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Ministries
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| Service Ministry | |
| Park Church is an ongoing supporter of Feed Your Neighbor. When grocery shopping, we suggest you select an extra item or two for our neighborhood food pantry. Donations are collected in the FYN basket in the sanctuary. It is part of our mission ministry to provide essential food items for the F. Y. N. pantry at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 434 Western Ave. |  |
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We continue to support this vital community mission through our gifts of food and money (approximately $1000). Again, we participated in the annual food drive in October. Our FYN mission representative and volunteer Shirley Branyan delivers our food donations on a bi-weekly basis as well as participates in the distribution to those in need. We are grateful to Shirley for her continued interest and support of this important community service. |
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Love INC (aka Love in the Name of Christ) is a city wide mission dedicated to supplying essentials to those in need. Each church donates time or materials for a specific need in the lives of their clients. |
| Our Love, Inc. Small Goods Center is located on the fourth floor of the building. Here, items are collected and await distribution to needy families from our community. On Monday of each week, our volunteers under the leadership of Helen Patton meet at the church to help fill the orders that are received from the Love, Inc. office. On Tuesday, volunteers arrive to assist in the actual distribution of the household goods items that have been requested. Around 150 families were served in the year 2006 making this a vital part of our overall mission program. In addition to this service, three members of Park Church assisted in the annual Weatherization Project sponsored by Love, Inc. | |
| NU VIZION: is a UCC sister church that is located on Cherry St. in the inner city and is dedicated to helping those who are in dire need of food, clothing and spiritual nurturing. Park Church volunteers gave nearly a full day to assist Will Stuart, pastor, in clearing out winter clothing and sorting and placing spring and summer clothing in | 
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| their CHEEP store. One of our volunteers trimmed bushes and another helped move heavy church pews to the back of the Sanctuary so Pastor Will could create a more casual atmosphere for the people from the neighborhood . Even though we were tired at the end of the day, it was fun to be a part of this vital mission. | |
| SUNSHINE HOME (click here): The Sunshine Home located in Maumee has 75 residents at the main facility, 16 group homes, and has 80 individuals who use supported living assistance. Park Church has six regular volunteers who mend clothing on a bi-weekly basis for these people who have developmental disabilities. Some additional projects for Sunshine Home included painting, cleaning gutters, raking leaves, making a stair railing and making eight pair of curtains. These additional projects took place at private homes for people who receive assistance from Sunshine. In December, six Park Church volunteers helped in the annual "Wrap for Christmas" project that is held in the Maumee facility. This mission was new in 2006 and we look forward to expanding our service to this wonderful place! | |
| INTERFAITH HOSPITALITY NETWORK (click here): This mission provides homeless families with safe, secure shelter through a network of congregations in the Toledo metropolitan area. Each host congregation shelters families overnight for one week at a time on a rotating basis. St. Andrews church on Heatherdowns is a host church and Park Church volunteers assist by providing an evening meal, offering caring companionship and staying overnight with the families. Our volunteers serve this mission for two nights out of each week that St. Andrews is host. During 2006, there were 15 families served: 32 children and 22 adults. Thank you Ann Bragg, our IHN coordinator. | |
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| Worship Ministry | |
We have a somewhat blended church service, which uses both traditional congregational hymns and some new music. We are a church who loves good music, old and new. We continue our traditional service for our current members who prefer this while mixing in some newer hymns and musical instruments. We also continue to try new audiovisuals. We project words to our of songs, prayers, and thought provoking pictures during the worship service. | |
| Growth Ministry | |
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This ministry covers several different areas of Park's activities. Included in the Growth Ministry are:
Christian Education, Youth Programs, Adult Education, Community Outreach Programs, Special Projects, Ruth Circle and other programs. One of Park's Growth Ministry successes is our Youth groups. These very active youth groups participated in worship, engaged in mission work and were instrumental in painting the remodeled dining hall. The Growth Ministry made strides in improving communications. Announcements are projected during worship, printed in the traditional Colonial newsletter, and now appear on the updated church website. In 2007, we will be rolled out several spiritually-based programs of interest to the community. Examples of these programs are a spiritually based singles group, a young families group, elder care programs, a divorce recovery group, and small group bible study. Park's ministry is one of an exciting "hands-on" approach. This is a big difference from past practices. It is our hope that you will find a place to make a difference for Christ at Park Church. | |
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| Administrative Ministry | |
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2007 success included updating our telephone systems and installing cable to network the church and gain internet access. We thank Bud Mills and Gary Batts for donating their time and expertise in this effort.
We also will improved the use of space throughout the building. Remodeling the former secretary's office improved and widened access to the sanctuary. The kitchen project improved prepaing and serving meals at our special events. Coming up, in an effort to conserve energy, the Church Council has also requested that the Administrative Ministry evaluate the feasibility of replacing our current furnaces, which currently operate at approximately 65% efficiency. |
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