The Mission Committee mission statement is “To glorify God by identifying and facilitating opportunities to effectively engage us, the congregation, to share our gifts of time, talent and money with those in need in our community and the world.  We will accomplish this by following Christ’s example of caring and demonstrating faith and love through action using the Scripture as our guide.”

PCOC’s mission focus is “Children and Youth at Risk” and members volunteer between 4,000 and 5,000 hours of service each year to our mission partners.

Each year for the last 29 years, we have committed 20% of Congregational Giving to the Mission Budget of the Church. This has meant that every time you increased your pledge, 20 cents of every dollar went to Mission. Every time the Congregation grew the budget to underwrite some new ministry or program, the Mission Budget also grew.

This year (2020) our Mission Budget is projected to be $186,445. This budget is supplemented by Special Offerings for specific needs like One Great Hour of Sharing, the Thanksgiving Offering, the Joy/Christmas Offering, the Deacon’s Offering or Special Collections in response to natural disasters.

As the parable of the Good Samaritan guides us, our call is to love our neighbors through actively helping them in the difficult experiences of life. Jesus went on to tell us that whenever we help the least among us—it is like helping God.

It is clear that our Lord intended helping those in need to be a visible sign of our faith—so this area of our churches ministry is of crucial importance. 

Mission Is More than Money

Our shift towards ‘hands-on’ involvement has affected all areas of our mission. Junior High Fellowship, Senior High Fellowship and College groups all actively participate in various mission trips. Our adults also have a strong partnership with our sister church in Gnozdovo, Russia.

Locally, we serve dinner at Siena Francis House once a month. We also serve a monthly meal at the Omaha Street School for students and staff. We have several adults in their mentoring program, too.

In OPS schools where no PTA and little teacher support exists, we sponsor teacher appreciation lunches. At the Integrated Learning Program, we help make graduation special.

We have drivers for Home Delivered Meals, workers with our Habitat for Humanity Coalition, volunteers at Heartland Hope Mission and a Calvin Crest Work Day.

Recently, we have been serving as a Presbyterian Disaster Assistance hosting site where volunteers from outside of Omaha come and stay at our church to help community members who were affected by flooding in 2019. Additionally, we have many members volunteering to help out with AllPlay baseball, a league geared towards giving kids with special needs an opportunity to play baseball.

We assist with Thanksgiving food assistance with Completely Kids, and we are exploring other areas for more personal involvement with local mission.

From Bible School in Gnezdovo to repairing flood ravaged homes in Cedar Rapids, we reach out and serve.

Denominational Involvement

Together we join with Presbyterians across the nation and support our church’s structure (through our per capita assessment) and mission in our region, nation and the world (through our General Mission Pledges).

We also offer specific support for Ellen Smith, our Missionary in Russia; support for the Camp Calvin Crest; HELP Adult Services (formerly Presbyterian Outreach); the Theological Education Fund; and support for the Medical Benevolence Fund which helps with medical needs around the world.

Local Mission Focus

We are involved with several local missions on a modest scale ($1,000 to $2,000 support). Among these are Home Delivered Meals, Together, Inc., CASA, Special Olympics of Nebraska, Project Harmony, Gideons, and Madonna School.

We participate in a Coalition build with Habitat for Humanity and contribute $5,000.

We have major involvement with multiple missions. This major involvement combines the opportunity for regular hands-on service with a substantial donation of approximately $10,000 dollars. These missions are Heartland Hope Mission, Siena Francis House, local school support for at-risk youth, Omaha Street School, Voices for Children, Russia Mission Partnership, and our youth mission trips and local flood relief work.