The Synod of the Covenant has awarded funds to 12 ministries

as part of its New Covenant grant program. New Covenant grants are funded from shared mission dollars received from presbyteries, who receive the money from congregations. 15 applications were received seeking $112,703.40. The amount of funding available was $79,000 

The program was designed to encourage new, emerging or revitalized ministries within the bounds of the synod. Projects were required to fit within one of the three synod mission priorities: congregational deveopment and transformation; multicultural, racial ethnic and justice ministries or ministries in higher education. 2009 Grant recipients are:

Cincinnati Presbytery

• Young Adult Volunteers: CUP-$9,400-This program places young adults in congregations who are dealing with urban issues and who are seeking to understand and discover new ways to reach out to their neighbors. The young adults bring creative and fresh insights into the congregation's ministry and mission.

Detroit Presbytery

• Barnabas Youth Center-$10,000-This program was created 26 years ago as a minitry of the presbytery. It is now separately incorporated with ECO status. Located in the central city area of Detroit, the official mission statement is: To encourage and promote development of youth and other individuals within the community by creating positive, meaningful work, learning and recreational opportunities; to provide a positive image and service which leads to the development of strong social and individual responsibility as a deterrent and alternative to crime, substance abuse and destructive behavior.
• Summer Camp for Children-$10,000-This program is a unique collaboration for the Michigan Black Presbyterian Charitable Organization, Camp Westminster on Higgins Lake, Park United Presbyterian Church, and Highland Park School District. It was created to strengthen, rebuild, and empower families that have been devastated by incarceration and to reduce the risk of generational incarceration.

Lake Michigan Presbytery

• Faith and Life Lecture-$ 2,820-This program consists of one lecturer per year by a Christian speaker who will explore the relationship between faith, work, and culture. The location will rotate between the three downtown college campuses. Currently, there are no explixitly Christian lecture at any of the downtown Grand Rapids Colleges.
• First Pres-Kalamazoo-$ 2,000-In response to an unmet need by the homeless, poor, underemployed and unemployed, the church offers a community supper, alternative worship service and educational programs and classes.
• Global Hosanna Fellowship-$ 5,000-This program reaches out to African immigrants who are seeking to know the Lord and the power of His resurrection.Worship services are held in English and Swahili every Sunday morning in the John Knox Presbyterian Church sanctuary in Kalamazoo.
• Refuge High School Equivalency-$10,000-This program was concieved by the Presbyterian Church of Okemoa in collaboration with local refugee resettlement agency, St. Vincent Catholic Charities and the local refugee foster care agency, Lutheran Social Services to assist refugees in receiving an official High School diploma.
• University Campus Ministry, Western Michigan-$ 2,820-This program will assist Campus Ministry in making leaders who will participate serving countless person at social service agencies in Kalamazoo, Detroit, Chicago, Seattle, and the Habitat ASB site.

Maumee Valley Presbytery

• Family Systems Retreat-$ 1,700-This is a one time event on Family Systems Theory in application to pastoral leadership and care. The event will provide opportunities for enrollment in training programs, and designed to recruit high quality students from among the participants. Participants will include pastors, elders, deacons, Stephen Ministers, Chaplains, Therapists, and other church and community leaders, and their spouses.

Miami Valley Presbytery

• Urban Explorers Camp-$ 7,000-This programs purpose is to introduce youth from urban neighborhoods in western Ohio to Christian community and a relationship with Jesus Christ in a small group, outdoor setting. Partnering organizations will nominate up to ten youth each, school grades 3rd-8th, to spend one week at Kirkmont Camp & Conference Center in Logan County,Ohio.

Muskingum Valley Presbytery              

• Fellowship of Christ's Community-$ 8,660- This program, under the sponsorship of Central Presbyterian Church in Zanesville, provides a supportive atmosphere for homeless and low income households to worship, share a hot meal and address the root causes of their predicament.

Western Reserve Presbytery

• Student Community Ministries-$ 9.600- This program is directed toward students at the university that surrounds this church. It seeks to provide a safe and non-judgmental environment in which students can grow spiritually, emotionally and intellectually through the worship of God, reflection on, and study of, the intersection of Christian tradition and lived experience, socially supportive fellowship with on another and members of the larger congregation.