Christmas Gift 2024

Jesus indicates in Matthew 25 that what we do to the least of these, we do unto Him. There are numerous wonderful ministries on the Peninsula that help us to live out this passage in practical and strategic ways. Three of those ministries are Care Net Peninsula, THRIVE, and Peninsula Rescue Mission. Care Net Peninsula serves moms and saves babies by providing practical help to women facing unplanned pregnancies. To help more women, they are expanding their open hours and that will require hiring more staff. THRIVE Peninsula assists those going through times of crisis by helping address essential living needs (food, housing, utilities, etc.). They are also serving an expanding number of individuals and families. Peninsula Rescue Mission serves men at the hardest times of their lives by providing shelter, meals, safety, stability, and godly counsel. After five decades of primarily serving men, they are preparing to open a women’s shelter as well. $15,000 divided evenly between these ministries will assist them as they serve others in Jesus’ name.

In late September, Hurricane Helene left a 500-mile trail of devastation from the Gulf Coast of Florida to the mountains of western North Carolina. Many communities were decimated by flooding and landslides. Just weeks later, Hurricane Milton unleashed torrential rain and ferocious winds across Florida. These deadly and powerful storms caused damage that will take years to recover from. Samaritan’s Purse has responded immediately by airlifting many tons of food, water, generators, fuel, Starlink systems, heaters, solar lights, and blankets to hard-to-reach communities. They are continuing to provide aid and coordinate disaster relief volunteer teams who are mudding out homes, tarping roofs, and cutting downed trees, sharing the hope of Jesus as they help. They are also working in Oklahoma where a tornado ripped through Oklahoma City in early November. We already gave $10,000 out of our current Local Ministry surplus in November, but an additional $15,000 will help this strategic ministry to continue their relief efforts.

Karen Community Church (KCC), our sister church in Nairobi, Kenya, has invited us to join them in a new initiative to reach the Aweer people of coastal Kenya. The Aweer are an overlooked and vulnerable people, struggling to survive due to limited resources, famine, and drought. They are also unreached, meaning that less than 2% are believers. In fact, we only know of a handful. We have been involved in sponsoring Aweer children to go to school, emergency food relief, and community health education for many years now but KCC is inviting us to help them start a Christian school that would serve many Aweer students. They have also planted a church in the area and are preparing to hire a trusted Aweer believer to serve as an Associate Pastor focusing on ministry to the Aweer. $7,000 will help us cover tuition for 15 Aweer children and part of that pastor’s salary.

Shinshu Community Church (SCC), our sister church in Nagano, Japan, has invited us to help them take a significant step in their ministry. The Japanese people are one of the largest unreached people groups in the world. They are also considered to be especially resistant to the Gospel, and yet people continue to come to faith in Jesus through the ministry of SCC! Our Global Ministry Partners Rob and Yoko Taylor have been serving there since 2006. A few years ago, Rob became the Senior Pastor. To preserve their effective ministry to Japanese people, he would like to see a Japanese pastor back in that role. Their elders have begun working to identify and hire a Japanese Senior Pastor. Rob and the Elders have invited us to provide encouragement and training as they embark on this process. $7000 will help us send Pastor Emeritus Tom Kenney, and wife Mabel, to go and provide this timely support.

Raising a child with special needs is a blessing that can come with some unique challenges. Sadly, those with special needs are sometimes stigmatized and facilities are not always designed to be accessible. If this is true here on the Peninsula, it’s especially true in developing countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo. Associate Global Ministry Partners Jon and Kate Shaw live in Goma, DRC. In addition to the other ministry work that they do, they have begun a support group for parents of children with special developmental and learning needs. It’s been hard for the group to find a gathering space where their kids can play safely. Some families do not feel comfortable leaving the house with their children for fear of being judged or rejected. Jon and Kate would like to build a community pavilion, green playground with sensory play areas, and accessible bathroom that will meet the needs of this group. Currently, there are no parks or playgrounds in their city, so this space will be an amazing gift to the broader community as well. They have already raised some funds to get started but $10,000 will get them the rest of the way there! 

Last year we celebrated our 40th anniversary by looking back and looking forward. In addition to celebrating what God has already done in and through this church, we also realized that we will need to expand our facility if we want to continue to use it as a strategic tool to make disciples for generations to come. A two-story addition to the back of our building will enable us to welcome more individuals and families. This will provide expanded ministry space for Peninsula Student Ministries, Home Groups, Discipleship Classes, and KidzMin. In addition to helping more people encounter Jesus in profound ways through the church, this space will also be built in conjunction with Summit Christian Academy, and will improve the quality of education offered by this ministry of our church. We believe God has big plans for this new space.

This expansion is expected to cost $4 million and take about one year to complete. We expect to break ground in the Spring of 2025. Summit Christian Academy, has committed to pay for at least half of the expansion and has already raised over $800,000 through pledged gifts for this venture through its own capital campaign. In order to cover the other half of the expansion and our existing building debt, our goal with this campaign is to raise $3 million.