Outreach

Faith thrives in service

Westminster seeks to demonstrating the grace and love of Jesus Christ in local and worldwide mission.

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Our World

Serving God’s Kingdom

Whether it be international mission trips, supporting mission co-workers, or sustaining worldwide ministries that work to bring light and life into the world, Westminster is dedicated to the world outside of our walls.

Each February adults in the congregation travel to Barahona along the Western shore of the Dominican Republic for a week-long mission and education trip. The trip is comprised of three teams: medical (consisting in pop-up clinics), construction (focusing on schools and community centers in Bateyes 6, 7, and Mena), and Community Health Evangelism (an initiative led by local communities and co-workers in which we participate). In June 2018 we will also travel to Cuba, where the national church has been doing work for decades. If you have questions or wish to participate in either trip, contact Leigh Stuckey (lstuckey@wpc-online.org).
We encourage service for our middlers throughout the year, but focus on special local needs each summer. Past trips have included days at Thornwell, Judson Mills, Project Host, and United Ministries. For more information about this summer’s trip, contact Mary Kathleen Duncan, Associate Pastor for Youth and their Families.
Doctors from Westminster travel to Barahona to work in local hospitals and provide much-needed services to the Dominican population. The trip takes place each November.
The Family Mission Trip focuses on medical care in Embangweni and relationship-building in the community. The trip is in the summer of odd numbered years.
A core tenant of our youth program is service to others. Youth participate in projects throughout the year, including one major trip each summer. In the past youth have traveled to the Dominican Republic, Louisiana, and Charlotte. For more information about this summer’s trip, contact Mary Kathleen Duncan, Associate Pastor for Youth and their Families.

International Organizations:

Westminster is proud to partner with organizations and ministries that seek to promote spiritual, mental, and physical health across the globe.

COMMUNITY HEALTH EVANGELISM
(DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)
KINDERGARTENS IN BATEYS 6, 7, & MENA
(DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)
THE FOUNDATION FOR PEACE
(DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, HAITI)
JOEL NAFUMA REFUGEE CENTER (ITALY)
WATER FOR ALL
(CENTRAL AFRICA)

EMBANGWENI SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF (MALAWI)
EMBANGWENI MISSION HOSPITAL (MALAWI)
THE PRESBYTERIAN EDUCATIONAL BOARD (PAKISTAN)
Westminster is the largest supporter of PC(USA) Mission Co-Workers.

Co-Workers are sent throughout the world by the Presbyterian Church (USA) and focus on community health, education, and evangelism. Westminster primarily supports Mission Co-Workers in Africa and the Caribbean.

Questions about Mission?

Our Mission Outreach Coordinator has answers and can connect you with mission opportunities.

Email Leigh Stuckey

Our Community

We believe that mission starts at home, and are dedicated to building up God’s kingdom here in Greenville and throughout the Southeast. Members and friends of WPC are encouraged to serve our community in the following areas:

Chosen by Women of Westminster as its primary mission outlet for the year, The Family Effect works to reduce addiction as a leading cause of family collapse and harm to children in Upstate South Carolina. For more information visit familyeffect.org
Westminster is pleased to partner with United Ministries in all aspects of its life, from hosting IHN families to collecting and staffing the UM pantry. United Ministries, in order to ensure that all might thrive in Greenville, offers thoughtful services that serve, transform, and empower those in need toward achieving self-sufficiency. Wings of United Ministries include education and employment, crisis assistance, and homelessness services.

For more information visit https://united-ministries.org

The mission of the Pleasant Valley Connection is to connect community residents, families, churches, and other organizations in a coordinated effort to improve the education, health, and well-being of those in the Pleasant Valley community. For more information visit https://dreaves6.wixsite.com/plesantvalley/about
Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County seeks to put God’s love into action by bringing people together to build homes, communities and hope. We believe that affordable homeownership is foundational for creating family stability, ensuring academic success for children and eliminating generational poverty. For more information visit https://www.habitatgreenville.org
Founded as a Presbyterian ministry in 1875, Thornwell is a full service, 501c3 nonprofit organization committed to providing the most innovative and effective solutions to help children and families in need. Thornwell provides Christian love and support to hundreds of children and families throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Members of Westminster have long supported Thornwell, including “adopting” residential cottages to provide opportunities for fellowship and education. The group travels to Thornwell in Clinton, SC quarterly, as well as inviting residents of the cottages to occasional events in Greenville. To learn more contact Charlie LeGrand (clegrand@legrandlaw.com). For more information visit thornwell.org
Carolina High School (CHS), located just off White Horse Road, has a student population that is roughly 40% black, 40% Hispanic and 20% white. Only a few years ago, the graduation rate was under 49% but in 2017, the rate increased to 84%. The school is an amazing story of how an inspired principal, Mr. Michael Delaney, totally revolutionized a school by converting their curriculum to “Project Based Learning” which gets his students to work on real-world problems and come up with innovative solutions.

