The World

The Global Missions Committee is prayerfully committed to providing individuals with the means and motivation to share the gospel boldly in our pursuit to reach the world for Christ.

MISSIONARIES WE SUPPORT

Thomas Wong with Mission to the World in Japan

Thomas is one of our homegrown missionaries, baptized at First Presbyterian as a young adult and working with our youth before embarking on the mission field. He teaches at Christ Bible Institute, a theological seminary, in a country where only about one percent of the population identifies as Christian.

Dennis and Tina Karp with Chosen People Ministries

Dennis and Tina are Messianic Jews, with a ministry to help Jews recognize Jesus as the true Messiah. Formerly living in Israel, Dennis now pastors a church in northern Virginia.

Marcia Ball and Jennie Cerullo with Kerus Global

Marcia and Jennie founded Kerus Global and developed the It Takes Courage curriculum to provide a faith-based program designed to answer the AIDS epidemic in South Africa, which has successfully been utilized in multiple other countries as well. Marcia and Jennie are covenant partners of our church, spending part of their time in South Africa and part in Harrisonburg. In addition to their It Takes Courage curriculum, they have built an Orphan Care Center in Soshanguve, South Africa, and have opened two safe houses there to protect young women.

Sasan Tavassoli with the Outreach Foundation

Sasan is affiliated with the Outreach Foundation, a Presbyterian organization dedicated to helping the church live out its missional calling.  Sasan is a native of Iran, raised as a Muslim and converted to Christianity, who lives in Georgia and has a ministry to Iranians in Iran and living in the diaspora.  He teaches at PARS Theological Seminary and has a satellite TV ministry broadcast to Iran. Sasan is an ordained ECO minister, and has visited our church and shared on a number of occasions.

Megan Sarian with OMF International

Megan is another homegrown missionary who after she left Harrisonburg worked for OMF in Colorado before recently moving to Cambodia to share the gospel.

Donald Marsden with Frontier Fellowship

Donald resides in Richmond, Virginia, and connects churches and individuals with believers in Central Asia, Russia and Niger. He and his family lived in Russia as mission workers for many years, and members of our church have accompanied him on trips to that region.

James Price

James is a native son of Harrisonburg and First Presbyterian Church and serves as CEO of a Business 4 Transformation (B4T) Company in Southeast Asia, where he and wife Cassandra live. Additionally, He serves on the leadership teams of various ministry initiatives locally and globally. Due to the sensitivity in this region, further specific details are left out.

Matthew and Teresa Lee with Wycliffe Bible Translators

Matthew and Teresa are covenant partners with our church and serve in Cameroon, West Africa. Teresa is the kindergarten teacher at a school that serves missionary kids. Matthew works with language groups to train translators and linguists to use technology tools to translate the Bible and develop their languages. He also maintains the Cameroon virtual keyboard so that people can type and communicate through writing in their language.

Patrick and Amy Werner

Covenant partners and lay pastors at First Presbyterian who developed a heart for the people of Cuba and now lead and participate in mission work in Cuba. Their focus is to encourage and support indigenous pastors to spread the Gospel to the Cuban people.

“K” with The Antioch Partners

K (an alias given her work in a sensitive part of the world) works in Central Asia sharing the Gospel in a Biblical and culturally sensitive way and providing physical and educational aid related to health and nutrition.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

Ethiopia Partnership

Since 1999, we have a had a partnership with the Ethiopian Evangelical Church  Mekane Yesus (EECMY) in Jimma, Ethiopia,  a region of over 90% Muslim identity.  Over the years, this relationship has included reciprocal visits of members from our congregation and the leadership of the Jimma congregation.  We have also provided financial support in the form of monthly congregational mission offerings for their Widows and Orphans fund as well as funding for special needs and establishment of outpost churches.

Short-Term Mission Trips

Members of our congregation have been blessed to participate in different short term mission trips, including visits to our sister church in Ethiopia, working with Kerus Global in South Africa, visiting the Dominican Republic with Students International, and vision trips to Central Asia, Cuba, Turkey, Russia, and the Middle East.

Monthly Mission Offering

Monthly mission offerings are divided between support for the Widows and Orphans fund of our sister church in Ethiopia and support for the Orphan Care centers established by Kerus in South Africa.

Ways You Can Help

  • We would love to have anybody who has a heart for missions join our committee.
  • Pray for our missionaries who are listed above.
  • Go on a short-term mission trip. We will publicize these opportunities as they arise.
  • Find out more by filling out the form below.

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