Global Missions Committee
Purpose: To share the love of God in this country and across the world by:
Activities and Programs: The Global Missions Ministry encourages worldwide mission assistance through special over-and-above offerings throughout the year, including One Great Hour of Sharing, the Pentecost Offering, the Peace and Global Witness Offering, and the Christmas Joy Offering, and participating in the Nickel-a-Meal Program, the Heifer Project, and Stop Hunger Now programs.
Current Projects:
Congo Partnership: The relationship with our sister churches in the Congo, Lemba and Limete continues. It is through this relationship that Bayside Presbyterian connects with the work of the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia via the International Partnership Ministry. We continue to give support to various building projects, including a maternity clinic and church development.
Youth Missions: Each summer we offer a mission opportunity to the youth of Bayside Presbyterian. The mission consists of a group of young people and adults to help work with the homeless and community action groups. Mission trips in the past have been to such places as the Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Communities in New York, Kentucky, Virginia, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania.
Montreat, North Carolina: Also in the summer youth and adults will travel to the mountains of North Carolina to attend a week-long session at the Montreat Youth Conference. MYC is designed for high school students and their adult leaders for a week of study, worship and recreation.
Massanetta Springs Youth Conference
Living Waters for the World: There is plenty of water on earth. The problem is in the distribution of the water! Ninety-seven percent of water is in the oceans and is therefore undrinkable. Two percent is contained in the ice caps (at least until recently) and is unavailable. That leaves only one percent of the water on earth available for human consumption. And beyond that, of course, is the issue of water quality. Much of that water is unusable because of pollution of one sort or another. Each year millions of people die from waterborne parasites and viruses; most of them young children.
Living Waters of the World was formed to help alleviate this problem. By providing a system that’s simple, sustainable and affordable, and by teaching local leaders to lead health and hygiene education among the community, mission teams have been able to help those in communities with contaminated water take ownership of making their own water clean again.
Over the last two years our small team at Bayside has worked in conjunction with a neighboring church to provide clean drinking water in three communities in Nicaragua.
A successful clean water installation usually involves three or four visits to the location. The first visit is conducted by two of the team, the project leader and one of the installers. During this visit, meetings are held with community leaders to gauge the commitment the village has to a water system. Water samples are taken to be processed so the team knows a standard system will be appropriate. A second visit is made several months later to install the system. The third and fourth visits are made at six 6 month intervals to ensure the system is still functioning correctly and to provide any additional
training. During all this time the team will have been working with the in-country contact. The first, third and fourth visits can be made during installations in nearby communities.
Purpose: To share the love of God in this country and across the world by:
- Identifying special projects in which this congregation can participate at a national and international level.
- Planning and leading programs to strengthen Global and International Missions.
- Planning and leading programs to interpret General Assembly position papers relating to missions and peacemaking.
- Alerting the Session and congregation to new ways in which we can Witness the Gospel outside our own community.
Activities and Programs: The Global Missions Ministry encourages worldwide mission assistance through special over-and-above offerings throughout the year, including One Great Hour of Sharing, the Pentecost Offering, the Peace and Global Witness Offering, and the Christmas Joy Offering, and participating in the Nickel-a-Meal Program, the Heifer Project, and Stop Hunger Now programs.
Current Projects:
Congo Partnership: The relationship with our sister churches in the Congo, Lemba and Limete continues. It is through this relationship that Bayside Presbyterian connects with the work of the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia via the International Partnership Ministry. We continue to give support to various building projects, including a maternity clinic and church development.
Youth Missions: Each summer we offer a mission opportunity to the youth of Bayside Presbyterian. The mission consists of a group of young people and adults to help work with the homeless and community action groups. Mission trips in the past have been to such places as the Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Communities in New York, Kentucky, Virginia, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania.
Montreat, North Carolina: Also in the summer youth and adults will travel to the mountains of North Carolina to attend a week-long session at the Montreat Youth Conference. MYC is designed for high school students and their adult leaders for a week of study, worship and recreation.
Massanetta Springs Youth Conference
Living Waters for the World: There is plenty of water on earth. The problem is in the distribution of the water! Ninety-seven percent of water is in the oceans and is therefore undrinkable. Two percent is contained in the ice caps (at least until recently) and is unavailable. That leaves only one percent of the water on earth available for human consumption. And beyond that, of course, is the issue of water quality. Much of that water is unusable because of pollution of one sort or another. Each year millions of people die from waterborne parasites and viruses; most of them young children.
Living Waters of the World was formed to help alleviate this problem. By providing a system that’s simple, sustainable and affordable, and by teaching local leaders to lead health and hygiene education among the community, mission teams have been able to help those in communities with contaminated water take ownership of making their own water clean again.
Over the last two years our small team at Bayside has worked in conjunction with a neighboring church to provide clean drinking water in three communities in Nicaragua.
A successful clean water installation usually involves three or four visits to the location. The first visit is conducted by two of the team, the project leader and one of the installers. During this visit, meetings are held with community leaders to gauge the commitment the village has to a water system. Water samples are taken to be processed so the team knows a standard system will be appropriate. A second visit is made several months later to install the system. The third and fourth visits are made at six 6 month intervals to ensure the system is still functioning correctly and to provide any additional
training. During all this time the team will have been working with the in-country contact. The first, third and fourth visits can be made during installations in nearby communities.
