Bowery Mission Women's Center Gift Drive

CPC's Presbyterian Women are sponsoring a gift drive for the women of The Bowery Mission Women's Center in New York City.  The gifts will go toward helping homeless women rebuild their lives.

Guidelines:

• Any and all sizes are welcome.  Gifts that do not suit women currently in the center will be stored and shared later.
• Do not wrap.
• Items should be in the church, under the Christmas tree, by Sunday, December 15.

The Items:

Watches

Journals

Rain Boots

Pajamas, robes

Slippers

Gloves & scarves

Carrier book bags

Purses, wallets

Toiletry items

Lotions/Body Washes

Make-up

Jewelry

Picture frames

Pocket calendars

Appointment books

New Living Translation hardcover Bibles

Devotional books

Gift Cards (Walgreens, Payless, JC Penny, Starbucks, etc.)

Water bottles

Travel mugs

Sweaters & sweatshirts

Socks/pantyhose

Stationary & stamps

Resume/document folios

Pen & pencil sets

Personal CD players w/ Earphones

Rain boots

Today's Souper Bowl Shopping Hint

Thanks to Don Neugebauer for catching the great deals on canned goods at Target. Campbells Condensed Soup four packs are $2.25 each. Goya tomato sauce is $.47 each. I was able to get 42 food items - soup, rice, beans and tomato sauce - for $25.

Souper Bowl Challenge

The Souper Bowl is a national collection for the hungry held on Super Bowl Sunday. Founded by the pastor of a Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, tens of thousands of churches, schools and youth organizations participate. For a full history go to the Souper Bowl web site.

The Souper Bowl Challenge began in 2011 when Middle Island Presbyterian Church challenged other congregations in the Presbytery of Long Island to a food collection contest during the month of February. The goal: collect as many food items as possible. The congregation that collected the most per member would win. That first year Malverne & Merrick accepted the challenge. Merrick won. In 2012 two other congregations: Yaphank and Bellmore have joined in the fun.

Current Souper Bowl standings as of February 19. Graph is of cans/member.

Bowery Mission Women's Center Gifts

As our Christmas service project, we collected gifts for the women at The Bowery Mission Women's Center at Heartsease Home. As usual everyone was generous - we almost completely filled the back of Milan's truck - and as you can see from these pictures the women at the Women's Center were thrilled. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Bowery Mission Trip - Nassau Joint Youth

Youth and adults from Malverne joined with five other churches in a mission trip to The Bowery Mission in New York City on February 24. Some of the kids helped cook lunch and sort through that day's food offerings. Others took sandwiches out to a local park and invited people into The Bowery Mission for lunch. A third group planned and led The Mission's noon chapel service. Then we went bowling at 300 Lanes in Chelsea Piers.

View a slide show:


View a video of the opening of the worship service. Warning: horrible singing from the one holding the camera.

Nassau Joint Youth Bowery Mission Worship from Fritz Nelson on Vimeo.

Souper Bowl Food Drive Contest

Over the four Sundays in February, the congregation of CPC Malverne, CPC Merrick and Middle Island Presbyterian Church challenged each other to collect the most food for the Long Island Council of Churches food pantries in Freeport and Riverhead.

Merrick, the smallest of the churches, won, collecting 553 food items, or a wopping 8 food items per church member! Languishing in last place, they took the lead by collecting 281 cans on the last Sunday of the month.

Middle Island, the largest of the churches, took second place, collecting 724 food items, or 7.1 food items per church member. In second place going into the final Sunday, they maintained their position by collecting 265 food items on the last Sunday of the month.

Malverne, who was leading going into the final Sunday, collected only 41 food items going into the final Sunday of the month, ending with a total of 479 food items, or 5.71 food items per church member.

Combined, the congregations collected over 1,750 food items for the Freeport and Riverhead food pantries!

Caroling 2010

We had a great time caroling last Saturday, sending out two groups. The afternoon group went to visit our friend Gertrude Lewis at Saint Albans NYS Veterans Home and then went on to visit our friend Gloria Pelluso at the Bristol in Lynbrook. The evening group went house to house, having a great time bringing joy to members and friends of the congregation.

