Global Mission: Church-to-church Partnerships
The Global Missions Team of the Penn West Conference was formed in response to an initiative from the national United Church of Christ. This initiative calls for the national church, conferences and churches to become “Global Mission Partners.” It is a call to see missions in a new way. Rather than a process by which American churches give their resources and culture to mission fields in foreign lands, missions become a covenantal relationship with our mission partners. Recognizing Christians around the world as partners rather than wards. We seek to share and to receive, to teach and to learn, from Christians from many cultures.
At the 47th Annual Meeting, Penn West Conference voted to form a team to pursue the goal of becoming a Global Mission Conference. Following a self the Global Ministries approved PWC for Global Mission Partner status. The Penn West Conference voted to become a Global Mission Partner Conference at its Annual Meeting in 2009.
The Global Mission Team worked with Global Ministries to identify a partner conference. Our partner conference is the Northwest Luzon Conference of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (NWLC). The Global Mission Team and the NWLC have established a working relationship. To cultivate that relationship the Global Mission Team provides information on our partner and ways that local churches can participate.
The next step is to challenge individual congregations to become Global Mission Partner churches. Our team encourages churches to under take the study and we are willing to support you in this process. A handbook on becoming a global mission partner church is available from the Conference office or from Global Ministries.
An additional step is to encourage individual congregations to become a partner with a specific congregation in the NWLC. At present, eight PWC churches have decided to become partner churches and others have expressed interest. The Global Missions Team has made a tentative list of partner match-ups and sent t them to NWLC for confirmation. If you are interested in seeing your church become a partner congregation please contact the Conference.
The Global Missions Team, supported by your prayers, will continue to seek ways to increase enthusiasm for missions and to encourage.