NATIONAL and INTERNATIONAL MISSION ACTIVITIES

Coordinator:  Steve Hiemstra

Basic Mission Support
A PC(USA) Denomination Effort:

Lewinsville makes a contribution each year to the Presbyterian Church USA for overall mission support which totaled some $115 million in 2006.  About $40 million of this total was used to support the 292 missionaries worldwide.  This support falls into two categories:

(a) Directed Mission Support goes to missionaries that LPC has specifically chosen to support, though on a limited basis. Usually the chosen missionaries have had some personal relationship to members of LPC.

(b) Shared Gifts provides funds that go to support all other mission activities of the PC(USA).

Directed Mission Support

In recent years LPC has provided Directed Mission Support to four missionary families:

Frank and Nancy Dimmock are working in Llilongwe, Malawi, providing medical services and caring for orphans.

Andrew and Ellen Collins, formerly with the PC(USA) United Mission in Nepal, are now in Chiang Mai, Thailand, working with the Christian Communications Institute.
 
Art and Sue Kinsler live and work in Seoul, South Korea, They have a new orphan feeding project in North Korea, described below, that we now support.

Brian and Helen Chapaitis are working in Papua New Guinea for Wycliffe Bible Translators. Helen is a medical doctor.  Brian is an information technology specialist, and he also teaches a large Bible class. You may visit their website by clicking here: http://www.chapaitis.org

Shared Gifts of PC(USA) Missions

Shared Gifts of PC(USA) are primarily national mission activities spearheaded by the denomination but they also  include support of the National Capital Presbytery of which we are a part. We have reduced funding for Shared Gifts in recent years as our mission budget has shrunk.  We have also redirected contributions to specified projects of direct interest to LPC. We have earmarked portions of these funds for Kinsler’s soy milk project, and in 2006, for the Chapaitis’ medical microscope.

Relationship with Elburgon Presbytery in Kenya:

Three members of LPC visited Elburgon in 2003, along with other delegates from our Presbytery. They helped build a church and manse, a nursing home, an HIV/AIDS training center, and two women’s medical centers.  In 2004 and 2005 we increased our funding for these and other projects in Kenya, allocating funds to purchase an electric generator for the Njoro Nursing Home and to relieve electrical power problems at Mau Summit’s new Woman’s Guild Health Center. In 2006 and again in 2007, we supported construction of the United Orphanage and Academy at Moi’s Bridge; these funds came from for mission-designation funds from LPC Foundation.

Primary Contact Persons:  Rosalind Phillips and David Rampy

Soymilk for North Korean Orphans:

Sue Kinsler, our PC(USA) missionary in Seoul, travels monthly to North Korea, where with the approval of the North Korean government she has established projects to provide soymilk to thousands of orphans. As a new project, Lewinsville, in late 2004, funded the purchase of one of the machines that manufactures soymilk from soybeans and sugar. In 2005, Lewinsville provided funds for enough soybean and sugar material to keep this machine producing soymilk for the year. The project is identified in the PC(USA)’s report, Extra Commitment Opportunities, 2005, as Children Nutrition Program, ECO # 051775.  This is the only Christian mission in North Korea, so far as we know.

Primary Contact Person:  Steve Hiemstra

Papua New Guinea Bible and Medical Mission:

Helen Chapaitis, a medical missionary in Papua New Guinea, was in dire need of a new microscope to continue serving their local clientele and fellow workers at Wycliffe Bible Translators. Malaria is a major problem there and the microscope was needed for reading malaria smears (8 to 10 daily), and for doing simple analysis on blood tests and urine cultures, as well as sputum exams for TB.  Lewinsville has provided funds in 2006 for this microscope.