Here are some video clips:

O Holy Night at Saint Albans


Jingle Bell Rock at Shirley Hsieh's house


Silent Night at the Bristol


We Wish You a Merry Christmas at Gladys Sutcamp's house

Blessing Boxes

This Christmas we're partnering with the LICC Freeport Feeding Center to create "Blessing Boxes." A blessing box is a shoe box (or other similarly sized box) filled with enough toiletries for a family of four along with a personal prayer, note or scripture verse. We're encouraging every household in the church to make at least one complete box, and to invite friends, neighbors, family members, scout troops, work colleagues, etc. to join you.

Bring your blessing box to the church any time between now and December 18. We'll be dedicating the boxes during the service on December 18th.

Here's what should be in your blessing box:
Soap, Shampoo, Deodorant, Toothpaste, Toothbrushes (4) Shaving Cream, Safety Razors & small toys.

You can also add make-up or other cosmetics.

We will also welcome new: underwear, socks, hats & gloves. (Don't put into the box.)

Food Drive 2010

June 6-12 will be CPC's annual food drive week. We'll begin the week by dropping leaflets on all our neighbors' doors. We'll end the week by collecting food from our neighbors and bringing it to the church. Didn't get a leaflet? Bring your food offering by CPC on Saturday, June 12 between 10 and 3. Don't live near Malverne? Join us by making a donation to your local food pantry or soup kitchen.

Here is why we do this:

On the phone today I talked with a neighbor, a well respected leader in Nassau County, where budget cuts by her employer reduced her job from full time to part time. Her husband had a stroke, leaving her the only wage earner. She is afraid she's going to loose her house. She may very well be a client at the Long Island Council of Church's Freeport Food Pantry.

Julie is a client. She works full time in an accounting office. She drives a new car, which she could not afford. The car, and other choices made during an addiction fueled out of control life, left her in debt and struggling to pay her bills. Now she's getting help for her addiction, paying down her debt and retaking control of her life. The food pantry helps her stretch her pay checks; its staff provide moral support and counsel.

Combine the stories and you get the statistics.

In 2008, the LICC Food Pantry served 3642 households. In 2009, almost 1,000 more. These households contained 13,000 individuals. Half were children. Six percent were senior citizens. The remaining adults were mostly employed, or recently laid off. Every month an additional 50 to 100 individuals come to the pantry who have never asked for assistance before.

CPC's annual food drive seeks to stock the pantry before the summer season, when donations drop off and the lack of free or reduced cost school meals increases the strain on family grocery budgets. To help, bring some of the below items to the church on Saturday, June 12 between 10 and 3.

Here is what the Food Pantry needs most to meet this increased need:

• Canned Vegetables (low salt)
• Soup (low salt/low fat)
• Canned fruit and 100% Fruit Juice (not fruit drink)
• Pasta, Rice Canned Beans
• Complete Pancake Mix
• Oatmeal, Grits, Dry Cereal (non/low sugar)
• Canned tuna/chicken/Salmon (in water) Canned Stew
• Nuts (low salt), Peanut Butter/Jelly
• Dry Milk/Parmalat
• Shampoo, Soap, Toiletries
• Clean, gently-used clothing
• diapers (all sizes), Enfamil formula, baby cereal, baby wipes and powder.

For more info:
Life in Difficult Times - How to Make It Through is a series of pod casts produced by the LICC that both inform those in need on how to get help and educate about the best ways to help. The series of three podcasts are available for $1.25 each by clicking the link above.

Easter Egg Hunt for the Less than Limber

The Mission Outreach Team continued their wonderful Sunday Afternoon Socials at Malverne Village Hall, this one featuring an Easter Egg Hung for the Less Than Limber. After finding their eggs, the women retired inside to play games and eat candy. Thanks to everyone who helped out and everyone who came. Check out the slide show below:

Hygiene Kits Delivered

Bill Lee and his wife Judy loaded all of the Hygiene Kits made by the CPC Sunday School, Nassau Joint Youth Activities group and Allyce Yang's Cadet Troop - some 550 kits in all - and delivered them to the Church World Service distribution hub in New Windsor Maryland. Judy took some pictures.

View pictures of the Nassau Joint Youth gathering where some of the kits were assembled.

Presbyterian/Jewish Relations

On February 22nd, the Jewish human rights group and anti-antisemitism watchdog Simon Wiesenthal Center ran the following headline:

Presbyterian Church USA Ready to Declare War Against Israel

The attached article referenced a leaked draft of a press release describing a yet-to-be finished statement regarding the Middle East that will be before the PC(USA) General Assembly this summer. According to the Wiesenthal Center, the finished document will contain extensive language threatening to the security of the state of Israel.

