THROUGH MISSION AND OUTREACH WE ANSWER CHRIST'S CALL TO
LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS DEMONSTRATE COMPASSION FOSTER UNITY
Mission and outreach ministries are vital to our Wayne Presbyterian Church, embodying our commitment to living out the Gospel through service, compassion, education. These ministries provide a tangible expression of our faith, foster spiritual growth and unity, and make a significant impact on the communities we serve. By addressing critical needs and advocating for justice, we fulfill our prophetic role in society and enhance our church’s witness to the world.
When the church functions well in a community, it becomes a refuge that alleviates anxiety, grounding people in God’s unwavering care through their difficulties. The body of Christ acts as a bulwark against life’s troubles, offering compassion that calls us to share in pain, brokenness, fear, and vulnerability.
At Wayne Presbyterian Church, our mission includes outreach, service, education, and advocacy for diversity, equity, and inclusion, in partnership with local and global religious and non-profit organizations. Our mission partners span suburban Philadelphia, the City of Philadelphia, particularly The Common Place in Southwest Philadelphia, and extend to other parts of the country and world. Beyond financial support, we cultivate long-lasting relationships with these partners. Below is information about the partners we currently support.
MISSIONS
NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS
The mission of the Wayne Senior Center is to provide community, friendship, and resources in order to enrich the lives of older adults.
The Wayne Senior Center is where active, independent people aged 50 and older come to nurture their interests and needs, both intellectual and physical. This is the place where seniors become empowered to grow, develop and get involved. To learn more, visit Wayne Senior Center online.
WPC Liaison: Scott Laird ( hslaird@aol.com) and Pamela Jensen ( jens0581@umn.edu)
The Surrey mission is to help older adults live at home with independence and dignity while continuing to be active members of their community. The Surrey Cares Program meets the needs of some of the more vulnerable seniors who want to remain in their homes in the community where they have lived, worked, and raised their families. Wayne Presbyterian Church (WPC) has provided financial and service support to Surrey for years. Many of our members volunteer on their own, but WPC has also provided Board leaders and helped with special projects. Visit their website to see how you might serve or contact the church liaison.
WPC Liaison: Parker Blatchford ( mpblatchford@aol.com)
IHN is part of Family Promise, a nationwide organization that provides shelter and support to families who are experiencing a temporary crisis in housing. For 25 years, Wayne Presbyterian Church (WPC) and other faith organizations on the Main Line host guest families for seven days—four to five times a year. During non-pandemic times, each hosting week at WPC involves about 50 volunteers to set up and take down classroom areas as private bedrooms for the guests, provide meals and clean linens, hospitality and stay overnight as chaperones. Food shopping, laundering, and publicity are additional activities volunteers help with. Criminal background and child abuse clearances are necessary for those having direct contact with the families. Visit their website to see how you might serve or contact church liaisons.
WPC Liaisons: Nancy Monahan nkmonahan@gmail.com, Susan Hirschman sbhirsh@hotmail.com, Leslie Dudt lhdudt@gmail.com
Baker Industries was founded by Wayne Presbyterian Church (WPC) members Charles and Louise (Weezie) Baker on behalf of their son. Today, Baker Industries is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit workforce development program with locations in Malvern and Philadelphia, employing and finding outside employment for the disabled, recovering substance abusers, parolees, and the homeless. Over the past three years, 106 of their employees have joined the regular work force and are now positive contributors to society. WPC has provided both service and financial support for many years. Volunteers can help work alongside their employees on their contracted projects. Visit their website to learn more or contact the church liaison.
The video at the link below takes you to a video produced by Baker Industries, a Mission Partner of WPC. The video describes a heartwarming success story about a woman who was trained by Baker Industries and, as a result, got a good job after 5 years in prison.
Link: https://youtu.be/XtCV80WDI9s
WPC Liaison: Scott Laird ( hslaird@aol.com)
Founded in the 1990’s, MLM offers activities that foster responsible citizenship, leadership and self-respect to all school age children in the community. Located in Mt. Pleasant, education is the foundation of what they do as it is one of the most important parts of a child’s growth. They have a tutoring program where the children receive help with their schoolwork. They also take trips to local colleges, Peoples Light and Arden theatres, museums and other educational events. Their mission is to help students grow spiritually, emotionally and physically by exposing them to things that they may not otherwise have a chance to see.
Wayne Presbyterian Liaison: Scott Laird ( hslaird@aol.com)
For the healing of the spirits of children, families, and communities broken by trauma including violence, neglect, poverty, mental illness, racism and other serious societal problems, there is Gemma Services. Volunteers help via tutoring, career nights and administrative assistance.
