If Patricia Reid had not been actively browsing the Internet last year seeking grants to assist with her seminary education, McClintock Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C., might not be celebrating the first anniversary of its life-changing Family Matters Project.
“It was all God’s providence throughout the whole thing,” said Reid, an elder at McClintock Presbyterian Church and a student at Union Presbyterian Seminary at Charlotte. “When I was searching the PC(USA) website for information regarding the Presbyterian Study Grant, I happened to come across the Presbyterian Mariners Family Ministry Grant. Thanks to that grant, we have just completed a full year of our Family Matters Project.”
The Mariners Family Ministry Grant – administered through the General Assembly Mission Council’s Financial Aid for Studies office – is a program for churches and other Presbyterian organizations to use to create new projects to fund and develop family ministry programs. The grant program is funded from the assets of the Presbyterian Mariners and continues the work of the Mariners to strengthen family ministry. Although the Presbyterian Mariners no longer have a national umbrella organization, numerous Mariners groups continue to thrive in local congregations such as McClintock.