Guidelines for the Youth Edification Scholarship Fund (YES Fund)

A Program of BRYDGES, Inc. Published December, 2014

The YES Fund of BRYDGES, Inc. was created to provide young adults with an interest in formal theological training the opportunity through financial assistance to obtain such training. Through this opportunity, the YES Fund will assist with the cost of attending one-time workshops, conferences, short courses, and certificate and degree programs. Maximum award for each category of activity is as follows:

One-time workshops: $75
Conferences: $150
Short courses: $300
Certificate and degree programs: $600

The YES Fund grant-making through BRYDGES is directly aligned with our goal to equip young people in the church to serve effectively in ministry.

All requests will be accepted, however grant awards will be made based on the priority areas listed below:

1. Children’s Ministry
2. Youth Ministry
3. Missions
4. Church Leadership
5. Biblical Studies and Interpretation
6. Homiletics

In order to apply for this scholarship, candidates must:

1. Be between 18 and 35 years of age at the time the application is submitted.

2. A member in good standing of any church with the same basic beliefs as described on page 3. Priority will be given to:
     i. Applicants who are members of churches that are affiliated with BRYDGES.
     ii. First time applicants.

          3. Complete an application and include a one-page essay that focuses on the three questions as indicated on the application form.

Ineligible Requests

1. Applications for participation in a training program that is not theological.
2. Requests that are submitted by an applicant within 12 months or less of receiving an award.
3. Requests from a scholarship recipient two consecutive years, unless no other applications were submitted.

 

The YES Fund Committee will accept two rounds of applications each year. The due dates are June 30 and December 31, subject to the availability of funds. The YES Fund Committee retains the right to withhold scholarship grants if at any time no applicant is determined to be qualified.
Applicants will receive an email within two business days of submission notifying them that the YES Fund Committee has received their application.
Applicants will be notified of approval or denial by email within 30 calendar days of submission. All scholarship checks will be made payable to the training organization on behalf of the scholarship recipient.

Scholarship recipients are required to complete an end-of-grant report within 60 days of participating in the spiritual development opportunity.

BRYDGES


What We Believe

 

  • The Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, is God’s inspired Word. Inerrant in its original writing, the Bible is the only authoritative and infallible rule of faith and conduct for humanity.
  • The sovereign deity of the universe is God Almighty, who is to be worshiped in spirit and in truth. He is eternal, infinite, holy, self-existent Spirit who created, sustains, rules, redeems, and judges His creation. He is one in nature, essence and being. God is revealed in Scripture as Father and Son.
  • God the Father of whom are all things, whom no one has seen nor can see, reigns in the heavens and transcends our complete knowing. He is revealed as our loving heavenly Father by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Ultimately, God the Father will restore perfect harmony to all creation through Christ and reign eternally over the redeemed.
  • Jesus Christ is God’s one and only begotten Son. He is the savior of the world, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and he died the atoning death all mankind.
  • The Holy Spirit is the divine helper and comforter. The Holy Spirit proceeds from Father and the Son, and he is manifested in his people today according to Acts 2.
  • All those who come to acknowledge Jesus Christ as his or her personal savior through confession, baptism, and reception of the Holy Spirit is saved.
  • The church of God in Scripture is a spiritual body of believers who hold the faith of Jesus and keep the commandments of God.
  • The Ten Commandments are a guide to proper moral conduct and obedience to Christ
  • Marriage is an institution of God and is an exclusive lifetime union between one man and one woman.
  • Holiness is a standard that God is expecting his people to meet. Therefore, we strive as a people saved by grace to abstain from pride, envy, indolence, lust, covetousness, immoral amusements and practices such as pornography, sexual immorality, and homosexuality in the flesh. Instead, we seek to observe these Bible principles: give tithe and freewill offerings for the support of the church and its gospel ministry; eat for food only those meats the Bible describes as “clean.”