Second
Presbyterian
Church

Second Presbyterian Church has a rich missions history. Today it supports 19 organizations and ministries, both locally and around the world. The Mission Committee looks for new opportunities to partner with ministries that share a common vision of ministry to the whole person. The committee oversees these ministries and seeks to extend the influence of the church all over the world. We believe that mission may be defined as, "The sending of our time, talents, and treasure to the world-local, national and international." Thus mission trips area a significant part of our work.

Missionaries: Roger and Maggie Bruehl

Mission Focus: To share Christ’s love with international students and to equip the students for effective service through the mobilization of the local church and others. ISI brings together members of the community with international students studying at ISU, IWU, and Heartland Community College. To become involved, e-mail them at jberger@isiwebnet.net or jwberger@ilstu.edu or on the web at www.isiwebnet.net/sites/jberger.

Missionaries: 2PC Members on Mission Trips

Mission Focus: Our Mission Committee has committed to send four mission teams to the Gulf Coast town of LaCombe, Louisiana. LaCombe is a town that has struggled with numerous problems over the years, and Katrina has only expanded them. In a great act of faith the New Covenant Presbyterian Church in Mandeville, LA, has selected four projects to do there. You can help in several ways, including, going on one of the mission trips scheduled for February, March, April and May.

Missionaries: John and Linda Berger

Mission Focus: To share Christ's love with international students and equip the students for effective service through the mobilization of the local church. International Friends brings together members of the community with international students studying at Illinois State University. To become involved, email them at internationalfriends@hotmail.com or on the web at http://intlfriends.org/.

Mission Focus: InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA® is an evangelical campus mission serving more than 35,000 students and faculty on more than 560 college and university campuses nationwide. Incorporated in 1941, InterVarsity has a rich tradition of campus witness, thoughtful discipleship, and a concern for world missions. We support Illinois Wesleyan's Intervarsity Chapter.

Rev. Jim Bell presents Pastor David Santana of Restoration Christian Church with a check for $3,000 donated by congregation members of First Presbyterian Church.

Missionaries: David Santana and Family

Mission Focus: A group of local Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations are working together to help develop a ministry to the 5,500 Spanish speaking people of McLean County. Pastor David Santana, his wife and family have been working in the area for almost a year. The ministry received a great gift from Second Presbyterian Church when they invited the newly formed congregation to meet in their facilities without paying rent. They have also provided an office. The congregation worships in Spanish and English each Sunday evening at 5:00 p.m. All are welcome to worship with them. Pastor Santana has worked at many secular jobs in order to provide for his family. The ministry is very much in need of his full attention, which can only happen if he has about $3,500 per month in support. The members of his church can't afford this at this time. If this support is not soon found, Pastor Santana will be forced to leave the area for a job that will enable him to support his family. Restoration Christian Church is a bilingual program that is housed at Second Presbyterian Church Sunday evenings at 5:00 p.m.

2006 Budget Amount: $3,500

Commitment: Reevaluated yearly

2PC Contact: Joy Haning

Mission Focus: "Terrific Tuesdays" is a mentoring program at Irving Elementary School. The money budged provides healthy snacks for children after school.

Mission Focus: A local ministry for adults with special needs along with their families to learn about Jesus and his teachings.

Mission Focus: The Mission of the Synod of Lincoln Trails (PCUSA) is to develop, nurture and support leaders in partnership with our presbyteries and congregations, and to coordinate Presbyterian mission strategy within the Synod. The eight presbyteries of the Synod elect an equal number of elders and clergy to serve as commissioners to the Synod. The presbyteries also elect Youth Advisory Delegates (ages 16-25) to advise the commissioners and serve on Synod committees. Commissioners and Youth These persons gather for two meetings each year, usually in March and September. The four member staff of the Synod is instructed and guided by the actions of the three Standing Committees of the Synod: Presbytery and Congregational Ministries, Regional Ministries and Administration.

Director: Rev. Dan McNerney

Mission Focus: "We challenge, mobilize and empower Presbyterian congregations into global partnerships that establish indigenous churches among unreached people groups. Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship is a missional servant community. We are...

• Committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ
• Seeking the Empowerment of the Holy Spirit
• Rooted in Scripture and Prayer
• Devoted to faithful stewardship of life and possessions
• Boldly proclaiming the gospel to every people
• Serving the Presbyterian Church (USA)
• Uplifting the congregation's faithfulness to God's mission calling
• Focusing on the congregation as a wellspring for mission initiative
• Calling forth People Movements to Jesus among unreached people groups
• Advocating the indigenous expressions of the body of Christ in all people groups
• Supporting the planting of indigenous churches committed to God's Mission
• Advocating a partnership approach to mission
• Committed to the unity of the global church in mission
• Committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

President: Dr. Atef Gendy

Mission Focus: The Evangelical Theological Seminary of Cairo was founded to train pastors and other leaders for service in the Evangelical (Presbyterian) Synod of the Nile. The Seminary strives to attain high academic standards in every area of biblical and religious studies.

Missionaries: Tom and Katy Sappington

Mission Focus: Work in Indonesia

Vision
Healthy churches working together to reach all nations

Mission
To mobolize godly and effective church leaders
To reach all nations

Mission Focus:
Using research, motivation, and training, we mobolize Christian leaders to reach their nations and beyond

http://www.onechallenge.org/

Mission Focus: Your gift to shared Basic Mission Support strengthens and promotes the mission of the entire church. From Albuquerque to Abu Dhabi your generosity will share God's Work and Words around the world through mission personnel, Christian education, evangelism and new church development and ministries with all God's children. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has approximately 2.4 million members, 11,100 congregations and 14,000 ordained and active ministers. Presbyterians trace their history to the 16th century and the Protestant Reformation. Our heritage, and much of what we believe, began with the French lawyer John Calvin (1509-1564), whose writings crystallized much of the Reformed thinking that came before him.