Nobody outside of the committee that is writing the statement seems to know what it will actually say, and the Wiesenthal Center has not posted a copy of the press release it claims to have received, so denominational leaders are struggling to understand where this complaint came from.

In response Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the PC(USA) issued a statement reaffirming the PC(USA)'s historic and ongoing support of the state of Israel within secure borders, while also expressing the church's ongoing concern for the violence and human rights abuses by both parties in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Here is my take, and what I would say to anyone who asked by opinion of this mater:
1. The PC(USA) has been one of the longest and staunchest defenders of the State of Israel and has long been a leader in Jewish/Christian relations. Statement after statement by the church has affirmed the right of Israel to exist. Presbyterian theologians, Bible scholars and preachers have been among the leaders in promoting a Christianity that combats, rather than supports, antisemitism.

2. The PC(USA) has very old, historic and close relationships with its sister churches in the Middle East including the Arab Christian communities in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. PC(USA) peacemakers and missionaries are working in those churches and in Arab communities helping them prosper and promote peace within the context of the Israeli occupation. The PC(USA) desperately wants a secular, Palestinian state that co-exists with Israel because current policies by both Israel and Hamas are killing the Arab Christian church.

We are called as a church to stand with our sisters and brothers in Christ and to use whatever political power we have, and whatever power of presence our peacemakers and missionaries can provide, to ensure that they have the right to worship, the ability to pursue an education, build an economy, farm their land, raise their children in the faith.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has long affirmed that support of the state of Israel and support of Arab Christians are not mutually exclusive. Others disagree. I do not.

Your thoughts? Leave a comment.

2010 Congregational Priorities

In his State of the Church address on Sunday, Pastor Fritz outlined the following priorities for the congregation in the coming year:

Continue Mission Outreach
To continue the work of the Mission Outreach Team and follow in their lead as they host the Sunday Afternoon Socials and find other ways to serve our neighbors living alone.

Invitation and Engagement
To intentionally invite our neighbors into worship and mission with us both one on one and by increasing our visibility in the community.

Presbyterian Mission Partnership
To identify specific Presbyterian ministries, one on Long Island and one international, where we can partner through prayer, through giving and through involvement.

Priority Teams have been set up to lead our congregation forward in these areas. To join a priority team, sign up in the back of church or talk with Pastor Fritz.

Read Pastor Fritz's State of the Church address

Haiti Disaster Response

All of us have been rocked by the powerful images and stories coming out of Haiti. There are hundreds of aid organizations already at work in Haiti and more are now on their way there, giving us a plethora of opportunities to help. Here are a few that I know to be trust worthy and reliable. Feel free to share this with colleagues and friends who are interested in helping.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
PDA is working through our church partners and our PC(USA) Mission Personnel to assess the situation and channel relief. Initial relief is provided through our One Great Hour of Sharing Easter offering, but they are seeking $1,000,000 in additional funds.

To give: Put a check in the offering plate at church marked "PDA-Haiti" or give online.

Partners in Development
PID is a small, dynamic economic development organization that has specialized in working with Haiti's poorest of the poor for over twenty years. I personally know the Executive Director and many of their Haitian staff. They have some of the lowest administrative overhead costs of any development organization, ensuring that almost every dollar you give will go on the ground in Haiti. PID is also recruiting a team of "medical professionals and experienced travelers" to provide support for their Haitian staff, especially at their medical clinic in the Port-au-Prince suburbs. If you are interested, talk to Pastor Fritz.

To give: Put a check in the offering plate at church marked "PID - Haiti" or give online.

Hygiene Kits
CPC is partnering with Church World Service to collect Hygiene Kits for use in the tent cities that have sprung up all over Haiti. For information on what to put into the kit, click here. Then bring your kits(s) to the church.

Neighbor to Neighbor
DONNA HAS REACHED CAPACITY AND CANNOT ACCEPT ANY MORE STUFF! EXTREME THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED.
We live in a small world where personal connections transcend international boundaries. Donna Flud and her American Airlines colleagues regularly fly into and out of Haiti and have regularly been delivering relief supplies for years. Once commercial flights resume, Donna will be able to personally deliver clothes, shoes, hygene items, etc.

