Mission Partners
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We Share By Working In Partnership With Other Churches and Organizations:
Faith Ministries, Mexico ~ For many years we have provided prayer and financial support and sent mission teams to build homes near the border and to build relationships of friendship and understanding.
Malawi Mission ~ Working closely with Rev. Silas Ncozana, of the Presbyterian Church of Central Africa, we build fresh water wells and we are particularly connected to supporting a school to feed and educate street children of Malawi.
Maues Mission Partnership, Brazil ~ With the Petropolis Presbyterian Church in Manaus, Brazil, we support its ministry to communities along the Amazon River. Besides financial and prayer support, we build wells and send our members on medical and teaching mission trips. We also occasionally receive visits from the Petropolis Church leadership.
Tabasco, Mexico ~ The Presbytery of Coastal Carolina has a partnership with the Presbytery of the Gulf of Mexico, of the Mexican Presbyterian Church. We are in the process of exploring a deeper connection with that ministry.
West Virginia Ministry of Advocacy and Workcamps (WVMAW) ~ Members of St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church built one of the mission centers used by WVMAW to alleviate unsafe and unhealthy conditions of poverty in the region.. Each year we send a building repair team to continue that work. WVMAW director, Rev. Joan West-Stewart, is a former member of SACPC.
St. Andrews Covenant and West Virginia in Partnership—the God Story By Reverend Joan West Stewart
I tell this story over and over again and yet I never lose that awe of how God has opened doors and set a plan in place. The story is God’s story, and must be told over and over again so that we never forget the mighty works that God has done.
This journey began at St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian church in Wilmington, North Carolina. In 1994 I went on my first mission trip to Reynosa, Mexico, and my life was never the same. A few years later God called me into ministry and I only agreed to go to seminary to be a mission coordinator. I was not going to preach, and was certainly not going to be a solo pastor. Long story short: God paid absolutely no attention to what I had to say in the matter, and in May 2003 my new husband and partner in ministry and I found ourselves touring Montgomery and Falls View, West Virginia to consider coming to not one church, but two. God’s sense of humor is endless.
I walked through the Montgomery Presbyterian Church and was overwhelmed. Here was this huge church that was only used for two hours a week by a dwindling congregation—and hidden away was this amazing space. Why, this church was not empty: it was available!  Those old Sunday school rooms could be dorms; huge attic space could be recreation and even contemporary worship space for groups of mission workers. Someday perhaps.
God called us to Montgomery and Falls View to find a way to do mission together. Tim and I moved here not really knowing what to expect. I spoke to Session of my vision of making this church a center for mission workers. With enthusiasm they challenged me to see about finding grant funds. I called Bonnie Mallott of WV Ministry of Advocacy and Workcamps (WVMAW), the disaster recovery partner of the Presbytery of WV. I wanted to talk to her about possible grants to convert empty space to available space. Although I don’t recall exactly what she said, I was not encouraged by the process. I hung up the phone and said, “God if you want us to do this you’ll have to open some doors.” And I went on about my business.
That same day my best friend Bette Jean Aman from SACPC in Wilmington called me. “Now I just want to run something past you for you to think about. Our Sunday School class [Connette Covenant] talked about maybe partnering with you and helping you to house mission workers so we can have a place to come do mission.” I couldn’t speak. Since I didn’t say anything Bette Jean immediately said, “Well now if you think it is a bad idea that’s ok. It was just a thought…” I screamed, “NO! Are you kidding? I am speechless!” I was reeling because God not only opened a door for us, God pure hit me in the head with it!
As the pieces began to fall into place I called Bonnie once again. It just so happened that WVMAW was in need of a space to be able to conveniently serve this county, and the Board of Directors ultimately voted to make the Montgomery Church an official workcamp site. So in the spring of 2004 seven men from SACPC came to Montgomery and built four showers, bunk beds for sleeping 32 people, and opened up storage space that has now become recreation and lounge for mission teams.
The Above album shows the history of this work and the first mission trip in April 2004 from Saint Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church.
Since then Montgomery has housed approximately 18 mission weeks per year. With Tim as the Site Supervisor, we have served with over 1000 mission workers from all over the United States who have given thousands of volunteer hours, and hope and help has been given to over 50 families in this area with home repairs. In 2006 the then Executive Director Bonnie Mallott returned to her native Texas to work on disaster recovery programs there, and I became the Executive Director of WV Ministry of Advocacy and Workcamps—coordinating mission teams for four locations in Southern West Virginia (approximately 65 groups per year). This is my three-quarter time job. My quarter time job remains pastoring Montgomery and Falls View Presbyterian Churches. (We are not sure exactly what all that means….) Read the rest of this entry »