Category: Missions - Edmonds Presbyterian Church

Missions News

4/28/2022

On March 2, the One Great Hour of Sharing campaign began. This is one of the Special Offerings sponsored by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in support of ministries of compassion, justice, hunger, education, peacemaking, and global witness. Funds raised during the season of Lent are sent to Presbyterian Mission Agency where they are divided with 36% to Presbyterian Hunger Program, 32% to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and 32% to Self-Development of People.

In 2020 the Disaster Assistance granted $6.5 million as more than 500 grants in the United States and 56 countries. Of that, $3.5 million was for COVID-19 response. Find an interactive world map with OGHS recipients may be seen at pcusa.org/oghsmap. Also, to find out more about the ongoing work of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, go to presbyterianmission.org/pda.

A BIG Thank You to all who contributed either cans of soup or cash to Souperbowl Sunday. On Monday, 24 cans of soup, 3 bags of nonperishable food, and $14 cash was delivered to the Neighbors in Need Food Bank.

Margaret S, Mission Elder

Mission News

3/1/2022

On March 2, the One Great Hour of Sharing campaign begins. This is one of the Special Offerings sponsored by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in support of ministries of compassion, justice, hunger, education, peacemaking, and global witness. Funds raised during the season of Lent are sent to Presbyterian Mission Agency where they are divided with 36% to Presbyterian Hunger Program, 32% to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and 32% to Self-Development of People.

In 2020 the Disaster Assistance granted $6.5 million as more than 500 grants in the United States and 56 countries. Of that, $3.5 million was for COVID-19 response. Find an interactive world map with OGHS recipients may be seen at pcusa.org/oghsmap. Also, to find out more about the ongoing work of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, go to presbyterianmission.org/pda.

A BIG Thank You to all who contributed either cans of soup or cash to Souperbowl Sunday. On Monday, 24 cans of soup, 3 bags of nonperishable food, and $14 cash was delivered to the Neighbors in Need Food Bank.

Margaret S, Mission Elder

MISSION NEWS

1/27/2022

Thank-You notes were received from several mission recipients, among them was an up-date from World Concern: Thank you for your faithful support through another difficult year. Your gift makes a tremendous difference in vital, life-saving ways:
Providing emergency food for families today and over the long-term. You saved Maria’s grandson! At six months old, he suffered from malnutrition. Sick and listless because the family could not provide the needed nutrition for him, they thought he would die! This is when you stepped in. Because of your generosity, Maria learned to plant and harvest a garden. Chickens you provided gave eggs for food and to sell. Goats you provided gave milk for the family and provided meat for the family and a source of income to buy other necessities. Her grandson is thriving now and so is the family with their goat farm.
Margaret S, Mission Elder

MISSION NEWS

12/1/2021

Support 7 sent a thank you note for our gift of $75 for the critical work our local fire departments do in Snohomish County answering 911 calls. They are grateful to us for our continued support. . They ask for our prayers of protection for their chaplains and volunteers who work 24/7, as first responders answering victims of trauma in a moment of darkness. They also ask for our prayers for the many hurting hearts in our community, as we are seeing a rise in deaths by suicide and COVID. They provide a high standard of pre-hospital emergency care, entirely through the generosity of donations. For more information or donations, visit their website at: mediconefoundation.org.

Pregnancy Resource has provided us with a Christmas family consisting of a mother and 2 children: a boy age 7 and a girl age 9. Pregnancy Resource is a Christian organization that provides counseling, classes, material help and other support to pregnant women and mothers to help them keep their babies and young children. Our church is collecting donations to buy gift cards for this family, with donations due by December 5th. Monetary donations can be sent to the church office in envelopes marked “For Christmas Family.”

As food for thought, the latest Mission Report asks us to help eradicate systemic poverty by acting on our beliefs and working to change laws, policies, plans and structures in our society that perpetuate economic exploitation of people who are poor. In Matthew 25, we are called on to serve with and for “the least important ones” by recognizing Christ’s urgent call to be a church of action, where God’s love, justice and mercy shine forth and are contagious.

