Mission
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The Mission Committee administers the missions-related giving of the Presbyterian Church of Los Gatos. Most of PCLG's financial support of Missions is through the Louisville headquarters of the Presbyterian Church USA.
Worldwide, the Presbyterian Church uses donated missions monies to support International Health Ministries, Mission Service, Mission Speakers, International Evangelism, Letters from Mission Workers, Ecumenical Partnerships, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Self Development of People, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, Interfaith Relations, and Global Education and International Leader Development. In the USA, the Presbyterian Church uses missions monies to support New Church Development, Church Redevelopment. Multicultural Ministries, New Immigrants Ministries, Racial Ethnic Ministries, Evangelism, the National Volunteer Office, Self Development of People, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the Presbyterian Border Ministry. For more information about any of these, please see http://www.pcusa.org/navigation/mission.htm.
Some of our funds also flow to our local Presbytery. The Presbytery of San Jose mostly supports local Missions of the Presbyterian Church, such as local ethnic churches that are not fully self-supporting. For more information, please see http://www.sanjosepby.org/mission.html.
The Annual Mission Report for 2005 is available in PDF format. View Report.
Mexico:
PCLG pays part of the salary of the pastor of the Presbyterian Mission Church at Canyon Buena Vista. The Presbyterian Mission Church at Canyon Buena Vista is a vital evangelical effort in this very poor village of many refugees from southern Mexico. The mission has a full time seminary graduate as the pastor. He and his wife and two young daughters have been there for about three years.
In addition to the Church services on Sundays, Rev. Carlos Pena holds Bible study classes and visits village members in their homes. His wife, Americus, teaches Sunday school and teaches women how to sew.
Los Medicos Voladores uses the sanctuary office as a fully equipped dental clinic and the sanctuary for medical clinics. Los Medicos Voladores medical personnel hold clinics at the mission about every two months. We have had as many as three dentists, four MDs, four nurses, one physical therapist and numerous support people at the mission at the same time. It is a wonderful facility for providing for the care of the people of Canyon Buena Vista.
The San Jose Presbytery and the Northern Frontier Presbytery of Mexico have a partnership agreement. The agreement is to foster congregation-to-congregation relationships between the two presbyteries. The agreement was signed five years ago as a result of the efforts of our Los Gatos church and the Canyon Buena Vista relationship. The Los Gatos - Canyon Buena Vista relationship has been held up as a model of how USA churches should relate to Mexican churches.
For more information see Canyon Buena Vista.
Medical Benevolence Foundation:
The Medical Benevolence Foundation (MBF) is the primary Presbyterian medical mission activity in the world. MBF operates hospitals and clinics throughout third world countries and in many cases is the only medical care available to the indigent and to geographically isolated communities. MBF hospitals and clinics set medical care standards above the generally dominant standards of the communities in which they operate.
MBF is currently supplying emergency health care and medical supplies and equipment to victims of the South East Asia earthquake and tsunami.
MBF provides opportunities for volunteers, both medical professionals and others. Over the last sixteen years, about 40 PCLG members have served as MBF missionary volunteers in Africa, primarily in Malawi and Kenya. PCLG members have served on the MBF board of trustees continuously for over 20 years, with Dr. Stinson Humphrey and Don Wolf serving at the present time. PCLG supports MBF directly with mission funds.
More information is available at http://www.mbfoundation.org/ or you may contact Don Wolf.
Croatia:
We support, and are continuing to build a relationship with, the Reformed Christian Church of Croatia (RCCC). The RCCC in Croatia is a part of the Reformed family of Christian churches, and a member of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC). Many of its congregations started in the 16th century, within the lifetime of John Calvin. They are a multi-ethnic church-many of the congregations are Hungarian, others are Czech, and of course, Croatian.
Back in 1951, PCLG member Ada Black visited this area and began a friendship with Endre Langh, who is today the retired Bishop of the RCCC in Croatia. Other PCLG members, Cindi Savelli, Don Worn, and Sam and Carolyn Laub recently traveled to Croatia to renew our connection with our brothers and sisters in Christ there.
For more information: please see Reformed Church of Croatia.
InnVision:
PCLG provides direct financial support to the InnVision Montgomery Street Inn. The Montgomery Street Inn provides homeless men emergency shelter in a dorm room setting. The men receive the first 30 days free and receive case management and employment assistance. After 30 days, they pay a small program fee. Clients are able to utilize the computer lab, have weekly meetings to support recovery from drugs and alcohol, and are linked to vocational and employment services. PCLG supports the InnVision Montgomery Street Inn with sufficient funds to support one client full-time. For more information about InnVision , see http://www.innvision.org/.
Habitat for Humanity of Silicon Valley:
PCLG provides direct financial support for Silicon Valley Habitat for Humanity, which helps low-income families build and own their own homes. For more information about Habitat, please see http://www.habitatsanjose.org/.
CASA:
PCLG provides direct financial support for Los Gatos High School's CASA, Community Against Substance Abuse. For more information, please see http://www.lghs.net/casa.html.
CityTeam:
CityTeam Ministries is a non-profit organization serving the poor and homeless in San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Portland, Seattle, and Philadelphia. In the past, the San Jose location supported the other locations of CityTeam. Now the other locations are self-supporting, but CityTeam San Jose is in financial trouble. As of June 2004, PCLG began providing direct financial support to CityTeam San Jose. For more information about CityTeam, see http://www.cityteam.org/.
Sophia's Layette:
Sophia's Layette is a mission project of the women of PCLG. At times, the church provides funds needed to complete a project. For more information about the Sophia's Layette program, please see Sophia' s Layette.
Santa Maria Urban Ministry:
PCLG members obtain excess foodstuffs from Los Gatos retailers and transport that food to Santa Maria Urban Ministry in one of the low-income sections of San Jose. For more information about Santa Maria Urban Ministry, please see http://www.eca-sj.org/text/santa_maria.htm.
San Jose Family Shelter:
PCLG members donate used clothing, which is then transported to the San Jose Family Shelter. These donations are always gratefully received. For more information about the San Jose Family Shelter, please see http://www.sjfamilyshelter.org/.
Other Missions:
Other groups and programs of PCLG provide direct support and volunteer support to many other local and worldwide missions.
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