One Body & One Spirit

Annual Appeal

The diocesan One Body & One Spirit Appeal is once again accepting grant applications for ministry projects in congregations, schools, and affiliated institutions while continuing to allocate wildfire-relief funds according to guidelines set by the Corporation of the Diocese. Donors may choose for their One Body & One Spirit donation to go to funds for ministry projects or to fire -relief.

Donate to the fire-relief fund

Fire-relief grant application form

Donate to the ministry projects fund

Ministry project grant application

Frequently Asked Questions

To view video, click here: One Body One Spirit Appeal | Pentecost | 6.4.25

For fire relief and ministry projects, One Body & One Spirit grants reflect Pentecost unity in action

In this video message from Altadena, Bishop John Harvey Taylor and the Rev. Canon Melissa McCarthy, diocesan canon to the ordinary, reflect on wildfire recovery work and invite continuing support of the diocesan One Body & One Spirit Appeal. A transcription of their Pentecost-themed remarks is below.

Canon Melissa: Bishop John and I have come to St. Mark’s Church and School in Altadena to talk to you about the Day of Pentecost, recovery and renewal, and the One Body and One Spirit Appeal.

Bishop John: We’re deeply grateful to St. Mark’s leaders for allowing us to come onto this sacred ground today. As you know, St. Mark’s lost its church building and almost all of its school buildings in the Eaton fire; St. Matthew’s Church and School in Pacific Palisades was heavily damaged in the Palisades fire. Five hundred or more individuals and families lost their homes throughout the diocese.

Canon Melissa: Since January, we’ve been working with leaders of the institutions that were hit the hardest; the Holy Spirit has been alive in these conversations – grieving and hope side by side. For St. Marks and St. Matthew’s, it’s a day-by-day experience figuring out what comes next, but they’re still together in community; they love each other, and they’re committed to continuing to do ministry together.

Bishop John: The Book of Acts discloses that the followers of Jesus Christ were “all together in one place” when the Spirit of God descended on them and began the process of transforming them into a church – an institution that would persist across millennia, the earthly manifestation of the risen Christ, straining against earthly prejudice toward the unity our forebears felt at the very beginning when their awe at Resurrection had brought them together across all differences of language, culture, and gender.

Canon Melissa: Since January, your extraordinary generosity to the One Body and One Spirit Appeal has made our diocesan community feel as though we are all together in one place. From every corner of this diocese – and actually from all over The Episcopal Church – your donations have enabled hundreds of institutions and individuals to begin to recover from the fires.

Bishop John: Those grants are continuing but beginning to wind down as we refocus the annual appeal on our mission of supporting all of our institutions with grants for ministries, repairs, new programs, and other needs.

Canon Melissa: Just go to the diocesan website, diocesela.org, and click at the top of the home page. We make it easy to make a gift either to the general appeal or to the fire fund.

Bishop John: We also make it easy to apply for a grant. Everything institutions and individuals need to know about guidelines and deadlines is at the website – all together in one place.

Canon Melissa: Many cultures have inherited the tradition of the phoenix rising from the ashes.

Bishop John: On the day of Pentecost, God’s Spirit came down to begin to form fractious people into one – a new kind of community to glorify God and care for God’s people.

Canon Melissa: Hope rising out of loss, hope coming down from heaven, hope alive because of all of you.

Bishop John: Thank you – and blessings in Christ to those you love on the Day of Pentecost and beyond.

Please join the 1,208 donors who, to date, have raised $694,504 in 1,224 gifts for fire relief through the One Body & One Spirit Annual Appeal. Grants are made by the Corporation of the Diocese to individuals and institutions based on applications reviewed weekly by a panel representing diocesan fiduciary bodies. Apply for a fire relief grant here and donate to the fire relief fund here.

Also, for ministry project grants the appeal has raised an additional $385,133 through 545 gifts by 288 donors in 2022-25. Later this month, the Corporation of the Diocese will announce its next round of grant awards. Apply for a ministry project grant here and donate to the ministry projects fund here.

Thank you for your support of the Annual Appeal – and for making a donation today by clicking the button below.

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