I would suggest that those wishing to partner with Donna make Hygiene Kits for her to distribute through her Haitian contacts. These compact, self contained kits are proven tool for helping in times of extreme need.

To give: Go to the Church World Service Kits Web Page and assemble a Hygine Kit according to the directions provided. Drop it off at church. Or put a check in the offering plate at church marked "Hygine Kits - Haiti."

The Power of Prayer
Please hold the people of Haiti up in prayer as well as all those seeking to bring aid and support. Pray for your Haitian neighbors and co-workers, who may very well be mourning friends and family members lost in the disaster. Please pray especially for PC(USA) Missionary Sharon Babe, who was injured in the quake and is hospitalized. Pray also for our church partner, the Episcopal Diocese in Haiti, which lost almost all their buildings.

A prayer for Haiti
God of compassion
Please watch over the people of Haiti,
And weave out of these terrible happenings
wonders of goodness and grace.
Surround those who have been affected by tragedy
With a sense of your present love,
And hold them in faith.
Though they are lost in grief,
May they find you and be comforted;
Guide us as a church
To find ways of providing assistance
that heals wounds and provides hope
Help us to remember that when one of your children suffer
We all suffer
Through Jesus Christ who was dead, but lives
and rules this world with you. Amen.

WMC 09 - Final Reflections

For the last three days I've been participating in the PC(USA)'s Mission Celebration 2009, learning about all that our church and our partners are doing in international mission. Scroll through the blog for all my reports on plenary sessions, worship and workshops. If you have thoughts or comments, please leave them.

A few final reflections:

• The PC(USA) has become like an elderly parent. Our mission activity in the late 19th and early 20th century birthed strong Christian communities all over the world. As we struggle, we now need these communities to breath the Holy Spirit and vitality back into us.
• Some years ago a colleague in education ministry told me that the PC(USA) began going downhill when we stopped building hospitals, starting schools and birthing worshiping communities. Among our partner churches overseas, education and health care remain the bedrock of their mission and are often the starting point for evangelism. Why aren't we doing this at home?
• The PC(USA)'s mission around the world is vibrant and healthy and our partner churches are strong.
• In a globalizing world, our congregations ever more need to learn to cross cultures and engage in conversation with our neighbors.
• Theological divides do not justify negation of the great commission or great commandment.
• Here in the states, we need to resist the urge to create multiple congregations based on language and culture and strive to create communities that can bridge culture and gather everyone around Jesus Christ.
• We must relearn how to pray, testify and share our faith with each other and our neighbors.
  

WMC 09 - Saturday Afternoon Plenary - Africa

The Congo is one of the Presbyterian Church's oldest missions and the various Presbyterian Churches in the Congo have millions of members. Political instability, however, has hurt the PC(USA)'s long term mission personnel in the region. It needs to be rebuilt.

The Presbyterian Church in Congo is extensively engaged in economic development work, especially women's empowerment, micro loans, education, feeding programs, agriculture, literacy, HIV Aids, etc.

The main story is that much of the ministry is by women, for women and funded by women. Presbyterian Women in Congo are running multiple programs for women, many of which are supported by the Presbyterian Women in the USA.

In much of Africa, the PC(USA) has embraced the following principles of Development. I think these are from the Dallas Statement.

• Local ownership
• Partnership
• Transformation
• Sustainability
  

WMC 09 - Dallas Statement

In the background of this entire conference has been something called the Dallas Statement. Two years ago, almost all the PC(USA) related mission organizations came together and agreed on this statement. Everyone thinks its both revolutionary, spirit filled and incredibly important.

To read the statement go to: www.pcusa.org/calltomission.

WMC 09 - Saturday Morning Plenary - Asia

The Saturday morning plenary focused on Asia and the Pacific with specific focus on the Presbyterian Church's education mission in Pakistan.

A disclaimer: when I worked at the General Assembly in the late 1990's and early 00's I was tangentially involved in the PC(USA)'s effort to regain control of Forman Christian College in Lahore. This ministry is dear to my heart.

