Mission Matters
Mission Matters includes five main programs.
Together in Service
Global Exchange
U.S.A. Mission Experience
Transformation in Partnership (TRIP) Program
PW offerings
Mission matters to Presbyterian Women. In addition to being one of the points of the PW Purpose, support for mission is a thread running through all the work PW does in congregations, presbyteries, synods and churchwide. Mission takes many forms for Presbyterian Women — participation in or support of the Global Exchange, giving money to PW and ecumenical offerings as well as the PW mission pledge and sharing in hands-on mission activities.
The diversity of mission programs encourages participation of women at all stages of their lives. We tell the story of mission to others. We offer emotional and financial support to mission workers and projects around the world. We pledge through our congregations and the PW organization. We make and purchase hospital supplies for Malawi, Congo and Haiti. We promote specia offerings, such as the Fellowship of the Least Coin and the Presbyterian Hunger Fund along with our own Birthday and Thank Offerings. We provide much-needed assistance to projects in our own communities. All of these forms of service show how PW can live out Mission Matters.
Together in Service—PW’s hands-on mission opportunities program.”Together in Service—PW’s hands-on mission opportunities program
For generations, Presbyterian women have shared God’s love in tangible ways. With our wide variety of talents and resources, and our sincere desire to help others, we continue to make a difference in the lives of people everywhere through PW’s Together in Service program. Through this program, Presbyterian women share ideas for a whole range of projects—whether sewing for newborns in Africa, selling fair-trade coffee at church events, or putting together health and hygiene kits for flood victims, we find ways to offer our gifts. Learn more.
Celebrating mission partners
In March 2010, a PW delegation traveled to Congo to see PW’s mission dollars and prayers at work. They met Congolese people with incredible faith and commitment to improving their dire living situations. Read more about the trip and the projects and people making a difference in Congo.
In November 2010, two representatives of Presbyterian Women’s Churchwide Coordinating Team attended a peace and trust building meeting in Akobo, Sudan. They witnessed the suffering and hope of the Anuak, Murle and Nuer women, who have a long history of conflict, yet are committed to building peace. Read more about the trip and how women are engaged in the peace process.
Presbyterian Women committed to making Sudan and Sudanese women a mission focus for the 2009¬2012 triennium. Learn more about Sudan and about the prayers and support you can offer our Sudanese sisters. Download a brochure in black and white or color.
Photo by Stephanie Morris.
PW does mission by the basket
Presbyterian Women continues to support the Roma people, who became our mission partners during the 2008 Global Exchange to Eastern Europe. You can support Roma women by purchasing baskets and trivets they make through a microenterprise. Prices range from $5 to $50, with a variety of sizes and designs available.
E-mail Carissa Herold to learn more or to place an order.
Global Exchange
Every three years, a group of Presbyterian Women travels to another part of the world to listen to the pain and the joy that their sisters experience and to share their faith stories and ministries with each other.
It is a global exchange because, the following year, a group of women from the same part of the world are invited to attend the Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women to tell their stories to their North American sisters. Upon their return, Global Exchange participants share their experiences with PW groups around the country.
Get information on the 2011 Global Exchange.
Transformation in Partnership (TRIP) Program
Transformation in Partnership (TRIP) is PW’s travel/study program. The annual educational and transformational trips takes study groups to sites of interest for Presbyterian Women. Read about the 2010 trip to Geneva that spotlighted women of the Reformation.
U.S.A. Mission Experience
For the first time, a group of Presbyterian Women will travel within the United States to connect concerns raised by past Global Exchanges with similar issues in the United States. With local mission projects as partners, the participants will combine education with hands-on ministry during the weeklong trip. Participants will encounter challenges to God’s promise of a beloved community and witness the faithful responses of Christians living and working in difficult situations. When they return, participants will share their experiences in their synods and raise awareness of the ways people of faith confront the issues that divide us.
Learn more about the U.S.A. Mission Experience.
Presbyterian Women offerings
Presbyterian women of any age can help assemble emergency kits with personal care items to give to people affected by natural disasters. Photo courtesy of Church World Service
Birthday Offering
The Birthday Offering is a PW offering collected in the spring of each year to celebrate the blessings in the lives of Presbyterian Women. The offering funds up to five projects that are not included in ongoing General Assembly mission support, such as agricultural development, child care, community organization, criminal justice, drug counseling, economic justice, elderly care, employment training, homelessness, literacy, violence and women’s concerns.
Learn more about the Birthday Offering and current recipients.
Thank Offering
The Thank Offering is a PW offering collected in the fall of each year that gives women a tangible way to express their gratitude for the special blessings in their lives. The offering funds projects such as agricultural development, child care, community organization, criminal justice, drug counseling, economic justice, elderly care, employment training, homelessness, literacy, violence and women’s concerns. At least 40 percent of this offering supports health ministries throughout the world. The remaining 60 percent funds new creative ideas for mission.
Learn more about the Thank Offering and current recipients.