First Presbyterian Church of Hamilton Square, NJ

3550 Nottingham Way Hamilton Square, NJ 08690 ▪ 609.587.3683 ▪ fax 609.587.9459

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  Outreach  

The Outreach Committee strives to do God’s Will for those in need by sharing the gifts, talents, and service of the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Hamilton Square to support the “Gospel ministries and the ministries to The Least” 

1. One mission of the Outreach Committee is to prayerfully distribute locally, nationally, and globally, the gifts given by the members of the First Presbyterian Church of Hamilton Square.
2. The Committee will seek to plan, develop, administer and implement the Benevolence Program, Souper Bowl Sunday, One Great Hour of Sharing, The Betty Palmer Scholarship, the Coat Drive, Blanket Sunday, Food for the Hungry Program, the Christmas Joy Offering, and other mission programs that may arise.
3. The Committee will strive to encourage members of the First Presbyterian Church to be involved in “Hands on Ministry” locally within the community.

Souper Bowl Sunday

The Outreach Committee would like to remind the congregation that Souper Bowl Sunday is approaching.  On Sunday, February 1, 2009, the youth of our church will be collecting cans of soup and money to be donated to the needy in our community. 

The organization behind this program is The Souper Bowl of Caring.  This faith-based crusade against hunger, started by a Presbyterian pastor in 1990, has signed up youth groups to collect money and canned goods in soup cauldrons when parishioners leave services each year on Super Bowl Sunday.

The website (www.souperbowl.org) has some interesting information, such as the following:  The Souper Bowl of Caring has raised $50 million for charities like food banks and soup kitchens since its inception in 1990.  Participating groups phone in totals, then send donations to charities of their choice.

A Great Big Thank You to all who donated to Souper Bowl Sunday.

Outreach & the Youth Groups collected 177 cans of soup and $306.00.

Start the New Year off with some great resolutions.  What better way than to use the daily devotional readings from either The Upper Room or Alive Now.  The January-February issues of these booklets are available in the information racks in the church foyer.  It could be the start of a good habit.  The January-February issue of Alive Now is entitled “The Light of the World.”

INTERNATIONAL MISSION WORKERS NEEDED

I’m so thankful for the opportunity to represent our church on the latest trip to Honduras this past May.  Having seen the many improvements for living conditions since the first trip made with Rob Hess in 2007, I feel more at ease for the children but there is so much more work that needs to be done.   

We are in the early stages of planning yet another trip sometime during late April or early May 2009.  I am looking for a group of people to share the workload with the Woodbury Church.  Please contact me and I would be glad to give more information about traveling to Central America for mission work.

Thank you, Vince Losey              (for Outreach Committee)

Over the last few weeks the words crisis, budget, and economy have peppered the media’s headlines. But these words are nothing new to the Crisis Ministry, which has, over the last 30 years, served families facing an immediate, solvable crisis, whether it be a lack of food or the threat of homelessness or imminent loss of a utility. Always, we have done this within a tight, efficient budget that combines a soundness of economy with an optimistic outlook. We believe deeply that the second chances we provide constitute a vital step toward lasting stability for families who come to us during a moment of need. 

This past July we were astonished to witness a 34% increase over the number of people we served in July 2007. Then, right on its heels, August proved to be another record breaker, with an additional increase of 100 more people served, for a total of 2,719 adults and children.  This equates to 1,294 households! 

We ask all of our supporting congregations’ individual members to strengthen their service to those in need through their partnership with the Crisis Ministry.  Fortify the food, housing, or utilities budget of the Crisis Ministry with a tax-deductible donation. Checks may be sent to 123 E. Hanover Street, Trenton, NJ 08608; secure credit card donations may be made online at www.thecrisisministry.org.   Or learn about the fasting initiative of The Presbyterian Church (USA), which is calling for members who are able to fast one weekend a month, beginning on a Friday evening and ending with Sunday morning communion. This year-long cycle will end October 16, 2009. Go to www.pcusa.org/foodcrisis for more information, or call or write your Federal legislators. There are several opportunities in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate that may increase support for low-income people. Go to www.thecrisisministry.org/actOverview.cfm for more information. If you want to contact your legislators directly, visit www.house.gov or www.senate.gov.

A New Vision: The Missional Church

Some review, follow-up, and exploration of themes presented by Dr. Darrell Guder at our church on February 23-24.

