Worldwide Outreach Brochure - OPC

Worldwide Outreach of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church

The Church’s Faithful Response to the Great Commission

SUPPORTING THE WHOLE WORK OF THE WHOLE CHURCH

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church strives to encourage the unity Christ gives to His people. In obedience to her Lord’s Great Commission, she has established Committees on Foreign Missions, Home Missions and Church Extension, and Christian Education to encourage the whole church in her ministry to one another and her mission to reach the lost. In order to promote the church’s unity, the General Assembly supports the ministries of these three program committees through Worldwide Outreach (the combined budget to which all congregations are asked voluntarily to contribute).

Each year’s General Assembly approves a Worldwide Outreach budget for the following year based on the plans and needs of the three committees. Some congregations contribute monthly to the Worldwide Outreach budget, while others receive special offerings for that purpose.

And almost all congregations give to the annual Thank Offering. Your gifts to Worldwide Outreach and your prayers for the ministry and missionaries of the church help us work together to reach the lost of this world and strengthen Christ’s church.

what happens when your church sends money for the support of the worldwide outreach ministry ?

Your gifts to Worldwide Outreach are divided among the three program committees (Foreign Missions, Home Missions and Church Extension, and Christian Education) according to the percentages and budgets set by the General Assembly.

Those gifts also help to cover the publication of New Horizons and the costs of the Committee on Coordination.

how to support worldwide outreach As the bringing of tithes and offerings is a proper element of corporate worship, members and friends of OP congregations are encouraged to give towards the support of the ministries of the three program committees through the budgetary processes of their local congregations (in 2012 many OP congregations used a suggested amount of approximately $165 per communicant member). Writing “Worldwide Outreach� on either the memo line of your check (payable to the OPC or to your local congregation) or the offering envelope will ensure that your gifts will be divided among the work of the whole church in the ministries of Christian education and home and foreign missions. You may also designate your gift for the support of a particular Worldwide Outreach ministry by noting such on the check or envelope.

Sending Foreign Missionaries The Committee on Foreign Missions currently sends missionaries to eight fields: Asia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Japan, Quebec, Uganda, Ukraine, and Uruguay.

And, whenever it pleases our Lord to open the door, we plan to resume the work in Eritrea. As Christ prospers the faithful and diligent use of His appointed means of grace, indigenous churches and presbyteries are being established.

Starting New Churches The Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension works closely with presbyteries and local sessions in the OPC to help make it possible for them to form new congregations throughout North America.

Expanding Short-Term Mission Opportunities Please come and use the skills and talents the Lord has given you—including your abilities as a native speaker of English—to serve Him, as you also help strengthen the work of the Mission in that foreign land. Volunteers are needed in Asia, Czech Republic, Haiti, Japan, Quebec, Uganda, Ukraine, and Uruguay. Contact OPCShortTermMissions@opc.org for more information.

Regional Home Missionaries These gifted and seasoned ordained men are usually the first ones to meet and work with new groups. The Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension helps to field these Regional Home Missionaries in presbyteries throughout the OPC.

Sunday School Materials Great Commission Publications, the joint Sunday school ministry of the OPC, produces covenantal, Christ-centered Sunday school materials built upon a high view of the Bible as God’s complete, unified revelation. This material, under the GCP-adopted label Show Me Jesus, points children to know and trust Jesus, the revealer of the Father and the Savior of His people.

New Horizons The OPC monthly magazine, New Horizons, promotes the teachings of Scripture and the OPC standards concerning Christian faith and practice.

It also informs about OPC ministries at home and abroad. It is free to all members.

Demonstrating the Compassion of Jesus In many of the lands to which we send missionaries, we find that the physical circumstances of those to whom we are proclaiming Christ are grim.

Our Uganda Mission operates the Compassion of Jesus Presbyterian Clinic to minister mercy to the Karimojong, even as evangelists open God’s Word and tell them of the Living Water and the Bread of Life.

Church Buildings The OPC Loan Fund provides loans to churches and mission works for property and building programs. And individuals and congregations that want to see their money used to serve the Lord and build His kingdom may invest in this unique “savings & loan.”

Ministerial Training Institute MTIOPC is a CCE ministry designed to assist in maintaining and enhancing the quality of ministerial service in the OPC, especially pastoral and missionary. Pastors, licentiates, and men under care can take MTIOPC courses, such as the Westminster Standards, Ecclesiology, and Reformed Worship, that help them prepare for service that conforms to the standard of Holy Scripture.

OPC.ORG OPC.ORG is the internet ministry of the Committee on Christian Education.

Designed to help inform members and visitors regarding OPC ministries, OPC.ORG receives over 500,000 unique visitors on a yearly basis. The latest feature of OPC.ORG is the ability to access the site from mobile devices and smart phones.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION The Orthodox Presbyterian Church believes that the “Great Commission” of the risen Christ in Matthew 20:18 – 20 cannot be fulfilled apart from the obligation to teach. Going to make disciples of all nations and baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit cannot be separated from teaching them to observe all that Jesus had commanded. The Committee on Christian Education has been erected to help assist in the teaching ministry of the church. From its work with local churches sponsoring ministerial internships for seminarians to producing New Horizons and operating OPC.ORG for the General Assembly, the CCE aims to be a servant that assists in advancing the overall ministry of the OPC.

the thank offering

In 1949 the General Assembly of the young Orthodox Presbyterian Church determined t

of a special thank offering for missionary work and Christian education, and the first Thank O

purpose: to advance the cause of Christ through missionary outreach at home and abroa

FOREIGN MISSIONS For the past seventy-five years, the Committee on Foreign Missions has sent missionaries to the ends of the earth to proclaim the good news that, by His blood, Christ has ransomed a people for God “from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

As the seed of His Word is sown far and wide, and as, by His grace, Christ’s sheep respond to their Master’s voice in faith, we delight to see indigenous Reformed churches and presbyteries are being established. And with gratitude we observe firsthand that the biblical pattern of entrusting what we have received to faithful men, who will be able to teach others, is repeating itself in our lifetime—as it will continue to do, until Christ comes again in power and in glory.

to place before the churches a plan of setting aside the month of November as a month

Offering was received. Some sixty years later, the Thank Offering has the same

ad and through Christian education.

HOME MISSIONS The Orthodox Presbyterian Church starts twelve to fifteen new churches each year. From Tucson, Arizona to Mount Vernon, Ohio, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Airdrie, Alberta, God is raising up new congregations who will be faithful to His Word and make the good news of the gospel known. The Committee on Home Missions helps the presbyteries of the OPC to get new churches started, to find and train organizing pastors, and to provide hands-on assistance for those who are on the front lines of the struggle for the souls of men.

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