[Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs, press release]  Our Merciful Savior Ministries, Inc. of Denver, CO (Diocese ofColorado) has been awarded an Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Pilot Program Grant from The Episcopal Church.

“This award is an aspect of the work focusing on the Fourth Mark of Mission, to transform unjust structures of society,” explained the Rev. Canon E. Mark Stevenson, Episcopal Church Domestic Poverty Missioner. “ABCD helps communities discern their God-given riches for ministry so that it might be given away as they walk with those in need.”

Stevenson said Our Merciful Savior Ministries, Inc. is comprised of a yoked mission relationship between a mission church, Our Merciful Savior Episcopal Church, and a Jubilee Ministry, the 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center.

The grant, for $22,000, will help Our Merciful Savior in its ABCD work to become the leader and focal point in bringing the neighborhood together in a proactive and productive manner for all neighbors. Stevenson said that the 12‐month project of inviting, gathering, and training the neighbors in the Our Merciful Savior neighborhood in ABCD is envisioned, with goals of converting both the Jubilee Center and the church into a community center, identifying the needs and desires of the neighborhood, and expanding program initiatives to serve both the new gentry as well as the low‐income neighbors.

Stevenson noted that over the current triennium, at least 10 ABCD trainers will be identified and trained to learn from the work of this program as they help communities of faith across the Episcopal Church engage in this work.

For more information contact Stevenson at msteveson@episcopalchurch.org.