What is the difference between a missional church and a church with a mission program?
A church with a mission program usually sees mission as one activity alongside many activities of the church: Christian education, worship, hospitality, and other programs. A church with a mission program might see mission as a specific line item in the budget, or the responsibility of a specific committee.  A missional church focuses all of its activities around its participation in God’s mission in the world. That means: it trains people for discipleship and witness; its time spent in church is in service of the lives members lead in the world waiting outside the church. A missional church understands that we are, at the core of our being, “sent ones”; witnesses in the world of God’s saving love in Jesus Christ.  Just as God sent Jesus, now Jesus sends the church (Jn..20:21).

What’s so new about the missional church? Aren’t we already missional?
Many congregations already have begun the journey to become more missional, but have never recognized themselves as such. Other congregations make a distinction between witness outside the church and the rest of congregational life. The vision of a missional church invites all of the being and doing of the church to become shaped by what God intends for the world: the realization of the Kingdom of God through the proclamation and enactment of the Gospel.  Where do we, the First Presbyterian Church of Hamilton Square, see ourselves?

Does being a missional church mean starting a lot of new activities?  People in our congregation are already so busy.
A missional church does not necessarily do more outreach activities. In fact, a missional church may do fewer things better. To be a missional church means to discern how this particular congregation’s calling is aligned with God’s mission in the world. To be a missional church means to orient all of the life of the church around God’s mission.  It will not necessarily mean cutting activities, adding a bunch of programs, re-inventing the wheel, or fixing things that are not broken.  It will mean re-envisioning why we do the activities we do, and what/who we are working for.

Is this a technique to help our congregation grow?
Many missional congregations are growing in numbers, but church growth is not the central focus. More important than “making more church” (which was Christendom’s project) is becoming a church that leaves its own activities of worship, fellowship, church business, and study with a renewed passion for taking the love of Christ outside the church walls.  The missional church vision is a way of understanding the true calling of the church. Rather than merely focusing on a congregation’s size, the missional church vision calls us to focus on the quality of our participation in the in-breaking of Kingdom of God. This will certainly mean inviting others to become part of the church community and often translates into church growth, even without growth as a primary motivation.

Does being a missional church mean that evangelism is more important than Christian education or worship?
No. The church must equip those that it sends.  The purpose of the church is to proclaim and be a sign of the reign of God. A missional church is intentional about both its witness to those outside the community of faith and how its life together gives people a glimpse of God’s new reality.  Within the church walls, we do discipleship, worship, and equipping.  Outside of them, we put that equipping into practice through witness, charity, compassion, and love.

What connection does the missional church concept have with the unique situation churches are facing in North America?
Key to the identity of a missional church is being an alternative society within the dominant culture. When the church lives out the Gospel in the larger world, whether by loving enemies or welcoming those on the margins, it will be a contrast community in the eyes of the world. Many Christian traditions that had previously enjoyed a privileged status in the dominant North American culture no longer do. The missional church perspective offers important clues on how to be the church when not at the center of things.  For the first time in over 1500 years, the church has the opportunity to be “the church” the way Jesus’ first followers were “the church”: as a minority community that lives as salt, light, and yeast in the world.

Isn’t all of this risky?
Living in a subversive way within the larger culture (even if subversive means loving, giving, and sacrificing for others) will always be risky.  Openly discussing one’s faith is taboo at social gatherings and workplaces, Christianity is not tolerated in schools, claiming any sort of truth with certainly is unwelcome in today’s marketplace of ideas, and the political arena cannot seem to decide what role, if any, faith can play in politics.  It is once again, after all these centuries, risky to be a Christian, if not physically than at least socially.  So any concept of the church that primarily sees Christians as those sent into the surrounding culture with an alternative (indeed, subversive) mission and message of what God has done in the world and for the world is one that will imply risk.  After seeing the way the world treated Jesus and his first disciples, perhaps the inherent risk means the missional church is onto something at the very heart of Jesus’ own ministry.

Where do we start to learn more about the missional church concept?
There are various sources you can explore to gain meaningful insights. Re-read the Bible as the story of a missionary God, who is always reaching out to us. Check our church library for new books on the theme of the missional church.  Speak to pastors, discuss with committees, listen for sermons, and attend CE classes.  Most importantly, have open eyes and ears when you are outside of the church, watching and listening for where guide might be calling you to live out the gospel in your home, workplace, or anywhere else.

Some material excerpted from:  Mennonite Mission Network.