and improving online outreach efforts.

This year, we continue supporting tech improvements as well as in-person outreach projects. The important thing is the intention of the project and how it will expand your church’s reach into your community. Funding decisions are made once a year and can be in amounts up to $2,000.

The total funding amount depends on the quality, quantity, and requested dollar amounts of the applications we receive. If you are seeking a larger grant for your new ministry, please check out the Tributary Fund .

We encourage churches to seek the dollar amount needed to enact their ministry with the knowledge that they might not be awarded the full requested amount (especially if we happen to receive several other inspiring applications). You can rest assured, though, that this isn’t an all-or-nothing process; you won’t be rejected or penalized if you ask for more than we are able to offer.

Receiving an In the Mud Grant is a result of collaboration, deepening relationship, and a focus on community engagement and congregational vitality. Grant funding is not seen as the end of the conversation, but rather one part in an ongoing dialogue.

The In the Mud team hopes that grant recipients will share the story of their vitality program with the Rocky Mountain Conference and the wider church, as well as consider increasing their OCWM and Strengthen the Church offerings as a visible sign of increased vitality.