Presbyterian Women
MISSIONS
Together in Service (TIS) is a new name and a new vision for Presbyterian Women's hands-on mission opportunities program. Presbyterian Women are together, living in service. For generations, Presbyterian women have responded to God's love for us by offering this love to the world, laboring to offer tangible signs of Christ's love and working to pursue God's vision of justice and peace throughout the world. Together in Service offers ideas for making or purchasing items to be sent to where they are needed, stories and wisdom from others' service experiences, and ways you can get involved and make a difference in someone's life.
Presbyterian Women at Blue Ridge participate in numerous mission activities -- locally, nationally and worldwide.
• University of Virginia Medical Center Baby Missions
• Hats/bonnets
• Blankets
• Booties
• Burial gowns
• Univ. of Virginia & Martha Jefferson Cancer Centers
• Prayer/Chemo Shawls
• Warm Up America! Blanket squares
• Tuesday's Table
• P.A.C.E.M.
• Postage Stamp collection
• NetWorkers
The women at Blue Ridge lovingly make numerous baby items which are needed at our local University of Virginia Medical Center. We also craft prayer shawls for the local cancer centers and knit and crochet afghan squares to warm those in need. We take turns with other groups at Blue Ridge preparing and serving dinner for the “Tuesdays Table” hunger program in Standardsville at the Methodist Church. We also earnestly collect hygiene items for use in personal care kits for homeless people in the Charlottesville area through PACEM (People And Congregations Engaged in Ministry), an interfaith collaboration of congregations in Charlottesville that helps people find shelter at night, especially during the cold winter months. Through PACEM, several local churches take turns hosting up to 42 adult men who have nowhere else to sleep at night.
During Mother’s Day season, we participate in a worldwide mission project through the NetWorkers cards, joining Christians in the US and in malaria-stricken countries in community health projects which provide malaria prevention education and mosquito nets. The postage stamps we collect, along with many Presbyterian Women nationwide, are sold for church, educational and medical needs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
CELEBRATION OF CREATIVE MINISTRIES
Birthday Offering and Program: In 1922, while on tour of mission stations in the Orient, Hallie Paxton Winsborough, first superintendent of Women’s Work, Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS), visited a girl’s school in Kochi, Japan. Seeing needs she knew would vitally interest Presbyterian Women, she returned home to challenge women to give a special offering to help these girls in Japan. Excited by the opportunity, Presbyterian Women were soon giving a “Birthday Offering” each spring to meet a major mission need. The offering was in celebration of the birthday of Women of the Church.
The PW Birthday Offering, normally received in the spring, continues this tradition. These funds support predetermined projects selected annually by the Creative Ministries Offering Committee. Each project meets the needs of hurting people in accordance with mission concerns and policies of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The projects are announced and interpreted in the January/February issue of “Horizons.”
Thank Offering: The PW Thank Offering originated in the late 1800's with Eliza Clokey of Springfield, Ohio. Her plan was to ask each woman to give a gift in addition to her usual contribution to the Women's General Missionary Society of the United Presbyterian Church of North America as a "thank offering to our Lord." In 1888, the women designated a day for prayer and thanksgiving when this special offering should be received. These sacrificial gifts, it is said, saved the worldwide missionary movement of their denomination. Though the thrust of how and where the money was used changed over the years, the "thank offering to her Lord" continued to be an important part of United Presbyterian Women's giving.
As a part of Celebration Giving, the Thank Offering continues to be given by Presbyterian Women. Given in the fall, the offering may represent a one-time gift or it may be the accumulation of money saved through the year.
CELEBRATION OF CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
Fellowship of the Least Coin links prayer and “least coins” in a very significant way, as the least coin becomes the symbol of prayer for peace and reconciliation. It was begun in 1956 by Shanti Solomon of India who considered that women anywhere could have a sense of being part of a worldwide family of faith as they prayed for peace and reconciliation and set aside the least coin of their country as a symbol of that prayer. As coins are gathered from around the world, they become a sign of our oneness in the common quest for peace, justice and reconciliations.
Grants are made by an international committee for special projects of evangelism, service, ecumenical solidarity, awareness building among women, and relief throughout the world. Presbyterian Women are encouraged to participate in the Fellowship of the Least Coin. This offering is usually taken at circle meetings.