ADDITIONAL MISSIONS AT KNOX

African | Campus | Cents-Ability | Christsmas Joy Offering | CROP Walk |  DuPage PADS | Ghana Mision Trip 

Joplin, MO | Naperville CARES | One Great Hour of Sharing | Pullman Partnership | Samaritan Interfaith

AFRICAN MISSIONS

Globally, we continue to provide scholarships to carefully selected students at the Nairobi International School of Theology (NIST) as they study to become leaders who spread the Word and deepen the roots of Christianity in Africa.

Designated gifts to the Scott Moreau Pastors Education Endowment Fund are invested with the Presbyterian Foundation; annual earnings from the fund provide additional scholarships.

Nairobi International School of Theology (NIST)
 

The purpose or misison of NIST is educating Christian leaders in an African setting. The Scott Moreau Foundation promotes financial aid for African students engaged in the pursuit of an education at NIST.  For more informaiton, visit the NIST website.  Read Vice Chancellor Emmanuel Bellon's newsletter here.
 

Moreau Fund

The Scott Moreau Foundation promotes financial aid for African students engaged in the pursuit of an education at NIST. Since 1992 the Scott Moreau Pastor's Education Fund has been assisting students at NIST to obtain advanced degrees in Theology. Students have come from the African countries of Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi, and Ghana. The last year a student from Sudan was awarded a Moreau scholarship was 1993. This year another Sudanese, David Chol Deng, has been selected to be a scholarship recipient. According to a letter from NIST, "David at age 10(1983) came to know the Lord as his Savior. A few years later, he understood the Spirit filled life and then felt a great desire to serve the Lord. Unfortunately, war erupted in Sudan and he was forced to come to Kenya as a refugee and in 1992 resettled in the Kakuma refugee camp. For the past six years, David has been involved in the pulpit ministry at the Episcopal Church of the Sudan as an ordained minister. The challenge he faces in ministering to these Sudanese people who now live in Kenya is their difficulty in providing for their basic needs of food, housing and transport."

David has been working towards his Masters of Divinity in Leadership Studies since January, 2010, and will receive $1,400 from the Scott Moreau Pastor’s Education Fund to continue his vision " to serve the Lord as an International minister/pastor wherever the Lord sends him.”  He sends greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to dear friends at Knox Presbyterian Church. It is an honor and privilege for him to express thanks for the scholarship that allows him to continue his Masters of Divinity in Leadership Studies. He promises to study diligently with a seriousness the ministry deserves. David serves God with the Episcopal Church of Sudan in Ngumo Estate in Nairobi, less than 5 miles from NIST. He also asks for prayers for his widowed mother and 4 sisters in Sudan. He rarely visits them due to the high cost of travel. David closes his letter by quoting 2 Timothy 2:15: Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth. 
- Lyn Pewitt, Scott Moreau Pastor’s Education Fund Steering Committee

Back to top

Campus Ministries

Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (ICVF)

Knox serves college students seeking to find Jesus and how He fits into their lives through our continued support of campus ministries. The purpose or mission is to provide a Christian presence on campus emphasizing student and faculty transformation as they come to or grow in their faith, campus renewal by love, grace and justice, connecting students to God so they will become change agents for good.

Our geographic scope is downstate Illinois college campuses (Intervarsity) Chris Swiney is helping to spread the Good News at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. www.intervarsity.org. 

Back to top

Cents-Ability

This ministry is a small first step in the battle against hunger and poverty. In the yellow coin funnel on the Mission table, one can deposit any amount of spare change. All the pennies, nickels, etc. that are collected go to Cents-Ability, a part of the Presbyterian Hunger Programs, and are used to relieve hunger and benefit self-help programs where necessary. 

Remember the yellow coin funnel: any pennies, nickels, and dimes are welcome and will be donated to Cents-Ability. The money will be sent to Cents-Ability which uses proceeds to feed the hungry locally and globally. www.pcusa.org/hunger/centsability.

Back to top

Christmas Joy Offering

Our deepest Joy lies in loving God through loving and supporting one another. For seventy years Presbyterians have given at Christmas time to support the needs of the extended church family:

• To missionaries, church workers and pastors with financial needs in retirement
• To new workers and students with needs as they begin in ministry

Let us not only rejoice in the tidings of comfort and joy but embrace them by taking this opportunity to offer comfort to those in our church family who need it.  Half of this offering distributed through assistance programs of the Board of Pensions and the other half through racial ethnic schools and colleges of the PC(USA).

The JOY OFFERING may be given during Advent and will culminate with the Christmas Eve offering. Questions? Contact a member of the Mission Council or one of the pastors.

Back to top

CROP Walk

Each year approximately  2000 CROP walkers are organized nation-wide.  The congregation of Knox has been supportive of the local CROP Walk either by walking or sponsoring a walker. 

