The Presbyterian/Congregational Church is strongly oriented toward mission. In recent years youth and adult mission teams have annually visited Mexican Prebyterian churches through the Presbyterian Borderlink's ministry. The teams work construction of homes and churches also provide food and medical asistance. The church participates in a special mission funding campaign called Forward in Faith generating mission contributions of $60,000 over a five year period, ending in 2005, in addition to the church's regular mission commitments locally and through its demoninations. A goal of Forward in Faith is to significantly support a mission project on every continent. High school youth travel to Mexico bi-annually while the adult group travels annually.

The Presbyterian/Congregational Church supports the following local missions:
Salvation Army
Regional Hospice
New Day Shelter
Partners in Recovery
Lifeline
Habitat for Humanity
Second Harvest
Ashland Food Shelf
Northland College Chaplain
Genesis

Need coffee?
Order from www.justcoffee.org or
pick up an order form
from Karen in the office. Cost is $8/lb. The Mexico team
will be bring back coffee to save on shipping costs.

By purchasing JUST COFFEE, our church is supporting the efforts of the Presbyterian Border Ministry (PBM) to help Mexican coffee growers. Coffee accounts for 70% of agriculutural production in Chiapas, Mexico, Coffee is the second largest US import after oil, and the US consumes one-fifth of the world's coffee, making it the single largest consumer in the world. But few Americans realize that agriculture workers in the coffee industry often toil in what can be described as "sweatshops in the fields". Many small coffee farmers receive prices for their coffee that are less than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt. Just Coffee began as a micro-developmental loan project of the PBM. Initally PBM provided Chiapan coffee farmers with a $20,000 loan as seed money to organize a cooperative. In the operation of a cooperative, coffee is harvested and cleaned in Chiapas, then shipped as green beans to Agua Prieta on the far northern border of Mexico. There the coffee is roasted, ground and packaged in small air-tight bags for shipping to US customers.
In its nine months of operation the cooperative has experienced phenomenal success. It ships more than 300 one pound bags of coffee per week, and in less than one year has sold over ten tons of coffee. In its first year, Just Coffee was able to pay farmers $130 per 100 lb bag of coffee, totaling $25,090 paid to over 30 farmers and their families. This is almost four times what the farmers would earn for their coffee in the free market. Clearly, this is more than "just coffee" to the cooperative farmers in Chiapas. This is one example of how the work of the PBM makes God's kingdom evident on earth.