Missions We Support
Each month we have a designated mission cause that we focus our prayers and outside donations towards. Mission dollars received in each month will go to that specific ministry. We support a variety of local, regional, national and international ministries.
Ongoing All Year - Community Fire Fund
As a church, which has experienced the devastation of loss from a fire, this congregation has established a Community Fire Fund out of empathy for those local families who may suffer a similar tragedy. We are committed to support families who have experienced a fire-related loss in the Girard and Lake City area. Donations designated to this fund will be accepted at any time of the year . We pray that no one would need our help, but we are willing to provide support if the need should arise.
January - Dominican Republic H4H missions
Dominican Republic (H4H) Mission statement: “To participate in the glorious redeeming work of God that he initiated through Jesus Christ our Savior, and now continues by his Holy Spirit. Hope for Hispaniola strives to participate in the ongoing work of God by encouraging and strengthening local churches in the Dominican Republic through evangelism, discipleship and service within the community.”
Hope for Hispaniola (H4H) is a non-profit, mission organization that supports several missionaries in the Dominican Republic (DR). Our goal is to Glorify God while coming alongside the local Christians in the DR to help them reach the lost in their country. One of the main focuses of H4H has been the Children’s Center in La Higuera. This is a small Haitian village outside of Higuey. The children receive Biblical training as well as the usual classes of math, science, social studies and language arts. During the evening, the center also provides meals and spiritual guidance to the homeless elderly population of the village. The mission supports medical & dental clinics, construction, women’s ministry, teen & VBS ministries, and evangelism. Although no one from GPC is participating in the Mission Trip this year, please pray for the safety and ministry of our friends who are going. The Construction Only group will be in the Jan 10-17th and joined by additional Construction & Evangelism group Jan 17-24th 2021.
Go to www.hopeforhispaniola.org for more info.
February - WCTL Ministries (Christian Radio)
WCTL’s core values include:
Connecting Our Listeners - We’d like to introduce you to a radio station that exists to encourage you in your faith, provide a family-friendly on-air environment, and to share the joy of the Lord in all that we do! FM 106.3 WCTL has served the Erie area since 1967, blending Missions . . . upbeat, lyrically sound Contemporary Christian Music with fun, positive air shifts and teaching programs that enrich the lives of listeners just like you. Nationally recognized for excellence in Christian broadcasting, WCTL is a community-minded radio station, encouraging involvement and participation locally. High school football broadcasts and partnerships with public service agencies confirm WCTL’s commitment to service the local community. Connecting to God - Provides contemporary music that encourages listeners to live fully-devoted to God. Emphasizes strong, Biblical teaching from respected national speakers to help listeners grow in their faith. Provides thought-provokers that encourage reflection and a response to God. Shares praise and prayer requests with listeners.
Connecting to Other Believers - Keeps listeners informed about what’s happening in the Christian community. Spotlights the events and outreach efforts of local churches, schools, and organizations. Highlights concerts, special events and family-oriented activities throughout the area.
Connecting to the Community - Actively participates in community-wide activities, such as blood drives, parades, food collections, and sporting events. Supports public schools with live high school football broadcasts, featuring testimonies from players or coaches at half-time. Utilizes our popular lion mascot to delight thousands of area children each year.
Contact WCTL: 10912 Peach St., Waterford, PA 16441; 814.796.6000 or 1.800.282.9285; www.wctl.org
Lent Special Offering - One Great Hour of Sharing
For over 70 years, One Great Hour of Sharing has provided Presbyterians a way to share God’s love with our neighbors in need around the world.
In a world of disaster, hunger, and oppression millions of people lack access to sustainable food sources, clean water, sanitation, education, and opportunity.
The three programs supported by One Great Hour of Sharing - Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Self-Development of People - all work in different ways to serve individuals and communities in need. From initial disaster response to ongoing community development, their work fits together to provide people with safety, sustenance, and hope.
Restoring Hope, Feeding the Hungry, Empowering the Oppressed
Typically received during the season of Lent, each gift to One Great Hour of Sharing supports efforts to relieve hunger through the Presbyterian Hunger Program, promote development through the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People, and assist in areas of disaster through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
For more information visit https://specialofferings.pcusa.org/offering/oghs/
March - Women's Care Center
The Women’s Care Center of Erie County provides a safe place of comfort, support and health to individuals and families. They assist anyone facing an unplanned pregnancy, youth making relationship decisions, women in need of healing and childless couples whose arms ache for a child. The Women’s Care center is committed to positive change in our community, promoting wellness, emotional health, character development, and family stability through a variety of programs and services...Affirming life, offering hope, encouraging change.
