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How do we, the members and friends of APC, make a difference in God's world? What can our congregation do to serve those in need, both close to home and far away? We answer these questions in as many ways as we can. Here are some examples: Local and Worldwide Church in the World Ministry by Laura Gehrenbeck (Church in the World Ministry Team Leader) APC has shown an amazing commitment to mission throughout the world. Through the congregation's generous tithing of its pledges, APC assisted in the Presbyterian mission work of the Fujii family in Thailand, and gave significant tuition assistance to 16 orphaned children and young adults in Cameroon. This year, your outreach funds also went towards the Christian relief effort in the human tragedy occurring in Darfur and also to aid refugees from war-torn Iraq.
As in the past few years, the Church in the World ministry team financially assisted a group of local helping hands organizations in 2007. Some of them are familiar, some are lesser known, but all have been chosen after congregation members and team members expressed a desire to work with them.
At the end of the year, APC contributed money to these sixteen helping hands organizations: Arlington/Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless (AACH) Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC): We have had an ongoing relationship with this local food bank for years. We increased our donation this year as a response to the well-publicized increase in need. Arlington Free Clinic Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) Arlington Pediatric Center: We increased our contribution over previous years as the Church in the World ministry team felt that the center was providing vitally important care in our community. Arlington Street Peoples Assistance Network (A-SPAN): Arlingtonians Meeting Emergency Needs (AMEN): We give substantially to this excellent organization as these gifts are matched, resulting in a great impact for Arlington. Community Residences Doorways for Women and Families: Our ministry teams, choir, circles and other small groups prepare food for the shelter on a monthly basis. This year they have rebuilt a much-needed family safe house. Habitat for Humanity, Northern VA Northern VA AIDS Ministry (NOVAM) Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR) of Arlington County Volunteers of America (VOA) Residential Program Center VA Interfaith Power and Light (VIPL) Wesley Housing Development Corporation A detailed list of all of the Church in the World ministry team's contributions, as well as descriptions of the many projects the team directly runs, will be included in the APC's Annual Report for 2007. If you have a particular interest in any of the listed groups, have ideas for mission, or just want to stay informed, join the team! Talk with Laura Gehrenbeck or any team member.
APC Mission Funds Support Darfur Humanitarian Aid and Iraqi Refugee Resettlement by Diana Warmann In recent years, Session has tithed in its mission giving when establishing the overall operating budget for the year. In other words, 10% of the budgeted operating expenses for the year are budgeted for mission work. This has been an important priority for APC and one we hope to continue. Some of these funds go to support the PCUSA denomination-wide mission work. Some funds are designated by the Church in the World (CITW) Ministry Team each year for local "Helping Hands" agencies like Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC), Arlingtonians Ministering to Emergency Needs (AMEN), and about 15 other local agencies helping the needy in our own community. As we closed out the year 2007, the CITW Ministry Team decided to support two of the many international needs in our world today.
Through the generosity of our APC gifts and pledges we were able to send money to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) specifically designated to its fund for Humanitarian Aid in Darfur, Sudan. PDA is working with other international religious organizations in this area, such as Action by Churches Together, Caritas Internationalis, and Norwegian Church Aid which represent the vast majority of humanitarian aid in Darfur from the world's Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches. Some of the types of assistance provided in the third quarter of 2007 were:
In addition, we were able to send money to Church World Service (CWS) specifically to support its campaign supporting war affected civilian Iraqis. Large parts of the Iraqi population have fled their homes to other regions in Iraq or have sought refugee status outside the country. Two million Iraqis are internally displaced and more than two million have fled to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). There are an estimated 1.4 million Iraqi refugees in Syria and about 750,000 in Jordan. In both countries, the refugee crisis has added a huge demand on social and economic infrastructures, proving to be a burden to the host countries. Prices for rent and daily food have increased, while water resources have become scarce for all residents. Given these problems, the health and the lives of thousands of refugees are at risk, as is the Middle East region's stability. CWS, in conjunction with other religious organizations, such as Action by Churches Together, Norwegian Church Aid, the Middle East Council of Churches, and International Orthodox Christian Churches has established a network of assistance to Iraqi refugees. The programs they had operating in the third quarter of 2007 provided the following types of aid:
We at APC are so fortunate to live in a relatively safe place in the world free of the daily strife that affects so many. It is through your generosity that the APC community has been able to help make a difference in the lives of those who struggle, just to survive, every day.
