Saint George Greek Orthodox Church in Prescott, Arizona was chosen to receive one of the first four grants offered from the Archdiocesan Committee for Small Parishes (ACFSP). The grant, which is funded by Leadership 100 and administered by the ACFSP, is focused solely on helping small parishes grow their membership.

"This is, indeed, a great blessing for the parish of Saint George in Prescott, Arizona. They are a dedicated community who are working faithfully to strengthen their parish spiritually and financially," stated His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco. "The grant will help this parish thrive and become a beacon for our Orthodox faith."

Rev. Father Jeffrey Frate, pastor of Saint George, says that the community's first priority is to focus on growth through outreach and stewardship initiatives, working together with the Commission for Orthodox Missions & Evangelism (C.O.M.E.), and Southwest Vicar for the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco, Father Andrew Barakos, to invigorate their Stewardship program and create an outreach program to introduce Orthodoxy to the greater community.

Orthodox Christians began worshipping together in Prescott in 1997. The group became a mission of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco in 2003, and in 2009, received Saint George as their patron. Father Jeffrey Frate was assigned to the parish with his family in June 2014. The parish currently has 35 stewards.

The ACFSP is a newly-formed subcommittee of the Archdiocese Finance Committee chaired by Dr. Louis Roussalis. This committee and grant were created in response to the Finance Committee's consistent finding that the Archdiocese has many small parishes that face significant challenges to grow their membership. The grant offers $50,000 in the first year with a potential to receive $35,000 the second year and $10,000 in the third and final year. The Committee invited each Metropolis to offer three applications for consideration. Eligible parishes have less than 100 stewards and “a full-time mission-minded and outreach-focused priest.”  Dr. Roussalis believes that if this first year proves successful and the parishes are able to exhibit significant growth, additional grants will be awarded in future years. The three other parishes that received the grant this year are in the Denver, New York and Chicago Metropolises.