The Faith in Action Council welcomes you to participate in activities throughout the year, including donating to family fun-night baskets for the families who permanently welcome children into their homes (various fundraising opportunities) and Christmas gift donations for the children in Gemma’s residential treatment programs (through the WPC Alternative Gift program during the Christmas season).
Please visit the following link to see ways you can help: https://gemmaservices.org/support-us/wishlist/
Wayne Presbyterian Liaison: Elisabeth Slate elisabeth@paslate.net and Scott Laird hslaird@aol.com
A multi-church committee, including WPC as a steering committee member, was formed by St. Mary’s Episcopal Church of Wayne in 2017 to help resettle an immigrant family from the Democratic Republic of Congo fleeing the civil war there. In subsequent years, the committee helped re-settle refugees from Guinea, Guatemala, and Afghanistan.
Our current focus is on a 21 year old Afghan man who escaped from the Taliban take-over with his sister and her 2 young children and entered the US as a humanitarian parolee.. Their parents and siblings intended to accompany them but were separated in the frantic rush to the Kabul airport. The sister was married to an Afghan citizen of UK, and she and her kids ultimately re-located to California with her husband’s sister while he works on her emigration to the UK. This left her brother here alone to finish Radnor High School and find work. His journey has been the most difficult for the group because he struggles to become self-sufficient financially. Progress toward that has been impeded by a serious knee injury requiring surgical repair, and financial debts. The committee found him work through two members of WPC, the most recent of which provided a studio apartment in Wayne with a rental discount. We are helping him learn the financial skills to live within his means. A pro bono attorney from Troutman Pepper helped him submit the application for asylum and to renew his parole status and work authorization. He joined a local mosque. He sends money to his family back home who are in hiding. He dreams of going to college as soon as he can and having his own business. We are trying to instill the right amount of patience as we assist him in the process of ‘renewing his mind’ and transforming himself to live in our society.
WPC liaisons: Scott Laird ( hslaird@aol.com), Marty Laird ( mquayl@aol.com) , Craig Stock ( crstock53@gmail.com).
RTCA, also known by the Highland Avenue Community Center at 248 Highland Avenue in west Wayne, is the community center historically used by Second Baptist Church and St. Johns A.M.E. Church for wedding and birthday celebrations, revival meetings, and funeral gatherings. A multi-church collaboration in Wayne restored and upgraded the over 100-year-old structure with the goal of providing expanded community programs and services to the West Wayne community. Due to the pandemic, these plans have been delayed. However, the center has been the site of for a Town Hall by the Radnor Police and a community sponsored outdoor music and a movie night. Wayne Presbyterian Church has been involved in building upgrades, outdoor gardening, and landscaping. Visit their Facebook page to learn more or contact our church liaison.
Note: This structure is the only remaining Black-owned secular community center on the Main Line between Ardmore and Coatesville. The facility is publicly available to anyone to rent for events and activities. Contact Pamela Deans at (484) 431-3044 or pamela deans@msn.com
GVFC, provides food and basic household supplies at no cost to needy families in the Wayne and Great Valley areas. Their mission is to treat all who come for help with dignity and to respect meeting their food insecurities with care, concern and compassion. Recently, an influx of immigrant refugees from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia have exacerbated the need for donated food and sundries. Non-perishable food and household sundries are donated by depositing (unexpired) items in the wood cabinet in the Connector of Wayne Presbyterian Church (WPC). GVFC fills grocery bags with assorted food for registered families. Visit their website to learn more or contact Wayne Presbyterian Church.
Our 2023 Vacation Bible School collected nearly 800 food items for this food cupboard and one in Radnor.
WPC Liaison: Scott Laird hslaird@aol.com
FOCUSING ON THOSE IN THE URBAN COMMUNITY
The CityLights office is located in The Common Place
5736 Chester Avenue
(58th Street and Chester Avenue)
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Rev. Cean James ceanjames@comcast.net
Phone Number 267 705 6576
Wayne Presbyterian Liaison Susan Aggaarwal vnsagg@aol.com
Outley House, an outreach of Self Inc., is the largest men’s housing shelter in Philadelphia, assisting more than 200 men on an ongoing basis. Outley is in constant need of men’s clothing (particularly big and tall), white socks, new towels, washcloths, underwear and men’s toiletries. Wayne Presbyterian Church collects and delivers these needed items on a regular basis. The Men’s Fellowship collects baked goods donations from Main Line bakeries on a weekly basis, year-round and delivers them to the Outley kitchen.
