A Stephen Minister Church

                              Mission to the Wider World

One of scripture’s most poignant pictures is that of the peaceable kingdom in which all creation and all creatures thrive and flourish together (see, for example, Isaiah 65:17-25 and Isaiah 11).  It is this dream of God’s of a “beloved community” as wide as the world that makes our church life beyond our walls as important as what happens inside.  We seek to share the compassion, justice, hope, and love we see and experience in Jesus by immersing ourselves in the life of the city and in our neighborhoods.  By forming partnerships and collaborative relationships with our neighbors, we hope to be leaven that God uses to make the “whole loaf” rise into a community of joy.

 Some of the local projects we currently are supporting (or have supported) with dollars, advocacy, and/or direct involvement include:  Chautauqua County Safe House (for runaway children and troubled youth); St. Susan’s Soup Kitchen; Birdie Turner House (for women who are in recovery and their children); 2XL (family-centered youth development program utilizing arts and boxing); Reachout Ministries (after school mentoring and tutoring ministry for elementary and middle school youth); Jamestown Community Learning Council (enhancement programs in education and life-skills for youth and their families of the Jamestown School District); Joint Neighborhood Project (food pantry, Hispanic outreach, youth services); Habitat for Humanity (housing); and, of course, our own highly-esteemed child care center called “A Children’s Place.”  With other local faith communities and clergy, we helped to establish “The Community of Hope Federal Credit Union” in Jamestown. The purpose of the credit union is to help to transform our community by providing financial counsel and a competitively priced line of financial products and services, particularly to those members of our community for whom traditional lending avenues are not a viable option.  The men of the church provide the pastors with a “Samaritan Fund” from which they are able to provide assistance (between $4000-$5000 each year) to persons needing particular help.  The church also maintains a “Congregational Support Fund” to help members in times of emergency or short-term financial need.

 The Mission Committee maintains a “revolving loan fund” of $100,000 through which no-interest loans, typically from six months to two years in duration, are made to local organizations whose missions are complementary to ours and who can use the money to bridge short-term gaps in their funding or to leverage additional funding.  Recent recipients of loans include Citizens Opportunity for Development and Equality, Inc.; Habitat for Humanity, 2XL; Judson Fellowship: An American Baptist Church; Blackwell Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church; Community Music Project.

 Through financial support of the Presbytery of Western New York, the Synod of the Northeast, and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), our embrace of neighbors extends far beyond our own community in ministries of health, education, peacemaking, community development, justice, and spirituality.

 Finally, several groups of youths and adults have made summer trips to a variety of sites in recent years to engage in the wider mission of the church and to form partnerships in the gospel.