Respectfully submitted by Margaret S, Mission elder

Missions News

8/26/2021

Quarterly checks were sent out to our mission partners by the session mission committee. We thank all the membership for your faithfulness in continuing your contributions to the church during this long spell of having to meet virtually due to the COVID-19 closure. It is indeed a pleasure to be meeting again at the church and to be seeing most of you on a regular basis.
We have received many Thank-You notes from our mission partners which are on display in the Friendship Hall. Among them is a letter from Tyler and Rochelle Holm giving thanks for our prayers for them and the people of Malawi. They are now living in Richland Washington and have enrolled their daughter Mphatso in the local school while waiting to return to their missionary position in Malawi. They want to continue to be in our prayers and for us to pray for all the people with COVID.
Haiti has received a double whammy in that a severe earthquake hit the island earlier this month, ruining thousands of homes and with thousands of people injured, then the island was hit by Hurricane Grace, dumping a deluge of water on the helpless residents. The US Navy and Air Force have been helping find victims and getting them to medical treatment, but there is a great need for help including food, water, and medical supplies. If you can help the people of Haiti please send a contribution to Presbyterian Disaster Relief-Haiti in care of Edmonds Presbyterian Church.
The mission committee would like to have more members, so please contact me if you have an interest in selecting our mission partners and deciding how to dispense our funds.

Margaret S, Mission Elder

Missions News

7/29/2021

Mission Projects currently supported by EPC are :

Eagle Wings: Serves people with handicaps, many of whom need caregivers. During normal years these people suffer social isolation and frustration in performing activities of daily living such as dressing, eating, or even getting from place to place. The Eagle Wings staff make routine calls to shut-ins, provide social activities with games for the young and encouragement for the caregivers.
Jean Kim Foundation for Homeless Education: Jean Kim founded this foundation to encourage homeless men and women to improve their lives by attending school or college, thus enabling themselves to earn a living wage and earn their way out of poverty. The foundation provides a small house equipped with electricity and a safe place to sleep and study for each student accepted into the program.
Opening Blind Eyes: Prison Ministry with the aim of bringing hope to the men of Monroe Prison. Pastor “Rip” Van Winkle provides counseling, bible studies, hospital visitations, and pastoral care to inmates and staff along with prayers and evangelism.
Puget Sound Foursquare: In support of Jan Griffin, our missionary to Sweden.
Puget Sound Christian Clinic: Mobile Dental and Medical Clinic provides free care to those in need. (Pledge of $100 per month)
Renewal Ministries Northwest: Reverend Dianna Kunce reports a large growth in the number of people seeking spiritual direction and an expansion of their programs during the past year thanks to their use of the Zoom format. They plan to continue using Zoom after returning to their normal in-person activities in Mill Creek.
Everett Gospel Mission: Offers food and shelter and a Christian message to homeless men and women and children.
Cancer Pathways: Offers support and transportation to those receiving cancer care.
Habitat for Humanity: Provides an opportunity for low-income families to work to earn their own home.
Menaul School: A boarding school in New Mexico offering education and opportunity for growth to students through high school, partly supported through box tops for education. Many graduates continue on to college and successful careers.
Northwest Coast Presbytery-United Mission: This is our own Presbytery.
Pregnancy Resource Center: Cares for pregnant women with medical services, tangible resources and community referrals. Encourages sanctity of human life.
Presbyterian Hunger Program: Administered through the Presbyterian Church USA.
Salvation Army: Everett Office
Vision House: Provides apartments and support to homeless women and children.
Whitworth University: Spokane based Presbyterian College.
World Concern: Changing lives all over the world by helping people help themselves, by digging wells for clean water, teaching how to raise crops and livestock, offering medical care, saving girls from sex traffickers, and child marriage, and being there for the forgotten, the hopeless and the hurting.
Matthew House: Provides respite, food, and counseling to families of those in Monroe Prison.
Presbyterian Church USA Mission Partner: Tyler Holm, wife Rochelle and daughter Mphatso.

Margaret S, Mission Elder

Missions News

7/1/2021

Last month we sent $1800 to Presbytery for distribution to the following mission recipients: Eagle Wings, Jean Kim Foundation, Opening Blind Eyes, Puget Sound Foursquare (Jan Griffith), Lahai Health, and World Mission (Tyler Holm).

We received the following letter from Rochelle and Tyler Holm:
Thank you for your prayers and advocacy and we want to share an update about our next transition. The Furlough Home in Louisville, Kentucky, where we have been staying will be closing and we need to move out in July. We are grateful that with the prayers of many of you we have found an apartment in Richland, Washington, and while near family, it will also allow private space to remain socially distant while we quarantine on arrival from Kentucky. The short term lease gives us the time to get back to Malawi. We are set to borrow most things to furnish the apartment.

