2018 Mission Scholarship and Training Fund

Since our very founding, missions and outreach have been core to who we are as a church community. However, we do not want missions to be something we engage in from a distance. Instead, we desire to send our people out, actively working to further the gospel and directly serving our brothers and sisters throughout the nations.

This year, our mission scholarship and training offering will raise funds to support our four mission teams traveling this summer, and provide training opportunities for individuals interested in learning more about missions. Some of these projects are new and some of them are our beloved annual trips. Read on here and be a part of God’s good work through prayer and giving!

Student Ministry Team to Mexico

Youth Mexico Amor Impact Trip: July 1-7

Our youth team will travel to Mexico to build a home alongside a family in need of shelter. Inadequate shelter creates stress for a family that can lead to families splitting up to look for work, or even the institutionalization or outright abandonment of their children. In supporting our team, you help families in Mexico stay together, maintain their dignity, avoid trafficking, and fight the effects of extreme poverty. Surely, building these homes are transformative for these families as well as our students. 

Standing Rock Sioux Reservation: July 29-August 5

Some 22% of our Native Americans live on tribal lands with living conditions deemed comparable to those of the developing world. The poverty rate at Standing Rock is 43%, nearly triple the national average. Our team will support mission partners Native Young Life and Saint Luke’s Episcopal, assisting with a 3-day Young Life camp for middle and high school students at Camp Gabriel on the reservation. Our roles will include assisting camp leaders, recreation (including crafts, games, and outdoor activities), meal preparation and clean-up, and camp maintenance. We’re actively recruiting for this trip, so if you are interested in joining the team, please reach out to Fred Whitten (804-357-1617). Learn more: thirdrva.org/events.

Paul and Reinhold Sydnor

Lille, France: July 19-29

Mission partners Paul and Reinhild Sydnor help asylum seekers and refugees in northern France survive and recover from forced displacement. Whether these folks are en route to another country or have decided to stay in France, the application process for asylum can last several years. The Sydnors facilitate supportive relationships between refugees, local church members and community groups. Our team will engage with the Sydnors in their ministry, serve and teach in churches, and provide workshops for refugees.

Egypt: May 29-June 8

Congregations in our presbytery have been working with the Synod of the Nile Pastoral and Outreach Ministries Council to support new church development and revitalization in Presbyterian congregations throughout Egypt. A team from the Christian Arabic Church and Third will travel to Egypt to identify a sister church for the CAC and Third to adopt together. In the future, Third and the CAC hopes to visit and support this church as well as host them here in Richmond. This is another step toward co-laboring for the gospel with the CAC.

Urbana Missions Conference

Urbana is an eye-opening global missions conference and sacred space for college and graduate students to hear God’s call. This conference is dedicated to calling whole-life, whole-world disciples into a life of missions. We’ll lead Third college students to Urbana this December in what will surely be a life-changing few days.

To find out more about the conference, visit urbana.org and contact LJ Jaworski who is leading the trip.

Please plan to give generously as these Third teams take the gospel to the nations. And as always, be in prayer as these teams plan and prepare for their trips.

If donating online, please use the link below and indicate your gift on the Mission Training and Scholarship Fund line.

"This is the grand purpose for which we were created: to enjoy the grace of Christ as we spread the gospel of Christ from wherever we live to the ends of the earth."
David Platt

*Donations can also be made by using an envelope found around the church or bringing a gift to the church office during office hours. 

Questions? Contact LJ Jaworski.