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Trinity Presbyterian Church
is blessed to be an active member in a Presbytery (Presbytery of
St. Augustine) that developed a mission program, which at the
time was the only one of its kind in our denomination, the
Presbyterian Church (USA).
This is known as the Jamaica Mutual Mission, which
includes four significant programs:
The Youth Exchange, The Jamaica Medical Mission, The
Adult Exchange, and Two Cents A Meal.
More information about each of these programs can be
found at our Presbytery website: www.staugpres.org.
As a congregation, we have
been very active in three of these four programs in recent
years. Trinity
has participated in the Youth Exchange, a program in which
approximately 10 high school youth from our Presbytery and 10
high school youth from Moravian, Methodist and Congregational
Churches in Jamaica get together for a two-week period each
summer. For one
week both groups join together for mission projects in Jamaica,
and for the other week do the same in northeast Florida.
It is a great time of fellowship, fun, worship and
prayer, and service in the name of Jesus Christ.
Our church has sent a number of youth on these annual
trips, as well as our Senior Pastor and Director of Christian
Education, who have gone as chaperones.
The program is so well-received by our youth, due to
positive feedback from those who have already gone on such
trips, that we regularly have youth applying each year.
The medical mission involves
adults who are professionals in the field of health care
(doctors, dentists, nurses, therapists, etc.) taking
approximately 10-14 days of their time to travel to Jamaica and
provide free health care services to the most needful of
Jamaicans. Although
it is a hard-working trip, those who go find themselves uplifted
and refreshed by the total experience.
Trinity is proud to have sent doctors and nurses in the
past and it always encouraging others in the field to consider
being part of this important annual mission.
The Presbyterian Church
(USA) has long sponsored the Two Cents a Meal program, in
which members are asked to keep a coin collection bank on
the meal table in their homes, and put in two cents every time
they sit down for a meal. In the Presbytery of St. Augustine, the money collected
from churches in this program is earmarked for Jamaican mission
needs. Each
summer, Trinity holds a Jamaican Missions Offering Dedication
Sunday in which its members are asked to bring their accumulated
Two Cents a Meal offerings with them to worship.
Trinity is also a
congregation that is blessed with an active Jamaican population
who enjoy sharing their culture with us in many ways.
We are grateful for their presence and their witness in
our congregational life, and appreciate their willingness to
help prepare our members who are about to travel to Jamaica for
one of these important missions. |
