At some point, everyone needs to take the time to step away from the stresses of everyday life, to recharge and rebuild. Ministry is a calling, but it's not always easy, and clergy too need the chance to briefly escape the pressures that come hand in hand with the joy of serving their communities.
The Society of Mary and Martha run the Sheldon Retreat Centre in Devon, a Christian community offering retreats to clergy and/or their spouses/partners, especially at times of stress, crisis, burnout or breakdown. We have been privileged to provide an Organisation grant to the centre for many years now, to support their ongoing mission to provide safe space for rest, reflection and recovery.
Organisation grants
An Organisation grant, unlike some of our other individual grants, is a grant awarded to an organisation or, in some cases, a diocese, where multiple clergy households may benefit from the grant.
These grants can support anything from retreat centres to activity days, care homes to sheltered housing, and even projects like Family Max, an afternoon of campfires and tobogganing for clergy children in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.