Wayne Presbyterian Liaison Carmela Curatola cncuratola@yahoo.com
For the healing of the spirits of children, families, and communities broken by trauma including violence, neglect, poverty, mental illness, racism and other serious societal problems, there is Gemma Services. Volunteers help via tutoring, career nights and administrative assistance.
At the Preheim Center (once a Presbyterian orphanage), they provide family and mental health services. Healthy Minds Philly is an initiative that offers a variety of tools and resources to support and improve the mental health and well-being of all Philadelphians.
Gemma’s Faith in Action Council welcomes you to participate in activities throughout the year.
Please visit the following link to see ways you can help: https://gemmaservices.org/support-us/wishlist/
Wayne Presbyterian Liaisons: Elisabeth Slate elisabeth@paslate.net and Scott Laird hslaird@aol.com for plannng and scheduling volunteer activities.
http://www.TheCommonPlacePhilly.org
The Common Place, located at 58th and Chester Avenue in SW Philadelphia, offers a wide variety of programs to support the children and families in SW Philadelphia. Some of the programs are:
A quality after school program
A Saturday Enrichment Program providing academic support, Bible Study and community building for school age children
A Youth Orchestra
A Summer Arts and Technology camp
A food pantry
A produce garden that provides fresh vegetables to local residents.
A venue for community gatherings and meetings
The Common Place is currently developing a preschool program, a produce market to sell locally grown vegetables, and a youth and family counseling service.
Salt and Light Church, with approximately 1,000 members, worships at The Common Place and works in conjunction with it to serve the spiritual needs of the community.
Wayne Presbyterian Liaison: Buff Barnes buffbarnes@gmail.comand Doug McBrearty dmcb@gulphcreekhotels.com
This public school, situated in the heart of the Kingsessing community in Southwest Philadelphia, serves local students in kindergarten through 8th grade. Through volunteer service and funds, WPC has enhanced the playground, school library, staff room, auditorium lighting, and educational programs. Tutors and Library volunteers are always welcome.
WPC raised $6500 for the Mitchell School Chess Team, which is currently in first place in the Philadelphia School District Elementary Division, to attend National competitions. Jason Bui, a teacher at Mitchell who is also Vice President of the Philadelphia Chess Society, sent a handful of Elementary, Junior and Senior High students to State and National competitions in PA and Washington, D.C. Several students won their competitions. Chess teaches these students the importance of planning and strategic thinking while enjoying the game.
Wayne Presbyterian Mitchell School Liaisons: Jane Beatty jnbeatty@verizon.net, Rita Fisk ritafisk@gmail.com, Marsha Irvin mirvin23@comcast.net
The Center offers daycare for infants through 5-yr-olds, summer day camp, and a soup kitchen. Wayne Presbyterian volunteers assist with the hunger ministry that serves hot lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Wayne Presbyterian Liaison Susan Aggarwal vnsagg@aol.com
The SWCDC provides a variety of support services to families including foreclosure prevention, a job search computer lab, emergency utility assistance, home heating oil assistance, family budgeting, after school and summer programs for children, rental tax rebates and referrals to other organizations. Additionally, they facilitate free income tax return preparation for residents, and arrange microloans for small businesses and community development activities. Thanks to support from WPC, SWCDC is working on a housing project in the neighborhood with the goal of keeping people in their homes by reducing gentrification in the area.
SWCDC publishes the Southwest Globe Times , a free community newspaper which reports the good news about people and organizations making positive contributions to the quality of life in inner-city Southwest Philadelphia. Look for a copy on the table outside the church office.
Contact person: Ted Behr tedbehr1@yahoo.com
This is the oldest surviving botanic garden in North America, a National Historic Landmark, and a jewel in the Southwest community. In addition to tours and events, the garden is a welcoming oasis of fields, trees, plants and walking paths just blocks from the heart of Kingsessing and a wonderful place for recreation and refreshment. It is an educational destination for hundreds of school children each year and has an after-school program and summer camp.
REACHING PARTNERS ALL OVER THE WORLD WITH AID
The Protestant Center for Pastoral Studies in Central America (CEDEPCA) is an educational institution that contributes to the transformation of lives and contexts by providing training and accompaniment, and by offering spaces for reflection to women and men from diverse Christian traditions, communities and contexts. Wayne Presbyterian Church’s intergenerational mission trip participated in CEDEPCA’s intercultural encounter program in July 2019, learning firsthand about immigration issues, violence against women and educational system challenges. Our church currently supports CEDEPCA’s educational programs that ministry to Guatemala’s indigenous people groups.