Mission Focus: In January 1972, all or parts of five presbyteries in the Synod of Illinois; Alton, Bloomington, Monmouth, Peoria, and Springfield were aligned into the Presbytery of Great Rivers, part of the Synod of Lincoln Trails (PCUSA).
The Presbytery of Great Rivers is a regional governing body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and is made up of 110 Presbyterian churches in the counties of Adams, Brown, Cass, DeWitt, Fulton, Greene, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Knox, Logan, Macoupin, Mason, McLean, McDonough, Menard, Mercer, Morgan, Peoria, Pike, Rock Island, Sangamon, Scott, Schuyler, Tazewell, Warren and Woodford; all within the state of Illinois.

Mission Focus: Habitat for Humanity works in partnership with people in need and caring volunteers to build and renovate homes. Qualifying families purchase these simple, decent homes at cost and they re-pay an interest-free loan. Their mortgage payments help build homes for other families. Volunteers are the backbone of Habitat for Humanity! Your donations and/or your time and talent keep our houses affordable for Habitat Partner Families here in McLean County. Whatever your skills, Habitat has a place for you! If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the Habitat Office at (309) 827-3931.

Mission Focus: Home Sweet Home Ministries is an interdenominational Christian organization serving homeless and low-income individuals and families through a variety of programs. Founded in 1917, Home Sweet Home provides numerous services 24 hours daily, 365 days a year. Areas of service include: food service, Mission Mart, Consignment Shoppe, Threshold Program and shelter at Home Sweet Home Mission. Junior High Youth completed a mission project in October 2005 that included painting, cleaning, sorting and performing to the residents of the mission.

Mission Focus: Little Children of the World (LCW) is an international and interdenominational Christian agency dedicated to helping develop caring communities for children at risk. Established in 1987, it seeks to address the plight of street children and those who are victims of extreme poverty in developing countries. Little Children of the Philippines (LCP), a subsidiary of LCW, was established in 1989 in Dumaguete City on the island of Negros. Mission Statement: "Developing Caring Communities for the World's Children at Risk."

Missionaries: Rev. Jason and Lisa Carter

Mission Focus:

• To bring the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the remaining unreached peoples with the utmost urgency.
• To demonstrate the compassion of Christ to a needy world.
• To plant churches and lead them to spiritual maturity.
• To inspire, mobilize and train for cross-cultural service/work.

Jason and Lisa were members of our church until they left to become full-time missionaries. They began their journey by receiving word that they could work with WEC International. While praying for financial support, Jason began his Master of Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary while Lisa began her Spanish studies. Lisa and Jason went to Costa Rica the first week of January, 2006 to study Spanish.

History: Western Avenue Community Center (WACC) opened in 1926. In the 1870s local German Baptists organized a church in a one-room frame building on the site at the corner of Western Avenue and Locust Street. Church services in German were held there until World War I.

During WWI Second Presbyterian Church purchased the property and started a community church with services in English. After the war a growing community of Irish and German immigrants, who found work in the rail yards, inhabited northwest Bloomington.

Rev. Frank Breen, pastor of the Congregational Church, represented Bloomington churches in his part-time ministry at the Western Avenue location and advocated for a community center to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood. In 1926 a group of community leaders held a campaign to raise $30,000 for the erection of an inter-denominational church and community center to serve as a neighborhood meeting place for social, religious, educational, and recreational activities for all age groups.

The Western Avenue Church Center began operations with a new chapel, community room/gymnasium, classrooms and a kitchen. The Western Avenue Community Church was formally organized and in the fall of 1931, Rev. Breen resigned as Associate Pastor at Second Presbyterian Church and devoted full-time to being Director of the Western Avenue Community Center and Pastor of the Western Avenue Church. He led the organization until 1955. In 1958, when Rev. Harry Smith was serving as Executive Director for the Center, programs included boxing, piano, dances, carpentry, automotive mechanics classes, cooking class, crafts and two basketball leagues. The Western Avenue Community Church disbanded as a church in 1969, but continued as a social service organization and community center, working with youth and reaching out into the neighborhood.

Today WACC serves more than 1000 families per year in the community through their Hispanic Outreach, Youth Programs, LINC basketball and Senior Programs and has many friends and supporters who "grew up" at the Center. Although the church is gone, faith still plays an important part in the social service programs in place at Western Avenue Community Center. Mission work includes: "To offer at the neighborhood level a comprehensive service of health, welfare, recreation and education coordinated around the family as a unit."

History: Located in Second Presbyterian Church, the Compassion Center was built to provide their lives back on track as well as serving as a daytime refuge. Two trends are largely responsible for the rise in homelessness over the past 20-25 years: a growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty.

Other major factors which can contribute to homelessness include the following: Lack of Affordable Health Care, Violence, Mental Illness and Addiction Disorders. Homelessness results from a complex set of circumstances that require people to choose between food, shelter, and other basic needs. Only a concerted effort to ensure jobs that pay a living wage, adequate support for those who cannot work, affordable housing, and access to health care will bring an end to homelessness. These are only a few of the ways the Compassion Center is helping move people from homelessness to self sufficiency.

Volunteer Training is offered the 2nd Monday of every month from 6-9PM. If you'd like to volunteer, please email Carrie Booth at cbooth@pathcrisis.org or call the Compassion Center at (309) 829-4593.