CPC 1997 Annual Report:
Missions

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For many people at Central, the main experience they have with Missions is the Moment for Mission that we have twice a month in worship. In addition, they experience a yearly event called the Missions Celebration that takes place the last full week of October each year. But there is a lot more to Missions than these few public events.

Missions at Central includes a wide variety of things:

• Countless volunteer hours by Centralites at ministries around the region
• Central Members going overseas: Like Ron Scates and George Pattee (SE Asia), the Goshorns (Zambia), Louis Elias (Kenya) and the Brookses (China)
• Letters of news and encouragement sent to missionaries far from home, friends and family
• Encouraging and resourcing other churches that want to become involved with Missions
• Two Teams taking a week to work on a Habitat house in Sandtown (plus monthly visits)
• Monthly checks being written to support ministries in Baltimore and around the world
• Networking with and supporting overseas ministries that are too sensitive to be publicized
• Coordination of missionary efforts, so that missionaries who do not know each other are brought together and encouraged to work together
• The Youth going to Jamaica
• Preparing Centralites for Missions
• Influencing our denomination to become more faithful in the area of Missions and Evangelism
• Lots of Prayer
• Using our website to educate the larger Christian community about what God is doing around the world, including The Persecuted Church
• Counseling and advising missionaries about personal issues and strategic ministry initiatives
• Individual Centralites supporting missionaries and ministries locally and internationally far beyond what the Missions budget does each year

Although everyone has their own reason for being involved in the way they are, there is one common element. We do these things because God's greatest desire for the universe is that every single person would come to know and experience his Amazing Grace.

What part are you playing in God's mission to the world? There is a place and a need for everyone. God has given each of us not only our lives, but our time, our possessions and our abilities - and they are entrusted to us for use in carrying out God's great purposes. And he asks us to be creative, take risks, try new things, follow our hearts, all in service of our Lord Jesus Christ and for the sake of all those for whom he died.

Let's join together in this great faith adventure of going to all the nations, that the glory of the Lord might cover the earth as the waters cover the sea!