Chair of Mission Committee, Julie Garrett
Administrator of this webpage, Beth Phillips
Mission Opportunities at FIPC
I will show you my faith by what I do. -James 2:18
Christ Serving Day – Saturday, March 13, 2010 Christ Serving Sign Up Sheet There is something to suit every age group and ability level. E-mail Paul Tucker (paultucker@charter.net) to sign up for the project of your choice or drop your completed form by the church office. Thank you for sharing your time and talents for Christ!
Medical Missions, Iquitos, Peru trip opportunity, June 18-26, 2010.
Non-refundable deposit of $1250 due by March 1, payable to Medical Missions.
For more details contact Betty Fleming or Stewart Garrett.
NEW! Good News Club at Rudolf G. Gordon Elementary School
A great new way to serve! Our church is sponsoring the start-up chapter of the Good News Club at Rudolf G. Gordon Elementary School. We are seeking volunteers to teach the provided curriculum for this after-school club. Each session is 8 weeks long and requires 2 hours of your time each Thursday afternoon from 2:00 until 4:00 pm. For basic information about this national program, click here. Contact Julie Garrett if you are interested in teaching a session. And Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come unto me.’
Golden Strip Emergency Relief and Resource Agency (GSERRA)
GSERRA is the only local agency offering food, rent, and utility relief 5 days a week to residents of lower Greenville County and upper Laurens County. FIPC supports the Agency twice a year with food drives and monetary donations. If you would like to further support this agency by organizing a food drive in your neighborhood, sports group, or business contact Beth Phillips via e-mail bagilliam@aol.com or at 414-0523.
Habitat for Humanity
Each spring FIPC participates in a blitz build as part of a coalition of churches from the Golden Strip area. The project usually runs through April and part of May each year. For more information about the Golden Strip Habitat Coalition, click here.
Medical Missions
Members of Fountain Inn Presbyterian Church have the opportunity to go on mission trips with Medical Missions to Central and South American countries every two or three years. Past destinations have been Peru and Guatemala. Mission teams typically help build schools, churches, and medical clinics while evangelizing in remote out-lying areas. To learn more about Medical Missions, click here.
Just Coffee
FIPC supports fair market trade by purchasing Just Coffee twice a year. This partnership began when FIPC youth went on several mission trips to the Frontera de Cristo border ministry in Chiapas, Mexico in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. A coffee plantation on the Mexican side of the border near Chiapas was the first to partner with Just Coffee’s founders who had a vision of providing fair wages to those plantation workers for their product. Fair wages mean a better standard of living and less exploitation of ‘cheap labor’ in the huge global coffee market.
Church members are encouraged to place orders for this rich tasting coffee which comes in whole bean or ground, regular or decaffinated options. The coffee comes directly to the church and makes a great gift for any coffee connoisseur. The coffee is grown on farms in Africa and Central and South America. As a fair trade product, a ‘fair market’ percentage from the sale of Just Coffee goes directly to the hands that raised and harvested it, promoting viable job resources for people living in coffee growing countries. Enjoy your morning cup of ‘joe’ more when you make it ‘fair.’
FIPC Youth Mission Trips
Each summer our youth take off for a different destination to affect a postitive change in the world and themselves. 2008 took them to Johns Island, South Carolina to work with the Habitat for Humanity chapter there. In 2009, the trip will likely be within the United States again. Other recent trips have included Jamaica, Kentucky, Nicaragua, and Florida. You can help by simply attending the mission luncheons held after worship several times a year and donating generously for your meal. These funds go solely to finance the next summer’s trip. You can REALLY get involved by traveling with the youth as an adult chaperone. You can get to know our wonderful group of young people while helping others and growing in your faith.
Where your Mission dollars go:
In the ‘Mission’ category of our church budget, several organizations benefit each year.
- The ‘Budgeted Benevolence’ monies go to Foothills Presbytery and support their operations as well as their designated mission efforts. Look for blurbs in the Sunday bulletin explaining specifics of how these funds are used.
- Theological Education funds go towards continuing educational opportunities for the pastor and youth minister.
- Presbytery Assessment is a per-active member charge incurred by each church in Foothills Presbytery to fund presbytery operations.
- The Good Samaritan Fund is monies Doctor Mays may give at his discretion to individuals who come to the church during the week seeking assistance due to a hardship.
- Hispanic Outreach Ministries is a mission of Foothills Presbytery run by Chuy Gallegos to develop Hispanic congregations in our denomination. They offer worship time as well as classes with available child care to Hispanic families in the Berea area.
Individual ministries supported in the FIPC Mission Budget are:
(Click on underlined items for further information. Some organizations are highlighted above on this page.)
- Golden Strip Emergency Relief
- Meals on Wheels
- Ghana Mission Project
- United Ministries
- Medical Missions
- Frontera De Cristo
- Furman Campus Ministries
- Habitat for Humanity
- Good News Club
A WORLD of Missions: The Presbyterian Church U.S. A. supports a wide variety of mission efforts in the United States and throughout the world. To find out more about what our denomination is doing around the world click here. From that web site you may also sign up for e-mail or mail updates on the PCUSA world mission efforts.