For more information, call 814-836-7505 or go to www.wccerie.org.
April - LoveINC
Love INC (Love In the Name of Christ) is a non-profit clearinghouse. The West Erie County chapter offers assistance to those with needs for food, clothing, housing, budget planning, transportation, legal assistance, tutoring, etc. in Western Erie County. Love INC provides a need assessment to determine the extent and legitimacy of the person’s need, connects the person in need to the most appropriate source of help and follows-up to see that the assistance was provided and if it fulfilled the need. Love INC does not provide financial or material resources directly but depends upon local churches to support Love INC’s ministry with various forms of assistance individually and through a collective fund administered by the Ministerium. Financial contributions to Love INC are used for operations.
Love INC may be contacted at (814) 774-5688, by email loveinc@gmail.com or like them on Facebook Love INC, Erie for more information or to volunteer. Website: www.loveincofwesteriecounty.org/
May - Christian Cupboard Food Pantry
Mission Statement: We, as a Christian organization, are dedicated to serving those in need both physically and spiritually. Just as Jesus fed the 5,000, we will endeavor to feed the hungry from the Girard-Lake City area.
As early as 1982, the First Presbyterian Church of Girard had a food pantry. By 1997 the need had outgrown its original hall closet space and was moved to the Adams Center house next door. At the same time, other local churches were serving families in need in a similar manner. In 2009, the various food pantries merged and became incorporated as the Girard/Lake City Christian Cupboard.
The Christian Cupboard Food Pantry is currently an ecumenical ministry of nine member Girard/Lake City churches. The purpose of the food pantry is to provide supplemental food to the needy within the 16417 and 16423 zip codes and to offer Christian witness to those who come in need. The Christian Cupboard and its assets are overseen by the Girard-Lake City Ministerium with a board of directors which includes Love INC and the representatives of the churches in the Girard/Lake City area in agreement with the mission of the Christian Cupboard. The Christian Cupboard is supported almost entirely through donations from the member churches, members of the community and local food drives. We also apply for, and receive a small grants from the Erie area Crop Walk and Walk for a Healthy Community fundraisers.
Please call (814) 774-3985 or e-mail office@girardpc.org for more info about the Christian Cupboard’s services or how you can help, or visit our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/girardlcchristiancupboard/
June - Erie City Mission
Erie City Mission (ECM) is a Christian social outreach program created in the early 1900’s in the city of Erie.
• Responding with Samaritan Care to those who are in crisis and by providing long-term recovery care and support leading to personal growth and stability.
• Treating both the people who are in need and the people who assist, support and fund the ministry as true friends-people who trust and value our services and who must be satisfied.
• Acknowledging that people, working in a teaming effort under God’s leading, are our most valuable asset.
There are multiple programs within the ECM; Samaritan Care, New Life Program (NLP), 30 Day Residential Treatment Program (Pre-NLP), Non-Residential Problem Gambling Counseling and the Free Meal Ministry.
For more info, please go online at eriecitymission.org.
July - Greater Erie Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian ministry founded on the conviction that every man, women and child should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live. We build with people in need regardless of race or religion. We welcome volunteers and supporters from all backgrounds.
Habitat for Humanity partners with people in your community, and all over the world, to help them build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. With your support, Habitat homeowners achieve the strength, stability and independence they need to build a better life for themselves and for their families. Through our 2020 Strategic Plan, Habitat for Humanity will serve more people than ever before through decent and affordable housing.
Our mission: Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope.
Our vision: A world where everyone has a decent place to live.
Our principles: Demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ. Focus on shelter. Advocate for affordable housing. Promote dignity and hope. Support sustainable and transformative development.
Please visit http://habitaterie.org/ or call (814) 454-7025 to learn more.
August - Emmaus Ministries (soup kitchen)
Emmaus Soup Kitchen of Erie provides:
— 200 hot meals a day (50,000 per year) to anyone who comes, from infants to senior citizens
— 600 emergency food bags each week for the unemployed and underemployed through the services of the Food Pantry
— 60 homemade meals a day (11,000 per year) at the Kids Café for inner-city children ages 6-17
— advocacy and liaison services primarily for women who qualify for benefits and services but who are deprived because of lack of information or skills
— parishes, community groups, and individuals an opportunity to volunteer their services for the poor.
