Next round of Snelson Fund grants awarded

Dr Peter Elliott

Peter is a College Research Associate at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. His research focuses on the relationship between music, philosophy, science, and theology in early modern Europe.

He is also Churchwarden at St Edward King & Martyr (Anglican) church where he has been organising ecumenical events.

Peter plans to visit the Coptic monastery of St Bishoy in Wadi El-Natrun Egypt for a week in autumn 2026, to learn more about the Coptic Orthodox tradition, experience its liturgy, and deepen his own life of prayer in this historic monastic setting.

“The opportunity to experience this rich Christian tradition in its homeland and to share in the communal life of one of its oldest and largest monastic foundations will doubtless leave me better informed and further inspired to promote mutual understanding, cooperation, and unity between my own theological tradition and the Coptic Church here in the British Isles,” he said.

Gabriella Mckenzie

Gabriella attends the New Testament Church of God in Wolverhampton.

She has been introduced to other church traditions while studying the Beginning Theology course at St Mellitus College and by participating in her university’s Christian Union. “This has broadened my understanding of the wider Church and highlighted the richness that different denominations can bring to theological learning,” she said.

Gabriella was inspired to get involved in ecumenism after her sister Ellmina was awarded a grant from The Bill Snelson Young Ecumenists Fund in 2024.

Like Ellmina, Gabriella will use her grant to visit the ecumenical community of Taizé in southern France. She plans to go on a week-long retreat with a group of young people from the Anglican Diocese of Lincoln this summer.

Fr Peter Greenfield

Fr Peter is currently the curate at All Saints Carshalton in Surrey, where he is involved in an active local Churches Together Group.

Peter will use his grant from The Bill Snelson Young Ecumenists Fund to attend the Anglican-Lutheran Society’s biennial conference in Germany this autumn, which is focusing on the theme ‘Migration’. The event is being hosted in Hamburg, which was a major historic hub for migration.

On the agenda are discussions on the theme of migration both in ancient and modern times particularly in biblical and theological contexts, and those of the mission of the two denominations.

Peter said: “Attending the conference will help me gain deeper understanding into the issue of migration, which will enhance my preaching and teaching on the subject in its difficult political context, where I have to address it as an Anglican minister and public figure in my parish community and diocese.”