October 8, 2007

Dear Partners in service for Christ,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In September we participated in a beautiful undertaking with the people of our presbytery to meet an immediate need. A pastor in this presbytery (made up of five organized churches) is 72 years old and needs to retire in December. The pastor and his family live in the church building because their home was destroyed a number of years ago. So presbytery members came up with the idea of raising a large portion of the funds needed to construct a house by having each church contribute $500 (or more) to a building fund. Each church was given 1,000 envelopes to be filled with at least one real (equal to about $.50). Most of the people in this presbytery live very simple lives, so giving $.50 isn’t easy. The churches not only filled most of the envelopes, but held yard sales or sold hot dogs and other treats after worship services to reach their goal.

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
II Corinthians 9:7

Members of the Second Presbyterian Church rejoicing over the large gift they raised.

The presbytery held a worship service at the end of July, celebrating the national church’s 104th anniversary. At the service one church sold balloons with a small piece of paper in them. One piece of paper contained the name of a prize on it. Balloons only cost $.50, but it was an innovative way to raise money for building supplies. Second Presbyterian has only 65 members, but they raised over $860! Their youth group asked family members and even neighbors to give $.50 each, thus contributing a large gift. The presbytery asked Gordon to coordinate the building of the house by managing the funds, buying the right amount of supplies, etc.

It was beautiful to see this dream in all of its stages. It was the local church leaders who came up with the idea of giving each church 1,000 envelopes. Then we watched the churches plan different ways they could reach their goal. Next we saw the variety of plans being carried out, followed by the surpassing of their goal. Now the house is under construction. The national church is giving a gift, also. The house will be very simple (two bedrooms), but the pastor’s family will have their own home when he retires in December.

Some participants of the presbytery workshop practicing what they learned that afternoon.

Since June, the presbytery has been offering workshops twice a month for those involved in education. The first few dealt with the theory and styles of teaching, the different stages of children go through, and how lessons should be adapted to the different ages of children. We also had workshops on the difference between Sunday school, vacation Bible school, and children’s activities during worship, and how to plan for each. Now the workshops are offering hands-on experiences, such as using a flannel board, how to make one, and some different styles and sizes of letters to use on posters, chalkboards, etc. Other workshops include making murals and other activities using paper, how to create and present simple role-plays and more complex plays, and how to use throw-away objects to create resources and artwork. One workshop will be about how to make puppets and how to use them in the classroom.

These educators devote two Saturday afternoons each month to improve their skills and learn new ideas. The workshops are presented by different people with different skills and specialties. Dorothy presented a majority of them, but has learned a lot as a participant, too. At the end of the year, they will receive a diploma and each church will be given a workbook with the highlights of the first workshops and directions about using and making the projects talked about.

This presbytery is very small, but the leaders’ skills are being strengthened and new leaders developed. It still lacks leaders, faces financial problems, and is just getting recognition by the government as a legal entity, enabling it to have its own bank account and other things. They are overcoming these burdens and pushing onward in evangelism, worship and education.

I hope most of you are participating in Mission Challenge ’07 in the PC(USA) in October. If your church hasn’t been a part, please talk to your pastor about using the bulletin inserts that the national church has supplied to each local church and talking about Mission Challenge.

Thank you for your prayer and financial support, which makes our work possible.

In Christ,

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 41