The Missions Council at First Pres Glen Ellyn is made up of 15 people who are passionate about our church’s role in bringing the message of Christ to our community, our country and the world.
Each year we dedicate the month of May as Missions Month. It is a month that we work to communicate our missional activities and mission partners to the entire congregation. We do this to encourage each of you to reflect on your personal engagement with mission and find a path to join us through giving, praying or engaging in service. This year we coined the acronym GPS, which stands for Give, Pray, Serve.
First Pres is a church that provides financial support to 17 Mission Partners. We do this in several ways. Each year we set aside 10% of our previous years giving for the mission budget. The largest portion of these funds are sent as general gifts to support our partners annual financial needs. We also set aside a smaller portion to support mission trips and the service activities of our members.
In addition to general gifts each year we provide a large financial gift to our partners for capital projects or program enhancements. Over the past four years we have provided $550,000 in capital grants. They have helped to purchase the Red Roof Inn for the homeless, build teacher housing in Uganda, provide an outdoor sports center in Chicago, build an education center on a reservation and purchase a bus for an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.
We also earmark a portion of our budget to support congregational service activities and mission trips. This past years’ service activities included breakfast in Lawndale, Christmas at Outreach and the Refugee Ministry welcome and new neighbor programs.
Each year we encourage you to give beyond ALL IN. During May we ask you to consider giving to a specific partner that you are passionate about. If you feel lead, you can provide a special gift to a designated mission partner by going to the give page during the month of May.
Prayer is also an important and dynamic part of our Mission focus. Each week during our worship service we set aside time in our prayer for the needs and joys of our Mission Partners. These prayer requests are also shared in the bulletin.
We also have traveled to our local partners to pray with them about their ministry.
During May you’ll find a prayer guide inserted into your bulletin. Please take the guide home with you and include our Mission Partners in your prayer time.
Serving is fundamental and important for our church. There are too many service opportunities to mention. A few that come to mind include serving breakfast in the North Lawndale community each month, providing welcome to America packs and Friendly neighbor support to Refugees, supporting single moms from homelessness to stability, after school tutoring, and providing Christmas gifts for families that would have none.
We also send mission teams out on trips, including to the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, to Kid’s Alive in the Dominican Republic and to Partners in Mission’s campus in Uganda. This year our Junior and Senior High students will travel to Milwaukee to work on various service ministries. Perhaps in May you can evaluate participating in an upcoming mission trip or get involved in one of the many service opportunities each month.
So why do we focus the Month of May on Missions? We do it to educate and encourage you to find a place of mission. We want you to discover your passion and gifts to bring Christ’s message of love to the world around us. We would like you to find opportunity to give, pray or serve to impact our world beyond the walls of our church.
Each year we publish a Missions Guide that we share with you. The guide provides more information about our Mission Partners and ways you can give, pray and serve for each of our partners. We encourage you to find your fit in the Mission of First Pres.
