Nearly 300 churches applied this year for a Kingdom Advancing Grant, which the Brotherhood Mutual Foundation awards to church programs that impact their communities and spread the gospel in unconventional and creative ways. When the foundation recently announced the nine recipients of the 2024 grants, Crosspoint Free Methodist Church in Hilton, New York, made the list with a $5,000 grant for its Aslan’s Explorers program.
Crosspoint Pastor Darlene Simpson described the program as “an incredible journey through Narnia and imagination to equip children with real life skills. Aslan’s Explorers exists to teach boys and girls that their true identity is found in Jesus.”
Students from kindergarten through sixth grade can enroll in Aslan’s Explorers, and each year of the program is based on one of the books in “The Chronicles of Narnia” series by beloved author C.S. Lewis. Students learn the four Narnian virtues: Be brave. Be faithful. Be humble. Be kind. They also learn these core truths: I am known. I am forgiven. I am made for community. I am never alone. I am set apart. I am here to share Jesus. I am uniquely designed. I am designed for a purpose.
“The grant will help us to further develop curriculum, create the environment of Narnia, and allow us to provide an experience that can be multiplied to children everywhere,” Simpson said. “On a personal note, my 6-year-old and 4-year-old grandchildren have already memorized Scripture verses, which will be held in their hearts for their lifetime. My granddaughter loves to tell others what she has learned at Aslan’s. We are excited to see thousands of little ones discover and live the virtues they learn in Aslan’s Explorers.”
Simpson launched the program with Rob Dickerson, the pastor of LifeQuest Community Church that meets at Crosspoint’s building and cooperates in ministry with the motto “2 Churches – 1 Location: Better Together.” Dickerson said the program launched in January with original curriculum, but it is now an October to May discipleship ministry.
Dickerson applied for the grant after receiving an email about the program and then discussed it with his Brotherhood Mutual insurance agent who is also an artist creating illustrations for Aslan’s Explorers.
“The application for it was not difficult at all. The website that they created was fairly straightforward to navigate,” Dickerson said. “The hardest part was figuring out what information they wanted from us so that we could give it to them.”
Innovative, Evangelistic, Replicable
Kathy Bruce, director of the Brotherhood Mutual Foundation, said the foundation is funded by a percentage of Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Co. premiums that are paid by churches and related ministries, “and so through our foundation, we’re focused on giving back to Christian churches. … There are many grants available to nonprofit and faith-based nonprofits, but this particular grant is limited to churches.”
Bruce emphasized that the grant program has three key pillars.
“No. 1, it needs to be very innovative. It’s not something that others are doing down the street. It’s a very new and different idea,” Bruce said. “The second pillar is that it has a well-defined path to lead people to Jesus.”
The final “pillar is replicability, because our whole goal in this is to see if we can give these initiatives visibility so that others might consider trying them in their ministries.”
Ministry Mentoring
Bruce noted that the program includes a granting council with ministry leaders from across the country.
“The beauty of this grant is those council members commit to mentoring, coaching, encouraging, and praying for the grant recipients, and they meet with them once a month on a Zoom call for just about a year,” Bruce said. “Somewhere in that year, they go to visit that site personally and try to build that relationship. The follow-up after that year becomes more of a friendship.”
Dickerson said a large church in Kansas City is partnering with Aslan’s Explorers to provide guidance in curriculum development and wise use of the grant money.
The Kingdom Advancing Grant is awarded annually. The 2025 grant application cycle begins Jan. 6 and ends March 31. More information is available at brotherhoodmutual.com/kingdom-advancing-grant.