But there is so much more that is possible – and that’s where we need your help in the WPC-Carolina Connection. There is a great need to provide guidance and instruction to these students on “life skills and opportunities.” WPC will be bringing in outside subject matter experts on money management, how to apply and interview for jobs, and college entrance board exam preparation – but we also expose them to the arts in our community. This includes tours of the Warehouse Theater, the Fine Arts Center and the Greenville Symphony.

While we are bringing in these outside experts and arranging tours of the arts scene in Greenville, the faculty and staff of Carolina High will have the ability to further develop their teaching skills in professional development sessions. These will happen over an approximately 3-hour period from 9:00 – 11:50 a.m. while WPC members engage in a project based learning environment with students on January 29th, March 26rd, and April 23rd. Click here to sign up.

Local Organizations

Wesminster proudly supports the following within our denomination:

Want to serve, but not sure how?

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Our Church

Mission begins here, both in worship and throughout the week.

We offer a number of ways to get involved more deeply in service to our church. Members can serve through worship, music, membership, and education ministries.

Worship >
Music >
Membership >
Education >

Worship Ministry

Worship gives focus to life and ministry at Westminster.

Through worship we seek to know Christ more fully and better understand the meaning of Christ’s work in our lives. During the program year we offer two worship services, one at 9:00am and one at 11:15am. From the first Sunday in May to Labor Day we offer one service at 10:00am. Childcare is available for children four years and younger. Children K5 through 1st grade begin worship in the Sanctuary. Prior to the sermon they are invited to Children’s Church with one of the pastors. Click here to learn more.

We also offer regular visitations and communion for our elderly and shut-in members. We are committed to offering regular and excellent services for all members so that they will know they have an important place in our congregation.

If you have a question about worship or would like someone to meet you on Sunday morning before one of the services, contact Associate Pastor Leigh Stuckey. You are also invited to join us for Sunday School at 10:00am (September-May) or fellowship following the summer service.

Music Ministry

Uniting the congregation in worship and in song

Everyone is welcome as we recognize the importance of broad participation by all ages within our congregation, from preschool children to adults. Choirs, ensembles, and handbells are available for all experience levels.

Learn More

Membership Ministry

The Membership Ministry of Westminster Presbyterian Church focuses on building a community within the congregation and provides for the welfare of its members.

Programs include organizing congregation-wide social and seasonal events, ministering to members in times of crisis, serving with age-specific groups to build fellowship, welcoming new members and helping them find a special place within Westminster Presbyterian. You can serve in the following areas:

The purpose and function of the Westminster Presbyterian Prayer Chain is to provide a spiritual resource to members of our congregation and their families.

We believe that intercessory prayer brings the presence, peace, and power of God into situations of need, lightening the burdens and offering the compassion of the community of faith. The prayer chain is made up of members of WPC who desire to offer the gift of prayer on behalf of others. Time commitment is 10-20 minutes a week. All members of WPC and their families are encouraged to use this resource. The pastor selects a coordinator. Contact the church office to be added to the prayer chain.

This area of the Membership Division provides special support to members of our congregation in times of need. Among the services provided are meals, delivering of flowers to shut-ins, delivering of cradle crosses to newborns, and keeping the pastors informed of crisis situations within our church.
This committee plans, serves, and cleans up for church-wide meals and lunches averaging ten meals in Sept or Oct, Nov (two November Nights), Dec, Feb, March, and May of each year. The Director of Hospitality works closely with this committee and prepares the meal.
The New Member Assimilation Committee strives to help new members during the first year to eighteen months of becoming active members.

Quarterly activities are organized to introduce new members to different areas of the church offering ways to build friendships along with opportunities for spiritual growth. New members have participated in mission outreach with Pleasant Valley Connection, sent care packages to college students, gone trick-or-treating at Westminster Retirement Center, and helped decorate the Chrismon trees. Also throughout the year, special e-newsletters are sent and committee members check in via phone and email to encourage new members to attend fellowship dinners and other all church opportunities.

All members are invited to serve in health ministry, which strives for holistic care, realizing that our spiritual life is directly tied into our personal health. Nurses and doctors can especially help with blood pressure screenings and teaching classes at the church. Currently, blood pressure screenings are taken monthly following worship services.
WPC has an active athletics ministry. Youth basketball games are held throughout Greenville on Monday and Saturday. The Men’s league plays in the Westminster league on Thursday. Men also play softball through the Greenville Recreation League on Monday evenings.

Education Ministry

Each of us can remember a special person who took seriously the call to education: a teacher, an administrator, a committed student of the Bible. The Ministry of Education invites you to be a part of that quest for knowledge. Come and share your talents as you spread the story of faith with your fellow seekers at Westminster, both children and adults.