In Washington state we will continue sheltering-in-place and working remotely as we have been for the past year. Please pray for us as we pack up to move in Louisville, enroll Mphatso in a new school in Richland, set up our apartment, and for COVID-19 victims around the world. Please also pray for Malawi as COVID-19 has recently increased again and the borders were again closed for travelers. Thank you for your prayers, we will let you know more after our move to Washington state.
Grace and Peace, Tyler, Rochelle and Mphatso Holm

Margaret S, Mission Elder

Mission News

2/25/2021

When Manuel Nazario casts his net into the water these days, his catch is far less plentiful.
In the remote area of Bolivia near the Paraguay-Argentina border, Manuel and the members of his indigenous community are finding that fishing, their traditional livelihood, is now in severe jeopardy.
The Capirendita (pronounced CAP-IR-EN-DITA) community is grappling with the devastating impact of climate change, irregular rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, disease and mining pollution. As a result, their age-old ways of life and their means of economic support are increasingly threatened. The degradation of the environment and the mounting lack of access to water threatens their very survival.
Manuel has emerged as one of the leaders in his fishing community. A born innovator and community organizer, he is now leading the families in Capirendita toward the promise of a better way, in partnership with a local organization called CERDET (Center for Regional Studies of Tarija). Together they are working to develop irrigation systems and to collect and store rainwater for safe drinking.
Because of gifts received through One Great Hour of Sharing, like the gifts you and I will make to this Offering here in our congregation, CERDET is building infrastructure to address the communities’ critical water shortage. Their goal is to create 500 meters of pipes to transport safe well water to those in need. Manuel will be responsible for carrying out the excavation work on the underground piping system. Our gifts will also support the distribution of plastic containers to collect and save rainwater.
One Great Hour of Sharing helps us address critical water needs in places like South Sudan, training technicians to dig water wells for their communities and on maintenance, hygiene and sanitation. And in places like Detroit, our gifts have joined We the People of Detroit to secure access to water for those who have had their water shut off during the pandemic. Imagine not being able to wash anything during the pandemic!
One Great Hour of Sharing is the single, largest way that Presbyterians come together every year to share God’s love by becoming “repairers of the breach,” joining with people in need to build God’s house, together. Together we are making a better world for those in need no matter where they are. Please give generously, for when we all do a little — it adds up to a lot.

Mission News

2/3/2021

In 1990, Souper Bowl of Caring began with a simple prayer from a single youth group:

“Lord, even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us be mindful of those without a bowl of soup to eat.”

Since then, more than $150 million has been generated for local charities across the country through Souper Bowl of Caring. It has become a powerful movement that transforming the time around the Big Game, into the nation’s largest celebration of giving and serving.

Share in God’s love for our neighbors in need and give generously on Super Bowl Sunday. 100% of every dollar or food item collected will go directly to our Souper Bowl of Caring Charity of Choice: The Concern for Neighbors Food Bank in Mountlake Terrace. We will collect this offerings at the church
Tuesday, February 2nd through Thursday, February 4th 8am-12pm. Please drop your canned goods in the box outside the church doors or mail a donation with your offering.

MISSION NEWS

12/1/2020

One of the most powerful things that Christians claim is that God saw the great needs of the world and offered a perfect gift in response, a gift that brought God and humanity closer together. God’s perfect gift, Jesus Christ. “Emmanuel, God is with us!” our Advent dream proclaims, as God joins in human life, and draws us together as a result. “God is with us” shows God values togetherness and relationship with us, leading us to value togetherness and relationship with one another.
When we are all together — and even when we are apart.
During these past months, many of us weren’t able to be together in person, but we have always been together in spirit, and in faith. We have missed seeing faces we love — up close and personal, but the physical distance has also revealed, for us, the importance of those things which bring us together, even when we are physically far apart.
We offer our gifts during this Advent Season to the Christmas Joy Offering because God shows us the power and importance of being together, of “being with.” We might not be able to meet face to face with those who need the support that our gifts provide, be we are very much still together. We see the potential of students of color who will become our leaders and we seek to come alongside them, to encourage them, to be together with them. And we see church workers who have critical financial needs and we come alongside them, to assist them — we are with them. And we see the witness of the whole Church, either gathered in buildings or connected home to home, member to member, sharing what we have, together. We thank God for being “with us” through the gift of Jesus and for joining us together as the Church and, through our gifts, with those who have need.
Please send this special offering to the EPC office marked Christmas Joy.