Water is Life Kenya (WILK) is dedicated to bringing clean, accessible water, sanitation and good hygiene to the Maasai people in drought-prone rural communities in Southern Kenya. WILK also manages a Livestock as a Business Program (LAB) in partnership with the Kenyan Ministry of Livestock. Through LAB, the people of Southern Kenya receive training and financial support to improve livestock management. The sale of healthy cows is a critical income generator for the Maasai people. WILK also includes a beaded jewelry program certified by the Fair Trade Federation. Kenyan families receive direct income from this endeavor. Wayne Presbyterian Church supports the water borehole projects that bring life-giving water to Maasai communities.
GROW is a “Word and Deed” ministry that seeks to teach English as a second language to immigrants and refugees in NE Philadelphia. In addition to ESL classes, GROW ministers through life skills training, relationship and the hope of the Gospel. During a portion of each class, Scripture verses are shared to tell the GROW students about God and the good news of Jesus. In each class, students share their prayer requests and pray for each other. WPC volunteers attend monthly Conversation Cafes, which are informal discussions with the ESL students to help them hone their conversational English skills.
Wayne Presbyterian Church supports a missionary family in North Africa. They teach in a secondary school and are involved in many school and community activities. The family ministry includes working in their local church, reaching out to refugees in their country, language study and friendship evangelism. The family leads a team that meets regularly to pray, strategize, equip, and minister together.
Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA) is the largest private healthcare network in India and they serve mainly the poor of northern India in the name of Jesus Christ. EHA provides clinical care at their 19 hospitals as well as leading community development health programs in the rural areas. The first palliative care services in Northern India were started at EHA under the leadership of Dr. Ann Thyle who visited WPC on numerous occasions. Wayne Presbyterian Church helped to build an operating theater in an EHA hospital located in a district populated by the impoverished “untouchables” caste. Currently, through the Christmas Gift Alternatives program, our Church supports healthcare needs for families who cannot afford to pay for their care.
WPC Liaison: Sarah Hostetter, Missionary with God’s Precious Children, Liberia (GPC)
Sarah Hostetter, former WPC mission director and youth minister, is a missionary to God’s Precious Children, a Christian organization that supports the education of children in Liberia, West Africa. Sarah administers the GPC programs, fundraises for student sponsors, coordinates the sponsorship program, oversees in-country operation and prays for the students and teachers. WPC funds support Sarah in her fundraising role stateside and her leadership role that spans the ocean so that 100% of scholarship funds raised can be sent to the Liberian schools and staff.staff.deans@msn.com
Wayne Presbyterian Liaison: Martin Akram martin.akram@gmail.com
Despite continued political and economic instability in Iraq, the Presbyterian Church in Kirkuk maintains robust ministries that seek to evangelize the city’s residents directly and indirectly. One of the Church’s chief ministries is its nationally recognized day care and kindergarten, through which the teachers and staff aim to spread the love of God to the kindergarten’s 95% Muslim student body.
Additionally, over the past few years, the Church has expanded its radio FM ministries to include more Christian programming in a number of different languages and dialects that aim to reach groups who’ve never heard the good news of the Gospel. WPC supports the general operating expenses of the church which are more than the congregation can support, especially given the migration of Christians out of this region in Iraq.
The Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (ETSC) was originally founded by Presbyterian missionaries in 1863 on a floating houseboat as missionaries sailed up and down the Nile visiting cities and villages to evangelize people and train leaders in the faith. Today, more than 150 years later, ETSC has grown to become the largest and most influential Protestant seminary in the Middle East. Its graduates serve not only within Egypt, but in all corners of the Middle East, where the Church is often in desperate need of pastors trained in a rigorous theological setting.
Wayne Presbyterian Church is proud to be a long-time supporter of ETSC’s mission, specifically supporting pastoral student sponsorships. We view our investment in the Seminary as foundational to the preservation of Christianity in the Middle East, and Christian Arabs in particular, many of whom have suffered dearly throughout the recent decades as faithful servants of the Kingdom
RAISING AWARENESS OF SOCIETAL ILLS & EVILS
The ministry works to inform, educate, and empower people of faith on significant public issues. It seeks to build a more just society by advocating on behalf of the Council’s member church bodies. More than 10 opportunities are identified on their website. One of them– the importance of equity in public education funding—has long been supported by the Social Justice Advocacy team: Join the Public Education Champion Fellowship Program
The Office seeks to translate the church’s deep convictions about justice, peace, and freedom into reality by advocating for the positions established by the PC(USA). The Office engages national legislators and their staffs to help clarify the moral and ethical issues at stake in public policy decisions. For example, advocacy can take the form of inquiring about programs that involve local law enforcement in enforcing federal immigration laws, contacting your legislators to urge them to take action on immigration, serving directly in partnership with local immigrant communities, and educating yourself on immigration issues. Be creative, prayerful, and discern how God is calling you to respond to the needs of our communities.
