August 16, 2010
(I will not post again until September 13. I will be gone on two weeks of vacation for August 23 and 30 and September 6 is Labor Day.)
A new world has opened up to me this summer. It is the world of the missionary outreach of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
At this past General Assembly I was voted to be the newest member of the World Outreach Committee of the EPC. This is the denominational committee that leads in the missionary work done by the EPC. George Carey, our speaker at this past Mission Sunday, is the Executive Director of World Outreach, so I will be working closely with George and the committee in the years ahead.
The new world that has opened up to me is one where almost daily I receive emails, or prayer requests, or updates, or newsletters from WOC (World Outreach Committee) missionaries. Often this correspondence is filled with exciting news of growth as well as realistic news of problems being faced by our missionaries.
I will be going to my first meeting of the WOC on September 9 – 11 (Thursday – Saturday) in Detroit at the denominational offices and I am sure I have only begun to learn about the ministries and lives of EPC missionaries. I count it a privilege and I hope I can bring back to FPC many more opportunities for world mission work.
During the summer I was personally visited by three missionaries or mission agencies connected with WOC. Alberto Albarracin and Bobby Scott and I had the chance to have lunch with two of them. It remains to be seen how this will affect our mission work at FPC, but I see several things already.
1. We will have many new opportunities to support more missionaries. Our first EPC missionaries, Jeff and Veronique Kim (and son Victor), are in France and doing well in their first year of missionary work.
2. We will learn about many more mission agencies. WOC works closely with other mission agencies utilizing the evangelical mission work of parachurch groups to enhance the EPC mission outreach. This summer I learned about a mission agency called Overseas Council that is exciting in what it does in providing theological education to indigenous church leaders in their own countries.
3. We will be introduced to many EPC mission leaders as they visit us in Corinth. Two years ago Bill Dudley, pastor of the Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church (EPC) led our Mission Sunday; and then we had George Carey this past year. I hope to bring other EPC mission minded pastors and mission leaders so we can be more aware as a congregation in what God is doing around the world.
4. We will get more involved in the lives of missionaries by prayer. Becky Stewart has been led to start a new prayer ministry at FPC that focuses on missionaries and the planting of churches in other countries by EPC missionaries. This has been a burden Becky has had for a while now and it is exciting to me to think about how we at FPC can be more faithful in praying for our own missionaries and the mission outreach of the EPC.
Well, that is a glimpse of the new world that is opening up to me as your pastor. I am so thankful for the mission outreach of FPC. Alberto Albarracin and Bobby Scott and the Mission Committee continue to respond faithfully to mission opportunities. Our mission teams year by year impact a growing number of our members. Our support of our missionaries is about 10% of our budget (and a total of 20% of our budget is for benevolences). Our list of missionary families we support is growing and it is always encouraging to have a visit from them.
But I sense we have some growing to do. Will you pray along with me about how we might be even more faithful in our support of and involvement in missions in Corinth and around the world?
I am His and yours,
Don