Primary Contact Person:  Steve Hiemstra

Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF):
6935 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 214, Bethesda, MD  20815
301-951-9400
www.hcef.org

HCEF is a support organization for Christians living in Palestine. Rateb Rabie, a Palestinian who lives in the Washington area, is President of HCEF. HCEF asks particularly for support for Christian children to enable them to attend Christian schools in Palestine. For the third year, CIW has been providing 10 children with Christian school scholarships, and the Women of the Church have provided additional scholarships.

HCEF’s “Jesus Loves the Children” program provides Christmas gifts for many children who otherwise likely would receive none. At Lewinsville, this program is one of the options under the “Alternative Giving” program at Christmas time. Our own Jan Jacewicz manages this program for HCEF.

To publicize Palestinian problems, HCEF holds an annual conference in Washington D.C. To raise funds, the Conference sells many beautiful olivewood carvings made by Palestinians living mostly in Bethlehem who formerly sold them to tourists visiting the area, but the tourists have now stopped coming. We will publicize the specific conference schedule so any interested members may attend.

Primary Contact Person:  Jan Jacewicz     

Poor Children’s Assistance Project:

Pastor Nicolas Louis Juste, who with his assistants, helps 5,000 children in 23 churches in Haiti. They desperately need money for food, clothing, and medicine in addition to capital improvements. Many of his flock are sick with typhoid and malaria, and some children often go without food.  One of his church buildings was wiped out by Hurricane Jeanne in the fall of 2004, when thousands of people died in the floods. He is seeking funds to finish rebuilding it. Also, he is seeking funds to provide 9,000 Christians with a Bible. This year, one of the children in his church was kicked in the stomach by a mule and nearly died. They spent $2,700 on an operation which we helped to fund.

We have provided limited support for Pastor Juste for about four years. He has invited us to visit him and his churches, but the PC(USA)  and the State Department consider it unsafe to travel to Haiti at this time.

Primary Contact Person:  Steve Hiemstra

Disaster Relief:

Support for natural disasters is a regular budget item for LPC.  In response to the December 26, 2004, tsunami that hit SE Asia, LPC provided funds to Church World Service (CWS) and to World Vision for their use in assisting the tsunami victims. In addition church members provided 482 “health kits” to Church World Service for distribution to tsunami victims, and many of our members made private donations.

In 2005, LPC also provided funds to Church World Service and World Vision to assist victims of the four major hurricanes that hit Florida, New Orleans, and the Caribbean. Again, personal contributions were provided by many members of LPC.

In 2005, LPC sent funds to Doctors Without Borders for use in earthquake relief in Pakistan. In early 2006, we sent funds to Church World Service for relief from the earthquake that hit Java, Indonesia, and also sent $5,500 to them for use in providing relief in Darfur.

Primary Contact Person:  Steve Hiemstra

Partners For Just Trade:
2236 Towers Grove Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110-3596
www.fairtradeperu.com

Partners for Just Trade (PJT) is a faith-based non-profit organization begun by the Presbyterian Church, USA, that builds partnerships between artisans living in extreme poverty and conscientious consumers through the sale of international handicrafts.  PJT is committed to education, solidarity and trade justice for artisans and consumers.  The organization facilitates the sale in the U.S. of unique and high quality handicrafts made by small groups of Peru’s poorest people.  The proceeds from a craft sale held during Advent at LPC go to support both the PJT initiatives in Peru and other LPC mission and service projects.

Primary Contact Person:  Betty Douglass

Pray America:
P.O. Box 14070, Lansing, MI 48901-4070
http://www.prayamerica.org

Pray America has been doing restorative work in Guatemala for 15 years. Pray America is a Christ-centered ministry committed to caring for the marginalized in Guatemala. They take a holistic approach which includes feeding programs, housing construction, bible education, and intercessory prayer. Pray America currently feeds and provides bible education to over 2,000 children a week through six feeding programs and two orphanages.   Lewinsville is currently trying to gather a group of 10-15 people to spend a week in Guatemala in the Summer of 2008 to assist with this ministry.

Primary Contact Person:  Philippe Podhorecki