May 2010 Update

It’s hard to believe that here we just celebrated Pentecost!  That means that summer will soon be here.

As you may recall, I work to support our World Mission efforts in your presbytery.  I’m here to be a resource and support person to you in your World Mission endeavors.

My colleague, Chris Roseland, and I send these updates to presbyteries in the hopes of keeping you informed about PC (USA) World Mission.

Please feel free to forward this email to those who work with World Mission in your presbytery and congregations.  As always, please cut and paste at will!

Mission Advocates & Mission Network Leaders Joint Event

There will be a Mission Advocates & Mission Network Leaders Joint Event in Louisville, Kentucky, September 30-October 2, 2010.  It will be a great chance to learn about and to share best practices in mission engagement, as well as to network with other mission leaders from around the country.  For complete information, please see attachment.  For more details, please contact Ellen Sherby at ellen.sherby@pcusa.org.

We Need Your Help to Itinerate Mission Workers

As part of the Mission Advocate and Mission Network Leader Joint Event, many PC(USA) World Mission regional liaisons will be in Louisville this fall, too.  Their presence gives you an excellent chance to invite one of them to visit your presbytery to share the stories of the great work that God is doing in the world today.  For more details, please contact Carol Somplatsky-Jarman at carol.somplatsky-jarman@pcusa.org.  

Vacation Bible School and Skype

Many of our churches have already started working on Vacation Bible School plans.  You can order PC (USA) curriculum at: http://www.pcusa.org/vbs/index.htm.  Many churches are also using Skype to connect with the mission workers they support.  Why not connect the two – VBS and our Mission co-workers?  I think it would be a great way to help children learn about how God works around the world!  Supporting the work of one our Mission Co-workers could be the focus of your Vacation Bible School offering.

Presbytery 100% Challenge

So far, 16 Presbyteries have accepted the challenge to have every congregation in their region to be in a relationship with at least one mission co-worker.  Some presbyteries have adopted a mission to recommend to the congregations.  Others leave that up to the individual churches to decide.  A relationship with a mission co-worker involves –

Ø  getting to know who our mission workers are and what they do,

Ø  praying for them on a regular basis,

Ø  writing letters or sending emails to them and getting on their email lists, and

Ø  supporting their work financially.

If you’d like to know more about the Presbytery 100%, please contact me.

Availability through Conference Calls or Skype!

I am available to attend your presbytery mission committee meetings by speaker phone or Skype.  If you think that it would be good to have me ‘present’ at one of your meetings to answer questions about missionary sending and support, to take part in the discernment process for selecting a mission co-worker, or simply to hear your advice for PC (USA) World Mission, please feel free to contact me and we’ll see how our schedules mesh for your meeting times.