Missions
“and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”Acts 1:8
Throughout LCPC’s long history, our congregation has been mission-minded. We offer a wide variety of hands-on service opportunities; some focus on local issues and needs, while others extend our reach far beyond our community. In addition to our hands-on service, we also help to support 13 Christian mission workers around the world, financially and through our prayers. A dedicated team of volunteers serve on the Missions Team, which meets to monitor progress on major projects, evaluate potential new service opportunities, allocate available funds to individual missions and missionaries, and design and execute special campaigns to recruit volunteers and raise funds, when needed.
LCPC dedicates 10% of all financial gifts it receives (that are not designated for a specific purpose) to support its budget for mission work outside its walls. In addition, we regularly receive gifts from individuals in direct support of our mission projects and missionaries, which in the aggregate often represent two or three times the amount the church finances out of its general offerings. We would love for you to partner with us on God's mission to this world!
​
In determining how and where we serve, we try to keep several key principles in
mind:
- We seek to follow the Spirit's guidance in prayer and conviction.
- We nurture friendships with the people we serve based on mutual respect.
- We mostly focus on underserved people who are struggling just to get by.
- We try to do work that everyone can support. We tend to avoid projects that
divide people on ideological grounds.
- We remember that God seeks to bless everyone, and that those who serve often
receive back more than they give.
- Apart from our support for individual missionaries (with whom we maintain
longstanding commitments and friendship), we dedicate the vast majority of our
financial giving to missions that LCPC’s own members and friends are personally
engaged with, through active volunteer support.
- We do all our work with the goal of building God’s Kingdom here on earth.
​
Below are some of the projects we are working on:
Casa de Los Angeles Children's Home
There are thousands of abandoned, neglected, and abused children living in Northern Baja. During the covid pandemic, 31 private orphanages in the area had to close due to lack of private support, pushing even more young people into “temporary” shelters (called Albergues Temporales). While the process is meant to be temporary, it often takes months or even years to place children in more permanent homes. Unfortunately, the Mexican government does not provide anywhere near the support needed to cover an orphanage’s operating budget. Consequently, there aren’t enough private homes or orphanages with capacity to meet the need, and the temporary shelters are vastly overcrowded.
Casa de Los Angeles (CDLA) is working to fill this gap, by building a Christ- centered home for 38 hurting and abandoned kids... a place to raise leaders and scholars in Baja, Mexico, by meeting the physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual needs of the children.
The vision for CDLA was sparked back in 2008, when church member Lucia Iriks, inspired by the work that LCPC was doing to build houses and churches in Baja, offered to donate a parcel of land that she owned to a mission that would further God’s Kingdom in the area. That general idea blossomed into a formal decision by LCPC in late 2010 to support the building of an orphanage on her land. Over the next few years, other members of her family were inspired by LCPC’s vision, and added their adjoining parcels to the mission. Through the work of a task force led by LCPC’s former senior pastor, Andy Wilson, the vision began to take form… first through the formation of an independent civil association (not-for-profit entity in Mexico) that could own and eventually operate the orphanage, to the development of building plans, coordination with government officials, and Phase 1 construction.
With the help of two other churches, La Jolla Presbyterian and New Hope Community Church of Clovis, as of November 2022, Phase 1 construction is almost complete. The site has been prepared, the hillside cut out, massive retaining walls have been poured to ensure a firm foundation for decades, water cisterns and a septic system have been installed, abundant storage facilities have been built, and a guest house has been completed. On the orphanage building itself, the first floor slab and walls are complete, and pouring the ceiling is the next step.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, LCPC has been the catalyst, a significant source of funding, and the driving force from the spark of an idea to the completion of Phase 1 construction. While we hope to remain long-term partners with CDLA (members of LCPC currently serve on the board of CDLA), it has always been clear that this vision cannot be achieved through our efforts alone.
As CDLA moves into Phase 2 building – with the hope of opening its doors to children in 2024 – the organization’s biggest goal currently is to expand its network of partners to both finance the next phase of construction (through a US-based not-for-profit entity), as well as to provide long-term support for its mission.
