The Sychar Gospel Fund
Making theological training more widely accessible
The Sychar Gospel Fund supports men and women training for Christian work. It has a particular focus on helping individuals with leadership and ministry potential from disadvantaged socio-economic, ethnic minority and under-represented communities.
The fund’s aim is to broaden the range of individuals that are trained for ministry, in order to more effectively reach those that do not have access to orthodox biblical teaching or participation in gospel community.
The Sychar Gospel Fund has been set up in partnership with Stewardship and has adopted Stewardship's Donor Advisory Board model for managing distribution of its funds.
Next step
Thank you for your interest in The Sychar Gospel Fund. Please follow the relevant link below to find out more and either make an application or donation.
Between 2001 and 2021, the percentage share of the population made up of people from minority ethnic groups increased in England, Wales and Scotland. However, this same level of diversity is often not reflected in the demographic profile of our evangelical churches or Christian groups across the country and poses a challenge to us about how best to reach effectively into these communities.
Likewise, London City Mission estimates that one in three Londoners - people who may be homeless, from other faith backgrounds or living on some of London's most deprived estates - are unlikely to hear the gospel in their lifetime.
In North England, it is estimated that less than 1% of people regularly attend a church where the Bible is taught. While there is work being done to plant churches in areas of poverty, a lot of it is often underfunded and under resourced.
The Sychar Gospel Fund is set up to help address this.
The name of the fund was inspired by Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman in John, Chapter 4; Jesus regularly interacted with people that would be classed as outsiders. The transformation in the woman that came from meeting Jesus was a powerful witness to her community and led to many from her town believing Jesus’ words.
Many of the Samaritans from that town [Sychar] believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ...They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.” John 4:39-42
Training programme criteria:
- Training programmes that are in line with our Statement of Faith.
- Pastoral training with a particular focus on developing individuals’ character, competence and conviction for Bible ministry.
- Flexible ministry training pathways with content that is tailored to specific cultural contexts and needs.
- Programmes that involve mentorship and support and ensure church placements that build strong relationships with local churches who can provide ongoing support as individuals take up ministry roles.
Support provided:
Through our partnership with Stewardship, the fund aims not only to support individuals with financial assistance but to also encourage a biblical view of gospel partnership and support-raising skills that will enable a long-term sustainable ministry.
The board meets several times a year and accepts application forms throughout the year.
Further information
To find out more about our selection criteria and statement of faith, please follow the links below.
Application forms
To apply to The Sychar Gospel Fund, please complete the relevant application below.
Contact us
If you would like an informal chat, or need some guidance with your application, then please get in touch.