Your role in God's call to mission
Doug Orbaker works with a council of churches in Nicaragua called CEPAD.
While the world has changed dramatically over the past 175 years, the ministries of World Mission remain more necessary than ever. This age desperately needs the good news World Mission shares in word and deed. Its ministries are committed and focused. World Mission addresses the root causes of poverty, shares the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ, and works for reconciliation in troubled places around the globe.
Presbyterian World Mission does its work alongside global partners, a way of doing mission that is both faithful and effective. As Doug Orbaker, a mission co-worker in Nicaragua working with the council of Evangelcal churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD), has said, “There are people in the community who say that while other groups come, visit and give more, more things, no one has given us the training and accompaniment in our own process of development that CEPAD has.” CEPAD is among scores of global churches and institutions that are our partners in mission.
World Mission works alongside global partners, a way of doing mission that is both faithful and effective. It also helps PC(USA) congregations and presbyteries as they engage in mission partnerships and build relationships with Christian brothers and sisters around the world. Thousands of Presbyterians have come streaming out of the pews into short-term international service. Many of them benefit from participating in one of the nearly 40 mission networks and taking advantage of the resources and training it offers. World Mission also creates opportunities, both online and face to face, where grassroots Presbyterians can share best mission practices.
Mission co-worker Christi Boyd serves as the companionship facilitator for the Joining Hands partner, RELUFA, in Cameroon.
Not all of our partners’ needs, however, can be met through short-term mission service. Our partners continue to request mission workers who can make a long-term commitment and gain proficiency in the local language and culture. Our partners have urgent needs for theology professors, primary and secondary school educators, evangelists, physicians, community health workers, community development specialists and other highly skilled professionals to work for years rather than days or weeks. In fact, every year World Mission receives many more requests for mission personnel than it can fill. World Mission celebrates that God continues to call people to work cross-culturally, and that every year new people enter Presbyterian mission service. However, too many of our partners’ critical needs go unmet simply because World Mission lacks funding. World Mission interviews too many called and qualified Presbyterians who are kept from service due to financial restraints.
This challenge can be overcome. The more Presbyterians give, the more mission co-workers World Mission can send and support. World Mission is committed to being a good steward of the relationships it has built, the legacy it has inherited, and the gifts it receives. Presbyterians can give with confidence, knowing that their gifts are wise investments in a ministry with a record of excellence and a commitment to a holistic understanding of the gospel.
It costs an average of $83,000 per year to send and support one mission co-worker and $138,000 for a mission couple. World Mission uses these dollars prudently to cover a variety of sending and support costs, including salary, housing, transportation, health care and continuing education. These funds also pay for pastoral care, security monitoring, recruitment, orientation and training, and language school. In addition, gifts given to support mission workers enable World Mission to build and nurture relationships with international partner churches and organizations that request mission personnel. They also help mission workers tell their stories across the PC(USA). Mission personnel interpret their work through letters (distributed online and through the mail), print publications, video productions, and websites and by speaking in presbyteries and congregations.
Presbyterian World Mission invites you to give generously to the sending and support of Presbyterian mission co-workers. You can help ensure that this vital ministry remains strong and vibrant long into the future. Come alongside World Mission in its quest to seek Christ’s justice, bear witness to Christ’s good news, and work for Christ’s reconciliation.
Individuals wishing to support Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission personnel financially should mail their checks to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Individual Remittance Processing, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700 or give online at www.pcusa.org/give. For further information, call (800) 728-7228, x5611. Congregations should send their contributions through their normal receiving site.
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