The Casa de Los Angeles site is situated on a breezy hillside with an expansive view of the ocean and Rosarito’s famous beaches. It can be reached from LA by car in less than 3 hours. LCPC plans to continue coordinating with CDLA to sponsor short-term mission trips, including youth trips, men’s mission trips, and trips open to anyone high school age or older. Teams stay at a comfortable, secure mission station in a quiet neighborhood in Rosarito operated by missionary couple (and CDLA partners), Ron and Kristy Struska. Watch for details about these amazing mission trips. We’d love to include you.
CDLA’s vision is to bring joy, inspiration, and hope to all who they work with, to provide a true testament to the Gospel, and to glorify the Lord through service “to the least of these”.
For more information about this exciting mission, contact either Jim Sedgwick, President of CDLA, or Cindy Guenther, chair of the LCPC Missions team and member of the CDLA board:
jim.sedgwick@gmail.com
csguenther50@gmail.com
Project Dominicana
For many years, Project Dominicana has been a major outreach to Haitian- Dominicans living in poverty in the Dominican Republic. Mission teams from LCPC have been traveling to La Romana, DR since 2002. More than 600 people from the greater La Crescenta community have participated in these 10-day trips to serve people living in the slums and sugarcane plantations surrounding La Romana.
Under the leadership of former senior pastor Andy Wilson and his wife Mary, and in partnership with local churches in the DR and other churches in the US, over a period of about eight years, we built the Beraca Church (now the largest Haitian church on the east side of the DR), and the Joe Hartman Elementary School (pre- Covid enrollment of about 270). In recent years, construction projects have focused on meeting the needs of individual families and facilities to support mission teams. An equally important element of our service here, we also conduct remedial health clinics (in partnership with Dominican healthcare workers from the Good Samaritan Hospital and Light A Candle Foundation), for people who have no access to modern medicine or doctors.
Project Dominicana trips are designed for adults and high school students who are in reasonably good physical health. Participants experience the Gospel with fresh eyes while exploring issues of ethnicity, race and diversity that better equip them for our multicultural world. They learn powerful lessons about the relevance of the Gospel for rich and poor, as well as the true meaning of poverty (both spiritual and physical). Transformational friendships are born when people discover their identity in Jesus.
For more information on future plans for this mission, please contact Andy or Mary Wilson:
andywilson1776@gmail.com
mhw1@sbcglobal.net
Kids Hope USA
Kids Hope USA is a national, Christian non-profit organization that was founded to address the needs of elementary age children who could benefit from a consistent, one-on-one mentoring relationship with a caring adult. In 1995, three pilot programs launched in Michigan, sparking interest in other communities. Today, Kids Hope USA supports almost 1,000 church-school partnerships across 34 states. The program is based on a one church, one school, one child, one hour a week model. One local church partners with one local elementary school and recruits volunteer mentors and prayer partners through an appointed director who is trained to lead volunteers and be the point of contact. Mentoring takes place at school. Each mentor is paired with a prayer partner who covers the student, mentor, and whole program in prayer.
Under the directorship of Mary Wilson, wife of former senior pastor Andy Wilson, the Kids Hope program was initiated at LCPC in 2011. During this time, LCPC and La Crescenta Elementary School have partnered to provide mentoring to over 100 students and counting, with one caring adult meeting with a child for one hour every week during the school year. Many of our mentor/mentee relationships continue for the full six years of the student’s elementary education. Research shows that when kids feel loved and valued, they are better able to learn, grow and succeed; our goal is to help kids see that they have a future and a hope, keeping in step with God’s promises in Jeremiah 29:11.
We would love for you to join our Kids Hope project! We need mentors, prayer partners, subs, and hospitality helpers. Walking alongside a child during the most formative years of their life is a powerful way to serve the Lord.
To volunteer or learn more, contact:
Janie Roach (oakcircle5@aol.com) or Armineh Manoookian (amanookian@yahoo.com).
