Clinton / Massachusetts / United States
The goals and objectives set forth for our church, when we drafted our current mission statement, stated that we will adopt a new mission each year for at least five years. That started in 2000 with Habitat for Humanity; initially supporting Presbytery House in Boston and then projects in Worcester, Fitchburg and Gardner. In 2001 we elected to support the WHEAT program located here in Clinton, which supports several surrounding communities. In 2002 we chose to support MATE (Mission At The Eastward), a small church mission effort in western Maine, and TEF (Theological Education Fund), a fund to help seminary students with education costs. For 2003, we decided to support Camp Wilmot, a Presbyterian Bible camp located in Wilmot, New Hampshire. In 2004, the Presbyterian Disaster Relief was added. 2005 was the year we decided to create a "sister church" relationship with the Cameroon Presbyterian Church, helping support their building of a new worship center. We also started supporting Wings of Change, a non-denominational Christian day-use outreach program working with mentally and physically challenged adults, which is located in Windham, New Hampshire. We started contributing to the Boston Presbytery General Mission Fund in 2006. Additionally, we continue to support (25 plus years) a non-denomination faith-based mission in the Baja region of Mexico, as well as a denominational mission couple doing work in Thailand. As a member of PCUSA, we support the four major denominational offerings that occur during the year. One Great Hour of Sharing during the Lenten season. Followed by the Pentecost offering, where 40% of the offering is used within our own church to supplement our children programs (Christian Ed, VBS and Youth Group). The 25% share we get to keep from the Peacemaking offering is used to purchase library materials concerning peace and/or domestic violence issues. Finally, we take up the Christmas Joy offering during the Advent season. Over the years, when our mission budget allows, we have supported the following additional mission causes; Love Loaf (World Vision) offering during Thanksgiving, Abbeys House - a battered womens shelter, Our Fathers House - a homeless mens shelter, Home for Little Wanderers, the Item Appeal, The Perkins School and Heifer Project. The church through its Deacons committee continues to distribute the Helping Hands Basket when the need presents itself. The money collected on Souper Bowl Sunday, which we have been collecting for the past seven years, helps us supplement the basket with items such as toiletries, laundry detergent, paper goods, etc. During past years we distributed multiple baskets during several months as our local community continued to see people coping with layoffs, financial difficulty and homelessness.
