2022-23 SPECIAL PROJECTS

CHURCH PLANTING INITIATIVES

Goal: $250,000
Project ID: 008

Planting new EPC churches in North America is one of the primary means of accomplishing transformational growth. Gifts to this fund will help coordinate, encourage, and provide resources for church planting, evangelism, and church development/revitalization efforts of presbyteries and churches. Gifts to this fund also help provide oversight of church planter assessing, equipping, and the church planter application process.

CARE OF CHAPLAINS

Goal: $10,000
Project ID: 477

EPC Chaplains minister on the battlefield, at military bases, and in hospitals, hospice, prisons, law enforcement/first responder agencies, as well as various other institutional settings. The EPC’s Chaplains Work and Care Committee and Chaplain Endorser manage the endorsement process and provide direct, consistent care for all EPC Chaplains. Gifts to this fund help chaplains attend training and spiritual renewal opportunities. Gifts also help the Chaplains Work and Care Committee fulfill its responsibilities as an endorsing agency and its care of EPC Chaplains.

CARE OF PASTORS AND SPOUSES

Goal: $5,000
Project ID: 475

Under the direction of the Ministerial Vocation Committee, this fund is a resource for the spiritual and emotional wellness and healing of our pastoral leaders and spouses. Gifts to this fund support existing approved programs and agencies, design new programs and systems, and help those with financial need to attend conferences, retreats, and specialized programs for pastoral health.

SMALLER CHURCH NETWORK

Goal: $5,000
Project ID: 479

This fund provides resources to develop programs, purchase leadership training materials, and assist leaders of small churches with financial need to attend regional conferences and gatherings that will “affirm the small church in its missional purpose and practice.”

NEXT GENERATION MINISTRIES

Goal: $4,000
Project ID: 062

The Next Generation Ministries purpose is to equip, encourage, and shepherd church leadership to evangelize and disciple the Next Generation from birth through young adulthood. To that end, this fund serves to support a variety of leadership development opportunities for ministry leaders and college students. It also supports the Next Generation strategy to connect and network ministry leaders throughout the denomination and with our ministry partners, such as the Coalition for Christian Outreach (CCO) and Reformed Youth Ministries (RYM). The ministry leaders who are affected by this support are usually the non-pastoral staff of a church, such as the Children’s Ministry Director, the Student Ministry Director, or their volunteers and interns.

WORLDWIDE—ENGAGE 2025 CHURCH PLANTING TEAMS

Goal: $30,000
Project ID: 434

The goal of Engage 2025 is for each EPC presbytery to engage with a Muslim people group that currently has no churches, and send a team of disciple-makers to them by the year 2025. Finances from this project will be used for the development of these teams within presbyteries; research; and training, coaching, and care for team members.

WORLDWIDE—INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AS MISSION

Goal: $30,000
Project ID: 459

Committed Jesus-followers who start profit-making businesses (which provide employment and services to their communities) and who make disciples are powerful agents for gospel transformation where the church does not exist. As World Outreach’s new IBAM Coordinator begins his work, funds from this account will be used to develop IBAM services for WO IBAM practitioners.

WORLDWIDE—ITEN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

Goal: $20,000
Project ID: 490

EPC World Outreach’s ITEN (International Theological Education Network) trains leaders globally to help them train and send their own missionaries to unreached people groups, especially among Muslims. These funds will be used primarily to teach and train national partners (with a smaller portion being used to train stateside teachers how to become effective trainers of nationals). ITEN’s careful support of influential teacher-leaders, along with our supply of effective materials in native languages, makes a huge positive impact without corrupting motives, creating dependency, or diminishing self-support.

BANGLADESH—BANGLADESHI PROJECT

Goal: $50,000
Project ID: 612

Donations to this project will help fund a global worker’s ministry among Muslims in metro Detroit and South Asia by sharing the gospel and starting house churches. These global workers also lead teams caring for a refugee community in South Asia.

LEBANON—PHILEMON PRESCHOOL PROJECT

Goal: $75,000
Project ID: 458

The Philemon Project provides the very best Christian-led, early childhood development for at-risk, economically disadvantaged Lebanese, Syrian refugee, and migrant children. Working in conjunction with the National Evangelical Church of Beirut, and focusing on children ages 1-4, project staff also mentor parents to help at-risk families develop healthy relationships.

MIDDLE EAST—AFGHAN PASHTO BIBLE TRANSLATION

Goal: $27,000
Project ID: 496

Donations to this fund will help translate the Bible into the Pashto language, which is spoken by roughly 50 million people—most of whom are in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is written from right to left with the Pashto alphabet (a modified form of the Arabic alphabet).

MIDDLE EAST—SYRIAN REFUGEE RELIEF

Goal: $50,000
Project ID: 503

Donations to this fund will help with the Syrian refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe. The EPC is joining church partners in Lebanon, Turkey, and Germany to not only assist refugees with physical needs, but also to share the gospel to meet their spiritual needs.

WORLD OUTREACH GLOBAL WORKER RECRUITMENT

Goal: $30,000
Project ID: 484

This fund will cover promotion, travel, and other expenses needed to connect World Outreach mobilization team staff with individuals in EPC churches whom God is calling to plant churches in the Hard Places.

WORLD OUTREACH MISSIONARY MEMBER CARE

Goal: $40,000
Project ID: 483

Missionary Member Care provides quality care for the EPC World Outreach community. These funds will be used to enhance the caring skills of the WO Member Care staff, EPC presbyteries, and local church mission committees. In addition, funds will enable international travel by WO Member Care staff providing intentional pastoral ministry to our overseas global worker families in need. Watch the video at www.YouTube.com/EPChurch80.