The Bill Snelson Young Ecumenists Fund has made its latest set of grants to enable ecumenical experiences abroad.
The United States, Germany and Belgium are among the destinations for the successful applicants in the third ‘cohort’ of The Bill Snelson Young Ecumenists Fund awards.
Six more Christians, aged 18 to 35, from a range of our National Member churches, will be undertaking ecumenical experiences abroad in 2025.
Introducing the recipients…
Laura Macfarlane
Laura is training at Westcott House, Cambridge for ordination as a priest in the Church of England.
She has been involved with two Local Ecumenical Partnerships growing up. She said: “I have continued to be inspired by the different churches that I have known, and I am convinced that if the church is going to make a big difference in this
country, we must work and worship with our siblings of all denominations.”
Laura will be spending Holy Week 2025 at the ecumenical new monastic community Spring Forest in North Carolina. She will be learning about mission in a brand new context, and getting her hands dirty on the farm!
Eleanor Datson
Eleanor is a member of the Beacon Baptist Church in Stafford. They are a Network Church, with three different congregations and multiple micro-church outreaches that meet regularly.
Eleanor is on the inter-denominational M4 Ready European church planting course. The Snelson Fund grant will support her to go to Berlin for an end-of-course study trip. There she will connect with other participants, all from different parts of Europe and all with their own experiences of Church models, styles, expressions and denominations.
Eleanor said: “I believe churches of every denomination need to unite against, as C.S. Lewis calls it, ‘the problem of pain’. Jesus calls us to meet people where they’re at and I want to bring church into the places and hearts where they may feel God has forgotten them.”
Rev Danny Pegg
Danny is the Associate Vicar of two Anglican churches in Eastbourne. He helps run ecumenical initiatives in his area through his local Churches Together group and through Eastbourne’s town-wide Angel festival. He is coordinating the ecumenical ecclesiological Feuerstein Conference for the Chichester diocese in November 2025. This is a conference
made up of Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics celebrating the connections between former Diocesan Bishop George Bell and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
The Snelson Fund will enable Danny to explore eco-theology on a project with the Episcopal Church in South Dakota, USA. Working alongside Anglcians, Methodists and Lutherans he’ll be immersing himself in the biodiversity resources and the wealth of indigenous wisdom there among the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota people.
Danny said: “I am passionate about the fruit that can be produced from traditions learning alongside each other and
from each other, in our agreements and disagreements.”
The remaining award recipients from the third round of grants will be introduced in February.
The Bill Snelson Young Ecumenists Fund was launched in October 2023 by Churches Together in England and the Snelson family. It is in memory of Bill Snelson, a dedicated ecumenist, who was General Secretary of Churches Together England from 1997 to 2008. Grants from the Fund allow young adults to experience ecumenism abroad. That experience can be study, pilgrimage, volunteering or any activity that promotes church unity.
Find a list of young Christians who benefitted from The Bill Snelson Young Ecumenists Fund.
Download a brief guide to The Bill Snelson Young Ecumenists Fund and how to apply.