Board of Mission
The Board of Mission of The Baptist Church in the Great Valley shall lead the Congregation in direct financial support of community service and social action programs, missionary efforts, and the work of church-related institutions.
BCS YES!
BCS YES! is a human services agency licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide emergency shelter and long-term residential care to adjudicated at-risk youth eleven to eighteen years of age. The Agency qualifies under the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, non-sectarian organization governed by a voluntary Board of Directors, which meets bi-annually.
BCS YES! operates two (2) emergency shelters and five (5) group homes in Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties with a total capacity of 87 beds.
In FY 2007, BCS YES! provided a home for a total of 505 youths – 158 in group homes and 347 in emergency shelters.
Tredyffrin Township Needy Family Program
Beyond all the long tree lined driveways and well manicured lawns, behind the lace curtains and beautiful decorations, REACT has opened many kitchen cabinets and found them empty.
REACT has been inside homes on the Main Line where the rooms were as bare as the cupboards because families were forced to sell their furniture piece by piece to pay bills.
For over 30 years, REACT has given the poor and the needy in Tredyffrin Township a "hand up" not a "hand out." REACT gives out between 80 and 100 food baskets each month and provides holiday meals and gifts to the needy and shut-ins.
More information about REACT...
World Mission Offering
The WORLD MISSION OFFERING provides basic support for more than 130 American Baptist missionaries serving around the world with national partners and sharing the Good News of hope in Jesus Christ. These missionaries are expressing their faith through lives of service, demonstrating God’s transforming love to a needy world.
This year International Ministries faces huge financial challenges. In order to keep all missionaries on the field, the 2004 WORLD MISSION OFFERING must increase some 36 percent, from last year’s $4.2 million to $5.7 million. More than 500 World Mission Conference attendees, missionaries, board and staff members have responded to this financial need, and we praise God for this. But we urgently need your help.
http://www.worldmissionoffering.org/
One Great Hour of Sharing
The One Great Hour of Sharing offering is sponsored by nine Christian US denominations, including American Baptist Churches USA, and Church World Service. Monies collected are used to build communities, teach skills, resettle refugees, respond to disasters, prevent disease, and promote hope and health among humankind. It has been in existence for over 50 years and funds projects worldwide. Based on sobering figures such as that 32% of people in developing countries live on less than $1 a day and that one out of every six children in the U.S. lives in poverty, One Great Hour of Sharing helps fund short term and long term solutions. These include direct feeding programs, agricultural support, and literacy training. Other examples of One Great Hour of Sharing-supported projects include developing ministry opportunities in Russia, providing community health services in India, and flood rebuilding in West Virginia. This offering is collected each June.
Greater Philadelphia Food Bank's BabyManna Program
BabyManna raises funds to purchase infant formula and baby food for babies born into poverty in our five county Philadelphia area. The main emphasis is to encourage churches and synagogues to take up a second collection on Mother's Day for this cause. BabyManna has provided over 467,667 feedings to infants in need since 1996. 100% of the money collected is used by the Food Bank to purchase infant formula and baby food at the lowest cost available. Over 12,000 infants are born into poverty each year in our five county area. This program is trying to ensure that they receive the proper nutrition that every baby deserves.
CROP
Experts estimate there are over 842 million men, women, and children hungry in the world today. That's almost three times the population of the United States. And 35 million people are hungry here in the U.S., some of them perhaps living just down the street from us.
We mustn't let the numbers overwhelm us because there are some things you and I can do about hunger. We can let our Senators and Congresspersons know we support effective aid and development programs that address the roots causes of hunger.
We can also take action locally. That's why I'm joining with my friends and neighbors on Sunday afternoon, October 17, in the Main Line CROP WALK to help stop hunger. During last year's CROP WALK the Baptist Church in the Great Valley alone raised almost $1,000, 25 percent of which went to help local food banks, and the rest benefits the overall hunger-fighting ministry of Church World Service, which reaches some 80 countries.
Hope to see you there.
http://www.churchworldservice.org/CROP
What does CROP stand for? When CROP began in 1947 (under the wing of Church World Service, which was founded in 1946), the name was an acronym for the Christian Rural Overseas Program; its primary mission was to help Midwest farm families to share their grain with hungry neighbors in post-World War II Europe and Asia. Reflective of a program that for several decades has been both urban and rural, CROP is no longer an acronym; it is the name given to community, interfaith hunger education and fundraising events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by 22 CWS/CROP regional offices across the U.S. In some CWS/CROP regions, CROP has come to mean Communities Reaching Out to People. When was the first CROP WALK? On October 17, 1969, a thousand people in Bismarck, ND, walked in the first-ever CROP WALK and raised $25,000 to help stop hunger. Several other CROP WALKS occurred soon thereafter, and before long there were hundreds of CROP WALKS each year in communities nationwide. How do CROP WALKS help out here at home? This year CROP WALKS will share nearly $4 million with food banks, pantries, community gardens, and other local efforts nationwide. This support is made possible when local CROP WALKS choose our unique option of returning up to 25 percent of what their CROP WALK raises to hunger-fighting programs in their own community. How many CROP WALKS are there? Each year, some 2,000 communities across the U.S. sponsor CROP WALKS.