|
|
|
The members of Christ Presbyterian Church know
that being the church is not just about coming together -- it also is about
reaching out in Christ. Our members participate in
a number of outreach ministries, both within Charlotte and
Mecklenburg County and beyond. We challenge each person to find the way he or she is called
to serve.
If you are interested in getting involved in one — or more —
of our outreach ministries, opportunities abound!
To volunteer or ask questions, contact
the Church Office at (704) 392-2116 or fill out and submit our
online Volunteer Form.
|
Reaching Out to Our Community
Camp Greene Neighborhood
Association -- On the third Tuesday of each month, we offer a free supper to
our neighbors who attend the meetings of the Camp Greene Neighborhood
Association. This is a light meal, served from 5:30 until the meeting begins
at 6:30. It is open to church members, residents of the Camp Greene area,
and anyone planning to attend the meeting. If you would like to help plan or prepare this meal, please notify the
Church
Office.
Camp Greene Pathways Project --
Since January of 2005, our church’s members have been
forming relationships with the residents of the Camp Greene
neighborhood over food — the free, monthly supper the church serves
prior to each meeting of the Camp Greene Neighborhood Association.
With the help of a Front Porch Grant from the Foundation for the
Carolinas, we were able to expand our efforts by recruiting people from
across Charlotte to join in.
The Camp
Greene Pathways Project invites Christian, Jewish, and Islamic
congregations to send some of their members to participate in the
neighborhood meals and meetings.
Participants help identify needs within the Camp Greene
neighborhood, make recommendations, and work to establish pathways
for the exchange of knowledge, friendship, and support. To learn more
and to find out how you can participate, please contact the
Church
Office. Together, we can help
build the trust and interaction necessary for everyone to enjoy a strong community.
Crisis
Assistance Ministry – Crisis
Assistance Ministry was started by area churches and is now the lead
agency for meeting the needs of people living in poverty in
Mecklenburg County. It is the primary resource within our community
for preventing homelessness. Volunteers are needed to help with office
work, sort donated clothes, and to serve as counselors for those
trying to meet basic needs. Opportunities are periodic, weekly,
bi-weekly, and monthly. Training is provided to all volunteers.
Habitat
for Humanity
– Join in this nationally
recognized program to provide housing in partnership with a family in
need. Volunteers are needed to help
build and to provide food to workers. The Habitat organization has year-round opportunities available.
Jacob’s Ladder –
The
mission of Jacob's Ladder Job Center, Inc., is to help unemployed and
underemployed people find and keep living wage jobs. Since 1998,
Jacob's Ladder has helped hundreds of individuals make positive
changes in their lives. Its clients go through a four-step process to
help them find jobs. Volunteers help them through the process and
continue to support them after they obtain jobs. Jacob’s Ladder also
works with employers to hire its clients, who often face major
barriers to employment.
Jacob's Ladder has
volunteer opportunities to fit a wide range of talents, skills,
schedules, and time commitments – both at the job center (at Plaza
Presbyterian Church) and at other locations.
Upper Room
at The Urban Ministries Center –
Volunteers prepare and deliver a devotion once a year at the
Urban Ministries Center.
Urban
Ministry Center
–
Located in the restored train depot on
North College Street, this is an interfaith organization serving the
poor, the homeless and others in need through practical help and the
compassionate caring of staff and volunteers. Launched in the winter
of 1994 by four of Charlotte’s center-city churches, the Urban
Ministry Center today provides, meals, beds (through the Room in the
Inn program), and counseling services. This ministry offers a great
opportunity for providing hospitality – as friends and neighbors – to
the poor and afflicted in our midst. Volunteers are needed to work
monthly shifts at the front desk, to answer the telephone, and to
counsel the homeless and poor. Training is provided for each of these
opportunities.
Vacation Bible School
– Enroll your children in – or help plan, teach, or provide
support for – this important opportunity for Christian Education held
each summer. Curriculum and guidance are provided. Volunteers with
special talents -- such as cooking, sewing, and storytelling -- are
especially needed. All ages are welcome. Time commitment varies from
one-time tasks to working throughout the entire program.
Visitation Teams
– Two-person teams stay in touch with homebound or ill members
of our congregation. Visitors make visits on a monthly or as-needed
basis.
Reaching Out to Our Nation
and World
 CROP Walk
–
Volunteers are needed to coordinate Christ Presbyterian
Church's support of this city-wide fund-raising walk on a Sunday
afternoon each October. We also need people to sponsor walkers
(financially) or obtain sponsors and walk themselves. Proceeds fight
hunger locally and abroad.
Missionary
Correspondence and Awareness –
The goal of this activity is to increase
our congregation's awareness of who our denomination’s missionaries
are and the areas they serve. Volunteers stay in direct communication
with the missionaries and encourage others in our church to correspond
with them and pray for them.
Operation
Christmas Child –
Operation
Christmas Child sends a message of hope to children in desperate
situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and
Christian literature. This program provides an opportunity for
individuals of all ages to be involved in a simple, hands-on missions
project that reaches out to suffering children while focusing on the
true meaning of Christmas – Jesus Christ, God's greatest gift. In
2000, over 4.1 million shoe boxes were distributed to children in more
than 75 countries. You can help by purchasing items and packing them
into a shoebox or by joining us at Operation Christmas Child’s
Charlotte warehouse, where we help do the final inspection and packing
of boxes.
Special
Offerings –
Participate in
various special offerings held throughout the year. These include: 5
Cents-A-Meal (which occurs on the first Sunday of each month, with the
proceeds going to fight hunger in our community), One Great Hour of Sharing (Easter),
Barium Springs (Thanksgiving), Joy Gift (Christmas), and a Mothers’
and Fathers’ Day offering. Volunteers are needed for publicity and to
place the special offering envelopes in the pews or bulletins.
Today in the Mission Yearbook
Click
here
to
visit the Web site for the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study,
the church’s most comprehensive guide to mission around the world.
Used by thousands of Presbyterians daily, it features hundreds of
stories and photographs of people in mission in the United States and
overseas; prayer lists of persons in mission; daily lectionary
readings; and information about the countries where Presbyterians are
engaged in mission.
The
pages from the printed edition have been reformatted for use on-line.
One month of Yearbook pages is accessible at a time. Each day the
Yearbook offers a choice of Scripture to read and several paragraphs
that describe mission projects and the individuals who carry forward
this work in Christ’s name. A few of these servants of God are listed
so that we may pray for them.
Prayer for Missionaries
Hear
us, Dear God, as we pray for all who have left their homes
to serve Thy needy children in our own land and other lands.
Grant
to them great joy in their work.
Help them to be patient; teach them to be wise.
Forgive us at home,
that we so easily forget them
and leave them to their burdens
without our interest, sympathy, and help.
When
we remember all the things we have that they,
of their own choice, are denied,
we are ashamed that we have not done
the little things so easily done by those who care.
Help
us, we pray thee,
that on the holiday of the home-land,
on their birthdays,
we may take the time to write a word
of appreciation and love
to those who are giving every day of every week
to lift up and make those
whose only claim upon them
is their great need.
Grant
a special blessing, we pray thee,
upon those who have gone this year
from schools and colleges
into a life of service for their fellow man.
Let nothing rob them of their courage and enthusiasm,
and when hard and lonely days come
and difficulties get in the way,
give them the joy of remembering
that they have chosen to spend their lives
in obeying the last command
of our Lord and Master
and that his promise to stand by them
and be with them
will never fail. Amen.
From A Girl's Book of Prayer by Margaret Slattery
|
|