Did
you know that: 1,800 PC(USA)
congregations, presbyteries and other PC(USA) entities have begun
participating in the Presbyterian Coffee Project. In 2004, Presbyterians
purchased over 59 tons of fairly traded products through the Presbyterian
Coffee Project. Thank you for your support! So
please continue to support APC's coffee project. Gail Freeman and
Don Peebles are the people to see if you have a special order, would
like to try something new, or investigate what we already have. Stop
by the coffee booth during fellowship time and check out our
organically grown, fairly traded coffee, tea, cocoa, and chocolate bars.
APC serves the Arlington community through a variety of local programs. Here is a sample of what APC members and friends do:
APC also sponsors several national and international mission efforts.
Here's more about some of the programs APC runs to help our community and our world. For specific opportunities to help out, see our Getting Involved webpage or contact us.
APC is a proud member of the Arlington Interfaith Council (AIC). This group of local religious congregations works together to meet urgent and ongoing human needs in our community.
APC members participate in the Arlington MOW program on the first and third Wednesday of each month (and an occasional Friday). Our volunteers include retirees, people who volunteer during their lunch hour, and those whose work schedules permit them time during the middle of the day. Typically in pairs that include one driver and one "runner" we provide a hot noon meal, a cold supper, and human warmth to the homebound in Arlington.
APC has been providing the
needy of Arlington with clothing, free of charge, through the Ronda A. Gilliam
Clothing Bank for more than 30 years. Our clients are refugees, the homeless, new immigrants,
low-income families, and halfway house residents. In 2001 our Clothing Bank workers
gave over 600 hours of their time and provided approximately 16,000 articles of clothing, shoes, and linens that helped serve about
900 people. -- Saturday mornings 9:00 am - 12:00 pm -- Wednesday afternoons 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
We accept clean, good quality, used clothing donations during these hours and can provide a receipt for tax deduction purposes. We are staffed by volunteers to help customers and receive and sort donations.
During the period around Thanksgiving and Christmas each year we at APC show our thanks for God¹s kindness to us and share that kindness with our neighbors by donating nonperishable food items for the Salvation Army to distribute to the needy in our area. The younger children in the church decorate a collection box for all the pasta, rice, cereal, canned fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, jelly, etc., that is donated.
Probably everyone hears or reads something that bothers you, something that falls in the broad area of social justice.
APC offers you a chance to do something about it. After worship on the third Sunday of each odd-numbered month (January, March, May, July September, and November), members
and friends of APC are invited to take a seat in Room 202 and stand up for social justice.
As stewards in this world we write letters to political and corporate leaders, newspapers, and others on issues of concern to many of us. As residents of Arlington, Northern Virginia, & the Washington Metropolitan area, we are acutely aware that many people in our area have special needs. Many of our members and friends volunteer with other organizations. APC provides financial support to local organizations working with those in our community who face homelessness, hunger, alcoholism or drug abuse, the need for medical care, illiteracy, and domestic violence.
APC provides financial support for the Fujii family, a Presbyterian missionary family in Thailand. Leith Fujii is an instructor in theology and evangelism at the Bangkok Institute of Theology (BIT) and his wife, Carol Fujii provides home-based ministry. We joyously welcomed them and their four children to APC in July during their home assignment in the U.S. Leith preached during the worship service, Carol gave the children¹s story, and we hosted a Potluck Luncheon in their honor. Funds from the APC Presbyterian Women allowed us to help reimburse the Fujii family for their travel expenses. Several APC members became pen pals with Thai students at the BIT. We also correspond regularly with Leith and Carol, and APC children made and sent Christmas cards to them.
We are also developing a closer relationship with New Bell Presbyterian Church in in Douala, Cameroon. We recently shipped Junior Choir robes and French-language Bibles for their children to use in Sunday School We are also pleased to announce our sponsorship of Alain Josue Nyemeck, a young man accepted as a ministerial candidate at the Yaoundé School of Theology. (Can you believe just $400 pays tuition and books for an entire year?) We look forward to getting to know Alain as we follow his experiences and progress through seminary.
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