Mission

First Presbyterian is involved in many dimensions of Mission. Foreign mission is of great interest. We are represented by two volunteers currently in India, five families with long term service in India, Brazil and Egypt, and three persons with short-term teaching in Egypt. We lend monetary support to the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS) in Egypt, and to mission work in Thailand, Ethiopia, Brazil and many other places. The Mission budget of $65,200 is 14% of the general church budget and is almost equally split between local and non-local causes. We provide support to projects developed by our Presbytery and we contribute financially to national Presbyterian offerings.

A distinctive feature of our high school program is our annual Mission trip led by the Youth Minister. Youth have been involved in work camp projects serving Native Americans in Alaska, Maine and Arizona, as well as the rural and urban poor in West Virginia and Seattle, Washington.

The building of a health clinic in El Paraiso, a community in the Dominican Republic, has become an annual work project for our college youth and Mission Trip alums.

We have also promised to walk with the Surma people in prayer for the establishment of the church in their land. To visit the Surma website, please click on SURMA.

MOCA

A new mission partnership of First Presbyterian is MOCA (Manse On College Avenue), a recovery facility for persons who are coping with mental illness. For one dollar a year, our congregation is providing the building space (the manse previously occupied by our associate pastor), ample parking, an overseer for building improvements (our Maintenance Director), as well as some supplies and volunteers for the effort. Local members of Kiwanis, Rotary, and Lions working together with the Wayne-Holmes Mental Health Coalition have come together to help renovate the manse and make it appropriate for its new use. We are excited to be a part of this ministry of social justice and peacemaking in the Wooster area.

First Presbyterian Church Goals for 2010-2011

Worship
1. Add a contemporary service or begin to blend contemporary music and/or elements into existing services
Date to accomplish: By June 1, 2011
Responsibility: Session, working with clergy, music director, and Creative Worship Team
Measured by: Session

2. Form a creative worship team
Date to accomplish: By October 1, 2010
Responsibility: Faith and Nurture Coordinating Team and clergy
Measured by: Faith and Nurture Coordinating Team and clergy

Evangelism/Hospitality
1. Form an evangelism/hospitality team to attract and assimilate new members into the church and to provide hospitality for members and the community
Date to accomplish: By October 1, 2010
Responsibility: Faith and Nurture Coordinating Team and clergy
Measured by: Faith and Nurture Coordinating Team and clergy

2. Design, purchase, and install new outdoor signage in several locations
Date to accomplish: By June 1, 2011
Responsibility: Faith and Structure Coordinating Team and clergy
Measured by: Faith and Structure Coordinating Team and clergy

3. Have a new expanded church website purchased and maintained at a reasonable cost
Date to accomplish: By September 1, 2010
Responsibility: Faith and Practice Coordinating Team and clergy, including the Evangelism and Hospitality Team
Measured by: Faith and Practice Coordinating Team, Faith and Nurture Coordinating Team and clergy, including the Evangelism and Hospitality Team

4. In order to form relationships and partnership with those not presently engaged in a faith community, we will establish up to five support groups in various areas of need such as post-divorce support for adults as well as for children/youth in families experiencing divorce, financial counseling, etc.
Date to accomplish: By May 1, 2011
Responsibility: a task force under the care of the Faith and Nurture Team
Measured by: Faith and Nurture Team

5. We will recruit some volunteer(s) to write brief articles periodically on our church activities and ask the Daily Record to include on the religious page as well as beefing up our weekly announcements.
Date to accomplish: September 1, 2010
Responsibility: Evangelism and Hospitality Team and ordained staff will oversee this.
Measured by: Evangelism and Hospitality Team and ordained staff

6. Form a task force to prepare a brochure listing and explaining all existing small groups, list other possibilities and invite people to suggest possibilities which might interest them. The task force would oversee formation and maintenance of these groups and report to Faith and Nurture. The brochures would be available at all times in the pews.
Date to accomplish: September 1, 2010
Responsibility: Faith and Nurture Team and the task force
Measured by: Faith and Nurture Team and the task force

Outreach/Peacemaking
1. Offer and participate in an international mission trip for adults and youth
Date to accomplish: By September 1, 2011
Responsibility: Faith and Practice Coordinating Team and clergy
Measured by: Faith and Practice Coordinating Team and clergy

2. Host several nationally-known social justice speakers, beginning with David L. Bartlett on September 25, 2010
Date to accomplish: 2010-2013
Responsibility: Social Justice Team
Measured by: Social Justice Team

3. We will contact people of other faith persuasions in our community to form a task force which will create opportunities for ecumenical dialogue which will be open to the public. (We will contact Chaplain Linda Morgan-Clement, as well as the Honoring Our Differences group, for help.)
Date to accomplish: December 1, 2010
Responsibility: Task force under the care of Faith and Practice Team
Measured by: Faith and Practice Team

4. We will have an energy audit of our church buildings with a report to the Environmental Justice Task Force that will suggest to the Session a plan for implementing suggested improvements to be done as we can afford them.
Date to accomplish: September 30, 2010
Responsibility: Faith and Structure Team and Environmental Justice Task Force
Measured by: Faith and Practice Team and Environmental Justice Task Force

Membership Transformation
1. Take on the Worship Plus 3 Program
Date to accomplish: By January 1, 2011 (institute the program)
Responsibility: Goal-setting group, Session, and clergy, and liaison from Faith and Practice Team
Measured by: Session

2. Form one additional church group that focuses on spiritual practices, e.g., prayer, Bible study, mission, etc. and covenant to meet regularly with quarterly opportunities 2010-2011
Date to accomplish: By September 1, 2010
Responsibility: Goal-setting group, Faith and Nurture Team, and clergy
Measured by: Faith and Nurture Team and clergy

3. Establish a stewardship task force that would develop goals and strategies for long-term stewardship growth in the congregation
Date to accomplish: By September 1, 2010
Responsibility: Faith and Structure Team, assisted by Faith and Practice Team, and clergy
Measured by: Faith and Structure Team, Faith and Practice Team, and clergy

4. Launch a group that works with the Children’s Ministry Director, Associate Pastor, and Pastor to establish age-based benchmarks of knowledge and experience for children and youth
Date to accomplish: By September 1, 2010
Responsibility: Faith and Nurture Team, CMD, and clergy
Measured by: Faith and Nurture Team, CMD, and clergy