The Office seeks to translate the church’s deep convictions about justice, peace, and freedom into reality by advocating for the positions established by the PC(USA). The Office engages national legislators and their staffs to help clarify the moral and ethical issues at stake in public policy decisions. For example, advocacy can take the form of inquiring about programs that involve local law enforcement in enforcing federal immigration laws, contacting your legislators to urge them to take action on immigration, serving directly in partnership with local immigrant communities, and educating yourself on immigration issues. Be creative, prayerful, and discern how God is calling you to respond to the needs of our communities.
Gun violence in Philadelphia is a top issue. The mass shootings in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and gun deaths by suicide and ghost guns cries out for common sense gun regulation. HGC provides letter templates that can be sent to one’s federal and state legislators to call for regulations to curb gun violence in our state. A majority of Pennsylvanians support this.
See concerning facts about gun violence that Christians need to know here: https://www.heedinggodscall.org/facts
Advocacy by writing to federal and state lawmakers is easy and encouraged via this link on their website: https://www.heedinggodscall.org/letters
Gun violence in Philadelphia is a top issue of the upcoming 2023 mayoral election. For an overview of what candidates would do if elected, read: https://whyy.org/articles/gun-violence-will-be-a-top-issue-for-phillys-next-mayor-where-do-the-announced-candidates-stand/
Consider writing a letter to the editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer to express the urgent need for the state legislature to pass common sense gun regulation to help the city.
What You Can Do? You can act by speaking up for an end to hunger in a number of ways:
Write Letters Write to your representatives at the federal and state level about issues currently moving in Congress or the State Legislature.
Social Media Speak up on social media and tag your senator or representative.
Talk Talk with your friends and family about our responsibility to work for an end to hunger.
Organize Community Efforts Organize an Offering of Letters to Congress in your church or community.
Pray Make prayers to end hunger part of your regular prayer life.
Give For every dollar you donate, Bread helps win hundreds of dollars in federal government assistance for people experiencing hunger in the U.S. and around the world.
FOCUSING ON THE HOUSING RELATED NEEDS OF THE POOR AND MARGINALIZED
In February 2019, the Presbyterian Hunger Program of PC-USA certified Wayne Presbyterian Church (WPC) as an Earth Care Congregation. This certification was the result of a nearly year-long effort by numerous committees and individuals to integrate awareness of and attention toward earth care ministry into all aspects of church life, including worship, education, facilities, and outreach. While first-year certification is an honor, it is also only the beginning of a commitment to humble and careful stewardship of God’s earth. Certification must be renewed annually by documenting continued efforts to care for Creation in a holistic way, including via the institution of ever-more environmentally sustainable practices throughout the church.
To support our application to become an Earth Care Congregation in 2018, we accomplished the following: (1) obtained a professional assessment of our church’s energy use; (2) ensured that at least a portion of the electricity consumed by the church had been generated via wind power; (3) converted church lighting to efficient LED bulbs; (4) organized an adult education class, “Our Call to Care for Creation,” on three Sundays in October; (5) organized an artistic wall exhibit and a flower table to emphasize both the spiritual and practical aspects of caring for God’s beautiful and magnificent Creation.
In 2019, we have been working on a number of new projects: (1) planting a pollinator garden of native plants on church grounds; (2) joining other local houses of worship in a collaborative venture to encourage earth care; (3) hosting a showing of The Burden, a documentary addressing the effects of climate change on national security, which was followed by a panel discussion; (4) working with one of the youth of our church to give a Minute-for-Mission on Youth Sunday about our congregation’s commitment to earth care; (5) purchasing fair trade, shade-grown coffee for church events, including each Sunday’s fellowship hour; (6) re-instituting, after many years, the use of glass cups and plates, thereby decreasing our consumption of single-use paper items; (7) adding books to the church library on climate change and other environmental issues; (8) organizing an artistic and informational wall display on earth care.
For more information about WPC’s earth care program, contact Rutger Boerema at rutgerboerema@yahoo.com or Pamela Jensen at jens0581@umn.edu. For more information on the PC(USA)’s Earth Care Congregations program, visit www.pcusa.org/earthcarecongregations.