Background: In the 1800's, missionaries from the Presbyterian Church established a network of primary and secondary schools as well as colleges in what is now Pakistan. These schools flourished, with Forman Christian College becoming known as the "Harvard" of the Sub-Continent. In 1972, the government of Pakistan "nationalized" all the schools, disenfranchising the church and ruining the institutions. After years of prayer, petition, legal action and more, the government began returning the schools to the Presbyterian Church (USA) - who holds title to the property - in the late 1990's. Forman Christian College was returned in 2003. The schools are run by the Presbyterian Education Board, an extension of the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan. Forman Christian College is an independent institution with close ties to the PC(USA).


Presbyterian Education Board - Ms. Veeda Javaid
There are 252 Presbyterian Churches in Pakistan. Presbyterian primary and secondary schools educate 4,000 students - 60% Muslim; 40% Christian. PEB operates 10 schools and are waiting to receive a few more back from the government. MOst of the schools were returned to the church in deplorable condition. They are raising money internally and externally to rebuild the schools.

A story: One day a prominent Shiite leader came to visit the head of the Presbyterian Board of Education. He wanted to enroll his daughter in a PEB school, and wanted a full scholarship despite his wealth. The board reluctantly agreed. Some time later the leader returned to visit Ms. Veeda Javaid, the PEB director. He relayed the following story:

One night he and several other Shiite leaders were at his house planning an attack on the Suni. The meeting was quite enthuiastic and his ten year old daughter overheard what was going on. She came into the room, looked him in the eye and told him that her teacher would not approve. Her teacher said that everyone was brother and sister and they should care for each other.

At this point Ms. Javaid was very nervous and afraid that the leader would threaten her and the school. To the opposite, the leader reported that he called off the attack and was there to enroll another of his daughters - and this time he would pay tuition. Currently all three of the leader's daughters attend the school.

PEB is largely self sufficient but looks to its American partners for short term teacher training and capital help restoring its campuses.

Forman Christian College - Dr. Peter Armacost
Since receiving the school back from the government in 2003, FC College's board of directors is rebuilding the school as a first rate liberal arts college. Their first class graduated in 2009 and has above average employment/graduate school admissions.

FC College has several goals:

• Offer a model of interfaith harmony
• Educate leaders for Pakistan
• Support the Christian community. Since many Christians are less educated and poorer, FC College has affirmative action and special student development programs for Christians. They maintain active Christian worship, Bible study and leadership development.

Story:
A young Muslim woman began quietly attending chapel at FC College. After some time, she converted to Christianity. She then discerned a call to ministry and wants to return to her village as a pastor.

WMC 09 - Saturday Morning Worship

Saturday's morning worship focused on proclamation of the Word, specifically testimonies. After testimonies by a pastor from a partner church now serving in the US and a testimony by a mission co-worker, we were invited to share with our neighbors an experience we had with God's word.

How often do we incorporate testimony in our lives together? Do we know how other members of our faith community have experienced Jesus Christ in their lives? What would happen if we were comfortable testifying how God works within us?

WMC 09 - Friday Afternoon Workshop - Moving Members into Mission

Offered by Rob Weingartner, Executive Director of the Outreach Foundation

I attended this workshop hoping to bring back some tangible "how to's" for our congregations that are hesitant about mission involvement. Instead Rev. Weingartner suggested that their are no "how to's" and that the only way to move members into mission is to become a "missional congregation." If you've read any of the thousands of books on the Missional Church, especially stuff by Alan Roxburgh, Leslie Newbingdon or Daryl Guder, you've experienced his presentation. I'm not going to summarize it here.

He concluded with the following five principles:

1. Congregations must redefine their purpose to be God's agent in the world and be willing to radically risk everything for the gospel.
2. Congregations must redefine mission participation to include every follower of Jesus. Our baptismal vows are our commission into mission.
3. Congregations must redefine the mission field to include "Jerusalem" - or the area outside of their doors and in their community. The majority of young people growing up in the United States today will have no experience in a faith community.
4. Reclaim wholeness of the gospel. Practice what we preach and preach about what we practice.
5. Renew and reestablish relationships with the global church. God is using the global church to renew the church in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Places to start:

• Pray for a PC(USA) Missionary. Give him/her $100/year.
• Encourage members who like to travel to visit PC(USA) missionaries and or partner churches at work in the areas through which they journey.
• Sponsor mission visits to our congregations.
• Send the session on a mission trip.
• Remember that being the church is not about taking care of ourselves.