We walk for the HIV/AIDS orphans in Tanzania.
We walk for the farmers in the Dominican Republic.
We walk for the refugees in Thailand.
We walk for the senior citizens and families in need in DuPage County

On October 16, 2011 34 walkers from Knox participated in the 29th annual Naperville Area CROP Walk to fight hunger locally and globally. We walked 1K & 5K routes in beautiful fall weather.

Thank you very much Knox CROP Walkers and Donors for being part of this year’s walk in which you raised more than $3,850. The fundraiser event at Noodles & Co. in September raised an additional $247. All of the money raised will be used to help people in need. 25% will stay in our community, whereas the remaining 75% will be used worldwide. This will include helping to relieve hunger due to the drought in the Horn of Africa and assisting victims of flooding in Thailand with food, survival packs, & shelter assistance.

-Your CROP Walk recruiters: Rachel Koritala and Ineke Pelella

www.napervillecropwalk.org

Back to top

DuPage PADS

DuPage PADS is committed to end and prevent homelessness in DuPage County by serving as a model for providing interim housing, transitional and permanent housing, and supportive services for people who are homeless in a setting that encourages responsibility while offering the opportunity for independence and self-sufficiency.  www.dupagepads.org.

Back to top

Ghana Mission Trip

July 25-August 6, 2011 "Building Relationships", Kaneshie Presbyterian Church. Follow the missionary trip activities and see pictures here of the members as they serve the Lord in Ghana.  Keep them in your prayers every day. 

For additional information, contact Jeneane Ryan or Ron Moley.

 Back to top

Joplin, MO

A mission trip in Joplin is in the planning stages, so save the date:  March 24-31.  More details will be posted as they become available.

Since a devastating tornado made a direct hit on Joplin, MO, on May 22, the city has begun to rebuild. Many businesses and restaurants have rebuilt or are in the process, 92% of the 7800 in the R-8 school district are back at school and into a routine, neighborhoods are slowly beginning to return and St. John’s Regional Medical Center has announced it will have a new location when it reopens in 2014. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is even coming to town and will begin its biggest project ever on October 29: seven houses in seven days!  Read the mission trip blog here.

 Back to top

 

Naperville CARES

Established in 1999, the mission statement of CARES is to provide resources to people within the Naperville community who need assistance to avoid homelessness and attain self-sufficiency. CARES offers an Emergency Assistance Program, provides Rent Deposits, has a Car Donation Program and coordinates assistance with churches, government agencies and nonprofits to maximize resources available to their clients. 

During the first half of this fiscal year, 526 households made 597 different requests for assistance. CARES was able to provide $100,685 of direct financial assistance to 424 households containing 1,062 residents. Almost half of the residents we serve are children under 18. The Board of Directors, volunteers, and clients of Naperville CARES appreciate Knox’s donation to this worthy cause.  www.napervillecares.org.

 Back to top

One Great Hour of Sharing

More than sixty years ago, in response to the devastation of World War II, a Saturday evening nationwide radio broadcast asked Americans to give generously the next morning in their churches.  The PC(USA) uses its offering gifts in each of three programs:  Self-Development of People (SDOP), Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) and the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP).  This offering is received during Lent, especially on Palm Sunday and Easter.

 Back to top

Pullman Presbyterian Church Partnership

Knox Presbyterian has been a partner-in-mision with Pullman Presbyterian in Chicago for more than ten years. After Clint and Deb's arrival on Staff in 1999, Knox increased its support to Pullman, while many of its leaders gave time and talent to fulfilling the twenty-five year vision of a new facility for a vital inner-city congregation. Rev Clint with others in his congregation have enthusiastically served on the Pullman Mission Team in order to realize this vision and to demonstrate the power and promise of shared mission outreach in the best traditions of the Presbyterian Church.

Knox and Pullman worship together annually on Pentecost and World Communion Sundays. Knox and Pullman serve together each summer through the Dakota Partnership for shared mission outreach to Native American Dakota Sioux in South Dakota and Montana.  www.pullmanpresbyterian.org.

Back to top

Samaritan Interfaith

Samaritan Interfaith, a faith-based counseling center founded by Knox Presbyterian Church and three other Naperville churches in 1971, provides spiritually integrated, therapeutic counseling to individuals, couples, children, and families, regardless of religious affiliation. Circumstances can sometimes interfere with one's ability to cope, and we may need to seek outside help. Samaritan Interfaith is here to help individuals reach balance and wellness in their lives and can help restore hope to those who may be struggling with life's situations.

• Depression and anxiety
• Marital relationships
• Major life transitions
• Job/career changes
• Grief and loss
• Spectrum disorders
• Learning disabilities