A wide variety of Sunday School classes are offered at 10:00 a.m. on Sundays for adults. An adult Bible study is offered Thursday at 10:00 a.m. The Theology Reading Group meets monthly on the second Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Charter Room. Other Bible studies are offered throughout the year at various times.
Westminster offers its members and visitors a superb collection of resources which are intended to further faith development, improve skills as Christian educators and parents, assist with become more effective caregivers within their families and community, more effectively live out faith as leaders within the congregation and community, and provide comfort and nurture during life’s transitions. The collection includes materials for all age groups from infants to older adults.

Library Committee members select new materials and re-evaluate older ones, including books and magazines, videos, sound recordings (music, lectures, and recorded books), and website recommendations. The library contains approximately 3,500 items plus magazine subscriptions and catalogs from Presbyterian seminaries. Audio recordings of selected adult Sunday School classes from the past few years are maintained and loaned by the Library. An online computer catalog is available in the Library (Room 203).

The Library Committee meets monthly, usually the third Sunday morning. Work sessions and committee training are scheduled as needed at other times. A minimum commitment of one year is generally needed (with the exception of writing newsletter articles and special projects).

In the Preschool Division, we have Sunday School during the Sunday School hour (10:00 to 11:00 a.m.) for 2 to 5 year-olds. We have childcare during both church services for infants – K4.

Preschool Parent Volunteer – All parents are asked to serve on average one Sunday per quarter in their child’s room. * The infant – K4 rooms are also staffed with a paid nursery caregiver from 8:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Teach Sunday School as part of a team to either the 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old classes.*

In the Preschool Division, we have Sunday School during the Sunday School hour (10:00 to 11:00 a.m.) for 2 to 5 year-olds. We have childcare during both church services for infants – K4.

Ministry Opportunities:

Teach Sunday School as part of a team to either the 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old classes.
1 hour/week
Preschool Parent Volunteer
All parents are asked to serve on average one Sunday per quarter in their child’s room.

Adult members of the church can serve on Sunday morning in the nursery as a “Sunday Sitter.” The “Sunday Sitter” is for those interested in holding and playing with babies. This is a 1 hour commitment from 10:00 – 11:00 once a month (or quarter if you prefer). Contact Janell Pitman if you would like to serve in this area.
Kindergarten and First Grade children attend the first part of the worship service with their parents, leaving for Children’s Church during the second hymn. At Children’s Church there is special music and a story for children, plus a craft activity and a snack. Parents pick up their children in Room 206 following the worship service
Sunday School classes are offered for kindergarten through fourth grade at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday downstairs in the Elementary Rooms 115 – 127. Sunday School lessons and curriculum are provided.

Ministry Opportunity:

Elementary Teacher – teach with a team of parents for a school year.
1 – 3 hours/week

“It’s Elementary!” and Tweens are after-school programs for grades one to five. This program includes study, music, activities, and recreation. It is an important source of church and Bible learning for those who attend each week (Wednesday, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.).
Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a one-week summer program, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Monday – Thursday. The program is open to boys and girls ages K4 through fifth grade. Childcare for infants – K3 is offered to parents who are teaching VBS.

Ministry Opportunity:

Serve as a classroom teacher or lead recreation, music, or crafts.
3 hours/day

Here is an opportunity that can be exhilarating, enriching, and enlivening: spending time with the youth of Westminster. We are committed to providing our youth with positive, enjoyable experiences and lasting relationships with their peers and the adults who care about them.

Sunday School classes are offered for 5th to 12th graders at 10:00 a.m. on Sundays. Three different classes are offered from a 5th/6th grade class in room 301, to 7th/8th grade in room 302 and 9th to 12th grade in room 303/304.

The Middle School Group (6th, 7th and 8th grades) and Senior Highs (9th to 12th grades) focus on Bible study, worship, fellowship, and mission. Their programs include annual summer mission week/trip and Montreat youth conference.

The Confirmation Class is offered to students in the 9th grade or older. This program meets the second Sunday of the month from October – April at 12:15 p.m., followed by small group activities organized by mentors. Confirmands join the church in May.

Ministry Opportunities:

Teach Sunday School classes at 10:00 a.m. for grades 5 to 12.
2 hours/month for team teachers
1 hour/week for individual teachers
Serve as an advisor to either youth group
2 hours/week
Assist on mission trips or gather supplies for the youth to take on the trips.
Flexible hours

Here is an opportunity that can be exhilarating, enriching, and enlivening: spending time with the youth of Westminster. We are committed to providing our youth with positive, enjoyable experiences and lasting relationships with their peers and the adults who care about them.

Serve as an advisor to any of the youth groups (Sixers, Junior Highs, or Senior Highs). *
2 hours/week