MISSIONS & OUTREACH
At BRPC, we believe that to build our faith we need to exercise it - by collecting food for the hungry, tutoring children, visiting someone who is alone, supporting missionaries overseas, and more. If you'd like to join us in the work of mission and outreach, check out some of the opportunities below to serve God and God's people with Blue Ridge Presbyterian Church.
SUMMER LUNCH MINISTRY
For over 10 years the Raytown Summer Lunch Ministry has provided lunches to children during the gap between the end of summer school and the beginning of the school year. The ministry has delivered lunches to children at apartment complexes, schools and homes. During 2020 and 2021 the ministry is operating differently, by providing sacks of groceries once a week to families. We hope to return to the original plan in 2022. BRPC has supported this ministry by preparing lunches, delivering them to three sites in Raytown, and making a sizable donation each year.
REAP
Originally founded by BRPC, the mission of REAP (Raytown Emergency Assistance Program) is
to consistently deliver emergency services to those in need in the Raytown MO C-2 School District; making the clients dignity, self esteem and stabilization a top priority. These emergency services include rent, utilities, food pantry, etc.
The fifth Sunday of every month, all of our "loose offering" is collected and donated to REAP. We also take up a weekly collection of non-perishable items to support their food pantry.
PCHAS
BRPC is delighted to partner with Presbyterian Children's Homes & Services by providing office space for a Children & Family Specialist who works in the Kansas City area.
PCHAS offer a variety of residential- and community-based programs to support foster care families. They combine data-driven program design and expertly trained staff with a philosophy of care that keeps everyone—from social workers to executive leaders—focused on the goals and strengths of each child and their family.
BLUE RIDGE ELEMENTARY
Blue Ridge Elementary School, along with the New Trails Early Learning Center, is directly across the street from BRPC. Through the years, our church has partnered with the school to provided support for both students in need as well as teacher appreciation. Some church members have volunteered weekly in the classrooms. We have continued these relationships through the pandemic in creative ways, and hope to further deepen these relationships in person in the future.
MICAH MINISTRY
Micah Ministry is an outreach of Independence Boulevard Christian Church (IBCC) in the Historic Northeast and one of our Northeast PartNErship ministries. Every Monday evening from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., nourishing suppers are served to their neighbors in need, mostly the working poor. Unlike some meal programs, the guests are served at tables, with tablecloths, rather than having them stand in a line to be fed. Every Monday it takes 70 volunteers to serve dinner, staff the children’s ministries, clean up, and manage the clothing room.
CROP WALK
CROP (Christian Rural Overseas Program) Hunger Walks are community-based walk events held in cities and towns across the United States, raising funds to support the global mission of Church World Service, a faith-based organization transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement and disaster. Twenty five percent of the funds raised are returned to the host community to support local hunger fighting efforts.
FRIENDS OF PEB (PRESBYTERIAN EDUCATION BOARD)
For several years, the Mission and Outreach committee has sent funds raised at our "Sloppy Joe Cafe" to Friends of PEB, a US- based group of Presbyterians that channels money and other support to Presbyterian education in Pakistan. Our donations have helped build and furnish both a boarding school for girls and a day school for boys in Sargodha, Pakistan. Mrs. Veda Gill, the director, has visited with BRPC twice and preached in our pulpit.
NOROC - NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR ROMANIAN ORPHANED CHILDREN
In 2003, we began to support NOROC. At that time, Rev. Mary Ferris, was the missionary in Romania and worked with orphaned and abandoned children at two facilities. The following year, Mary visited our church and we were able to hear first hand about the work being done there.
Conditions in Romania were spotty, at best, and the government was hard to work with, but many innovative programs were started.
