Missionaries/Mission Co-Workers

(supported by Oxford Presbyterian Church)

GARY PAYTON, Regional liaison Russian, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus

KATHY AND JOE ANGI, Hungary and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance

OSUMNDO AND ANA LIGIA PONCE, Spain

JOHN AND PAULA EWERS, Colombia, accompaniers

for profiles, go to pcusa.org/missionconnections

ROSS AND MARY HUNTER, Ecuador, Evangelical Free Church of Canada Mission website: www.EFCEcuador.org

Mission and Outreach Annual Report 2007

The Mission and Outreach Committee is responsible for distribution of the general mission budget, the designated mission budget, and the income from the Weidner gift.

Local Giving: $9,205

Mission and Outreach seeks to add financial support to the many works of charity within our community.  In 2007 our aid provided The Family Resource Center, Oxford  Community Choice Pantry,  Summer Clubhouse,  Habitat for Humanity , One-Way Farm, Conflict Resolution Services,  Kirkmont Center,  Life Care at Mount Pleasant,  Mission Yearbooks,   United Campus Ministries,  and the Ecumenical Parish Program,   Planned Parenthood , Pregnancy Care Center,  The VA  Hospital  in Cincinnati, and the  Oxford Presbyterian Youth Mission trip to New Orleans.

National Giving:  $2,960

Over the Past year, the committee supported the following missions on a national level:  Buckhorn Children’s Foundation for at-risk children, The Bookends Fund supporting book purchases for students at seminaries, Cook College in Arizona, which provides higher education to Native American  Presbyterians,  Border Ministries serving nine congregations along the border with Mexico, the Theological Fund for Seminaries,  The American Bible Society,  the Wee Kirk Conference for small church conference scholarships, the Presbyterian Historical Society, and the New Opportunity School for Women in Berea,  KY,  and Shared Harvest. 

Global Giving:  $7,375

The committee increased  support  for missionaries,  Ross and Mary Hunter in Ecuador, John and Paula Ewers, in Colombia,  Kathy and Joe Angi in Hungary,  Gary Payton who serves four countries, Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Belarus, and Osmondo Ponce.   We contributed $500 to David Omar who is going to seminary school.   The committee continues to support Nirali Kitaben in Pakistan for its work in educating women, and the Colombia Church Partnership for our sister church in Barranquilla.  The youth also held a “broomball fundraiser” which raised over $300 to purchase screen tents to protect children with malaria.

Hands on Mission took the form of meeting with others in the community to address homelessness and the need of food by families in the area.  We are an active part of the committee supporting the newly formed Oxford Community  Choice Pantry, as well as the Christmas Gift Giving “mittens on the tree”  to empower the parents to buy their children’s Christmas gifts.  We continue to support the Family Resource Center monetarily, providing energy saving light bulbs, and by being the food storage and distribution center for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Baskets.  This year members of the congregation assisted as well with the distribution.  There was also a letter writing campaign, headed up by Charles Clum for Bread for the World.

The Mustard Seed group was formed last year.  It is an investment group which plans to contribute to the church by investing money on a quarterly basis with all proceeds going for mission and outreach.  The group currently has 11 members and has now met for two years.   The fund has reached $4,500 and has four stocks that the group is following. Anyone interested in joining the group may call Bill Fisher, President.

On October 28, Mission Sunday, M&O sponsored Susan Ryan, Director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.  Susan gave the Sunday message explaining how volunteers are highly instrumental in making the program work.  It is a very successful program that we are strongly motivated to support.

Tip Ziegler, in conjunction with our committee, provided leadership again this year for the Shoe Project for Russian orphans in Zlatoust which was once again a great success providing shoes and boots for the children.  Monetary support was also given for the summer programs for Russian children.

Three major focuses of mission for our church are support for church partnerships in Russia and Colombia and the Family Resource Center and Choice Pantry in Oxford.  In November, Tip and Janet Ziegler, Pat Gifford, Barbara Barnes and Connie Everhart traveled to Nashville, TN to a Russian network meeting.  They were able to see what other churches are doing in the partnering experience.

 The Mission and Outreach Committee planned and executed a “Stock the Shelves” drive for the newly formed Oxford Community Choice Pantry.  Grocery bags, with lists of needed items, were distributed in church on June 24 and we requested them to be returned the following Sunday.  All 100 bags were returned giving the Choice Pantry a real boost as they opened their doors in July.

We are hopeful that there will be increased funding especially for these three areas, and continued support for all the other areas mentioned above.  We thank those people who have expressed interest in assisting our committee with these programs, and we welcome anyone who would like to participate in any way to reach out to more people locally and in the world. 

The members of session who served on the Mission and Outreach committee were:  Jean Derickson, Dave Wilson and Joan Hoover.  Committee members from the congregation were Mary Dodd Hunter, Charles and Lawretta Clum, Bill Fisher, Connie Everhart and Tip Ziegler with staff person Pure Dana.

Respectfully submitted:  Joan Hoover, Chair 

Peacemaking

2007 Annual Report
 

The Peacemaking Committee participated in the Peacemaking World  Communion Sunday. Members of the Peacemaking Committee participated  in the community wide Wished for Gift program where money was  collected and parents were funded to shop for their own children. The  Peacemaking Committee handled the interpretation and the mechanics of  putting mittens on the tree. Our church funded a major portion of  around $3500 of the $12,000 that was collected in the community for  this. A full report of this is forthcoming. The Peacemaking Committee  also supported, and interpreted Bread for the World’s Offering of  Letters on November 25. Over 40 letters were sent to our congress  people to pass the stalled Farm Bill.  The Committee baked and served nut bread on that day. The church is now a Bread for the World member supporting congregation.