Emmaus believes in:
— the inherent dignity of each person
— personal involvement with each client that gives self-esteem and a sense of responsibility
— clean, artistic surroundings that raise personal expectations and sense of self-worth
— personal development programs that enable people to break the cycle of poverty
— the interdependence of the city
— that the root causes of poverty are the same, whether in the Third World or inner city Erie
— that none of us is fully human until all of us have the opportunity to live a decent human life
— that the religious obligation to feed, clothe, and care for those who, for whatever reason, cannot care adequately for themselves, is essential to the spiritual and moral integrity of the rest of us.
Go to www.emmauserie.org/ for more info.
September - Kairos Prison Ministry
Kairos Prison Ministry -- Changing Hearts, Transforming Lives, Impacting the World is the essence of what Kairos does.
CHANGING HEARTS - Kairos volunteers serve as God’s instrument through which His love, grace and mercy are expressed to the participants/guests in a real and profound way. God begins changing hearts.
TRANSFORMING LIVES - participants/guests are encouraged to take responsibility for their life choices and their relations with God; they are invited to engage in small accountability groups. Kairos volunteers continue to return monthly to provide mentoring and guidance as Kairos participants/guests begin to replace old ways of thinking with new and they learn they are not alone on this journey.
IMPACTING THE WORLD- As the Kairos community inside a prison grows and begins to gain influence, the incidences of violence decreases. Incarcerated participants who are released re-enter the outside world with a God centered, perspective and focus on becoming productive citizens.
Go to www.kairospa.org/ for more info.
CWS/CROP - Erie County Crop Walk
Church World Service (CWS) / Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty (CROP)
CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by religious groups, businesses, schools and others to raise funds to end hunger in the U.S. and around the world.
The Erie County Crop Walk is usually held in late September each year. The First Presbyterian Church of Girard has sent walkers to participate in this event for over 30 years!
For more information visit http://www.cropwalkerie.org/
October - Youth for Christ & CRU (Campus Crusade)
October mission donations will be shared between CRU and Youth for Christ.
--------------------
CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) is an inter-denominational Christian organization that promotes evangelism and discipleship. Founded as a ministry for college students, CRU has since expanded its focus to include adult professionals, families, athletes, high school students, and more. Their goal is to equip and encourage the Body of Christ in the ministry of winning people to faith in Christ, building them in their faith and sending them to repeat the process by providing proven and effective resources that help advance the Great Commission. They publish and distribute ministry resources to serve and empower churches, staff and individual believers who have a heart for ministry.
For more information, call (888) 278-7233 or go to www.CRU.org.
--------------------
Youth for Christ reaches young people everywhere, working together with the local church and other like-minded partners to raise up lifelong followers of Jesus who lead by their godliness in lifestyle, devotion to the Word of God and prayer, passion for sharing the love of Christ and commitment to social involvement. Every day at thousands of community centers, high schools, middle schools, juvenile institutions, coffee shops, and local hangouts, YFC staff and volunteers meet with young people who need Jesus. We are rural and urban and we are always about the message of Jesus. Our focus as a movement is on multiplying fruitful and sustainable Ministry Sites across the nation and around the world.
For more information go to https://www.erieyfc.org/about
November - Presbytery of Lake Erie-Ghana Mission Partnership
Ghana-Lake Erie Partnership - Joining hearts and hands in faith and friendship - Called to be catalysts of cross-cultural collaborations in ministry.
The Presbytery of Lake Erie is in Partnership with the Upper Northern Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.
In Ghana, the Church is the center of community life. It plays a key role in addressing spiritual, physical and societal needs. The land area of this Presbytery is about the size of West Virginia. There are nine ordained District Pastors who along with Catechists and Evangelists serve 114 congregations. Most Church Agents receive little or no salary.
Ongoing areas of need •Pastor training and support •Safe water and sanitation •Health care •Education •Use of solar energy •Sustainable economic development
Ghana is a developing country; the most impoverished area is in the North, where access to safe water sources, sanitation facilities, and electricity is lacking. Most of the population are subsistence farmers.
For more information go to: www.pbylakeerie.org/ghana-mission
CONTACT: Presbytery of Lake Erie, 2816 Elmwood Avenue, Erie, PA 16508. 814-868-4891, office@pbylakeerie.org
December - Dominican Republic missionaries Jake and Faye Vincik
Dominican Republic missionaries Jake and Faye Vincik and their children, Christian & Luke, are part of the ministry of Hope for Hispaniola.
Our Vision – Our vision for serving in the Dominican Republic is to assist and help young people and adults develop more personal relationships with Jesus Christ through mentoring, Bible studies, community events, and life skill workshops. In addition, we will be managing the ministries that H4H has already begun.
Contact Us – Hope for Hispaniola, PO Box 956, Beaver Falls, PA 15010