For more on Kids Hope:
https://login.kidshopeusa.org/resources/graphics-resources/recruiting-video-2-min/
Home Again LA
Since opening its doors in 2010 as part of the national Family Promise organization, Home Again L.A. has helped over 2,000 individuals (over 600 families) mobilize from living on the streets or in their cars into permanent housing, including helping them to find employment, increase their income, and attain housing. One part of HALA's now much wider range of services is providing 90-day shelter for homeless families with children. This program works in partnership with local congregations to provide shelter and meals, while HALA works with the family to secure a permanent housing solution. (Note that HALA disaffiliated itself from the national Family Promise organization and changed its name in early 2022... see the following link for more information on these changes: https://www.homeagainla.org/about-5)
Prior to the pandemic, LCPC partnered with Eagle Rock Covenant Church (ERCC) to support HALA families for one week a quarter, as part of its 90-day shelter program. ERCC provided the shelter, while we coordinated the delivery of hot meals and pantry items for breakfast and lunch. Since the pandemic began, HALA shifted to housing its families in local motels, out of concern for the health of everyone involved, so LCPC's partnership was limited to making a financial contribution to their work. The prepandemic program is now back in action, bringing the faith-based community together with those experiencing homelessness, providing overnight hospitality, meals, and a sense of community.
Please contact Cindy Guenther to be part of this unique service opportunity: csguenther50@gmail.com
For more on Home Again LA: https://www.homeagainla.org/
Making It Happen
This organization is a Sunland-based non-profit that exists to meet the needs of those in our community who are hungry, homeless, unemployed, or under-employed by providing food, clothing, and access to services that provide a pathway to more successful lives. Its major program provides between 150 and 200 households with generous boxes of food every Saturday, serving the homeless and other people in need. Most people line up in their cars at Heart of the Canyons Church in Lakeview Terrace to receive the food. Deliveries are made to about 20 households who for one reason or another cannot get to the church. That’s where LCPC comes in! Members and friends of the church deliver these boxes to households in the Tujunga/ Sunland/Shadow Hills area each Saturday.
Please contact Judy Trumbo to volunteer or learn more: jktrumbo@gmail.com
For more on Making It Happen, Inc: https://www.makingithappeninc.org/
Mission Partners
Sponsored Mission Workers
We’re all sent to serve somewhere, but some of us have to cross oceans and continents to get there. That would include most of the 13 mission workers who LCPC helps to sponsor. They’re some of the coolest, toughest, smartest, most radically-devoted Jesus followers you’ll ever meet. They’re sharing the Gospel with people who don’t know Jesus, and making him known by striving every day to imitate him.
​
DANIEL AND MARIE ADAMS
are young adults serving Intervarsity Christian Fellowship in Boston. Marie oversees a team of 5 who work on 6 university campuses. Daniel is engaged in post-graduate biblical studies.
JANE CHANG
is the founder and Director of Joy Hostel, a Christ-centered home for underserved girls in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Jane first arrived in Dhaka with her husband, the missionary Man Young. The Changs were beloved members of LCPC while Man Young was a student at Fuller Seminary. After his early death from cancer, Jane founded the Joy Hostel.
TOM AND ROBYN CRABTREE
serve in Jos, Nigeria with Wycliffe Bible Translators. They lead a big team that’s translating God’s Word for people groups that have never read or heard it in their native tongue.
TERRI HEWITT
is a missionary to Taiwan with a special focus on counseling and Bible teaching. Born and raised in La Crescenta, Terri has also engaged in outreach in two other nations in East Asia.
DARREN AND ELIZABETH KENNEDY
live in Cairo, Egypt when Darren teaches theology and is the Dean of Faculty at Evangelical Seminary (the largest in the Arab World), and Elizabeth teaches Old Testament at American University.
JIM MILLEY
is the founder and Director of Bridges, an LA-based ministry that provides support for Christian leaders seeking to build Christ following communities, especially with people who are disconnected from the Church.
YOUNG AND BOSEN OH
train and encourage pastors and churches in Northern Thailand. Young teaches pastoral theology and is part of an evangelistic outreach to the Karen people of Myanmar.
HENRY AND NICKY SPENCE WANG
bring good news to people in a region of tremendous need. They’re courageous servants who are grateful for all the ways we lift them up.
​
To offer financial support to a particular mission project or individual missionary, go to the Giving Page https://www.lcpc.net/give and select a specific fund, or contact Sidney Schreiner, LCPC Financial Secretary:
sidney.schreiner@gmail.com