MISSIONS

 

The First Congregational Church of Canton Center seeks to render community service and formulate programs with other churches for the benefit of home and foreign missions.  Many of the programs and allocations of mission funds are planned by the Missionary & Stewardship Committee.

 

A Mission Box is provided with a different focus each month during the school year.  Church members and friends have supported these collections generously.  Mission Box collections include:

 

           for April 2004 – Birthday gifts and supplies for children who are helped by

               Covenant to Care. Many of them have not had a gift or party on their

   birthdays. 

 

          for May 2004 – Books for “Adventures in the City,” a 5-week summer

               tutorial, recreational, and cultural program for children.  It’s a program

               of the Christian Activities Council, the urban mission arm of the United

   Church of Christ and Congregational Church in the Greater Hartford

   Area.

 

          for June 2004 – School supplies for Covenant to Care.

 

The church celebrates Mission Sunday each Fall with a mission-focused guest preacher.  In 2004, it will be held on September 26^th, with a reception                           following the service.

 

Allocations of mission funds to organizations in Spring 2004 include

          Andover Newton Theological Seminary – in Newton, MA

          Back Bay Missions – Biloxi, Mississippi

          Canton Food Bank

          Christian Activities Council – Congregational churches for Hartford area -

               and their “Adventures in the City” program

          Covenant to Care – meeting needs through our assigned social worker

          Gifts of Love – for working poor in the Farmington Valley area

          Habitat for Humanity – Christian organization with mission of building

              houses to eliminate poverty housing worldwide

          Hartford Interval House – abused women’s shelter

          Klingberg Family Centers – treatment services for CT children & their

              families

          Open Hearth Association – men’s shelter in Hartford

          Operation Fuel – across state

          Pastoral Counseling Center of W. Hartford – offers sliding scale for clients

          Plowshares Institute – Simsbury-based community conflict resolution

             programs

          Silver Lake Conference Center – CT Conference Center run by the United

               Church of Christ

          South Park Inn – homeless shelter in Hartford for families

          Susan B. Anthony Project – battered women’s shelter in Torrington

 

The mission projects the youth are working on in 2003-2004 include:

 

          a weekly Church School offering to purchase a Knitting Basket from Heifer

               Project International.   The Knitting Basket consists of 2 sheep and 2

               llamas, both famous for their income-producing wool.  It will help 4

               struggling families earn extra income to help raise themselves from

               poverty. 

 

          Trick or Treating for UNICEF by the Church School on Halloween

 

          “Feather Food” offering by the Church School to add to Nov. 2003

               Mission Box “Brown Bags”

 

          donations of “winter woolies” (hats & mittens) by the Church School in

               Dec. 2003 for the Giving Tree in the sanctuary to go to Charles Hall

               Youth Services in North Dakota

 

 assembling of Easter Baskets by Junior High Youth for Covenant to Care

      (basket items were provided by members of the Congregation)

 

          participation by the Confirmation Class in the Focus on Canton’s Crop

               Walk held Sept. 28, 2003

 

         purchase, preparation, and serving by the Confirmation Class of lunch at

                a New Britain soup kitchen

 

          decorating and selling of Christmas wreaths to benefit Project H.O.M.E.

               in Maine and Gifts of Love clients by the Confirmation Class

         

          a “Souper Bowl”  collection by the Senior Youth Fellowship on Super Bowl

              Sunday for local food banks. The total collected is added to that of youth

              groups nationwide; in 2003, youth groups around the nation raised over

              $3 million for local food banks.

 

          a Summer 2004 Mission Trip being planned by the Senior Youth Fellowship 

 

Other mission-related activities the church participates in include the Focus on Canton’s Crop Walk and Neighbors Helping Neighbors Fall & Spring Work Days.  A group also prepares and serves sandwiches, fruit, and cookies once a month for Honor Court, an alternative in Hartford for persons arrested for alcohol-related misdemeanors.  Knitters in the church formed a Prayer Shawl Ministry group in 2003 to make shawls given with prayers to others for healing, for comfort, for joy. There are now 20 in the group, and as of February 2004, they had made 60 shawls, and had distributed most of them.

 

Any questions or suggestions may be directed to the Missionary & Stewardship Committee at the church’s email address (cantoncenterchurch@snet.net).  The May meeting will be Sunday, May 9, 2004 at 9am.  The June meeting will be Sunday, June 13, 2004 at 9am.