Did you know Thrivent members can take advantage of a $250 Thrivent Action Team grant to equip their churches with Lutheran Hour Ministries resources? When a congregation puts on a fundraiser, educational event, or service activity, Thrivent offers seed dollars to help resource the project.
For this year's Trunk or Treat/Oktoberfest event, Our Savior Lutheran Church in Centerville, Texas, applied for a Thrivent Action Team grant to purchase LHM Project Connect booklets, including an assortment of children's booklets to hand out to kids.
"Along with the candy, we placed LHM's children's booklets in the kids' candy bags. We also moved the Project Connect display near the registration entrance, so we could point out possible interesting adult booklets," said LHM Ambassador Charlie Leslie.
Recently, Our Savior hosted its Centerville Independent School District back-to-school appreciation luncheon for faculty, staff, and administration. Ninety-two people were served food provided by the Thrivent grant. Leslie gave the invocation for the meal and encouraged guests to take booklets from the church's Project Connect display stand, which was near the event's photo booth. Children's booklets were also given to school personnel to share with their students.
In Wisconsin, Mary Lou Thur of Trinity Lutheran Church and School in Oshkosh has applied for and received several Thrivent Action Team grants. Her most recent application was for a project called "Sharing Jesus with Children and Family." The grant was used to "purchase booklets and Christian resources to hand out and make available for children of our church, school, and community," Thur said.
Once the necessary information is gathered for the application, Thur said, "It took me about ten minutes to apply. And almost immediately it was approved. Within a week a box arrived with the Thrivent Action Team credit card and supplies. I used the card to order the booklets. I still have some money left, which we may use to print a brief witness handout with our congregation's information on it."
You too can apply for a Thrivent Action Team grant for your congregation if you are a Thrivent member. The process begins at thrivent.com/about-us/membership/thrivent-action-teams, where Thrivent members complete a simple application. Once approved, they receive their Thrivent Action Kit, which includes a leader's guidebook, banner, team T-shirts, thank-you notes, a Community Impact Card, and digital tools to use through the Thrivent Action Team Hub. After that, your volunteer team takes action—and when the project is completed—shares its story.