Presbytery of North Central Iowa 2018 Ministry and Mission Project Application

Essential Information

Mission Plan Title Sustaining a Living Waters for the World (LWW) team at CPC

Nominating Congregation Collegiate Presbyterian Church (CPC), Ames, IA

Contact Person Name Ann Thompson, Moderator, Church & Society Committee

Address 159 N. Sheldon, Ames, IA 50014

Phone 515-292-2063

e-mail mailto:cpcames@cpcames.org

1. Describe the general nature and timing of the mission plan (multi-year, season of the year.

Living Waters for the World (LWW), a Presbyterian mission organization, trains and assists groups to

share the gift of clean water with communities in need. In 2014 Collegiate Presbyterian Church (CPC)

formed a LWW team, and 7 people attended training near Oxford, Mississippi. Overarching goals for

CPC’s team in 2018: 1) with the intent of strengthening relationships with our current Honduran part-

ners, we will make follow-up visits to the communities where we have helped install clean-water sys-

tems (Zopilotepe, 2015; El Bijagual, 2016; Guaimaca and La Talanquera, 2017); and 2) we will select a

community for our next installation. By focusing our efforts in the Olancho district of Honduras, we are

building a network of communities that can offer mutually beneficial technical support in the ongoing

operations of their respective systems, which can help sustain the functionality of these systems into the

future without our help. Another 2018 CPC goal is to involve more members of our congregation in the

Honduras projects. We hope to build on our 2017 momentum, when a college student and a family with

two young boys traveled with us to Honduras and took part in the installation and education activities.

2. How will this mission plan further enable fulfilling the stated mission of your congregation?

Both CPC’s mission statement and its Vision 2020 strategic plan are linked to serving others. The former

notes, “Our mission is to live Christ’s love for the world through service to our neighbors, our commu-

nity, the nation and world.” Goals in the latter call for wider participation of members in service to oth-

ers and for increasing CPC’s mission budget to 25% of our total giving. CPC’s ongoing LWW involvement

in Honduras is a significant part of not only moving our congregation toward meeting the Vision 2020

goal, but also fulfilling CPC’s foundational Christian commitment to helping others. As Iowa’s first LWW

team and one of the first LWW teams to work in Olancho, Honduras, we are increasing awareness

within CPC and beyond of the dire need international communities have with regard to clean water and

are acquainting many people with LWW and how they might support or join in the Honduras projects.

Internally, we want CPC’s congregation to have continuity with this project and to have a sense of the

loving, hospitable reciprocity we enjoy with Hondurans we meet. The 3-year commitment CPC makes to

each community fosters long-term relationship and can offer additional ways to serve others. Forming

ties that bind leads to unexpected opportunities to experience and to share God’s love!

3. What need in your community, region, or world does this project seek to meet?

“Three million people die each year of water-related illness – and most of them are children,” according

to the LWW website. By providing clean drinking water, we can help improve health, save lives in these

rural villages of Honduras, and help alleviate myriad problem related health and poverty. Having a clean-

water system in a rural community creates a few jobs as well as generating public funds, both of which

can lead to new opportunities and can enhance a village’s sense of community. By establishing a net-

work of communities that have systems, we are helping Hondurans to build working relationships with

their neighbors. Additionally and equally significant, the LWW work fosters a relationship between Hon-

durans and our church, whereby we can improve understanding and share hospitality across nations.

Part of the U.S immigration dilemma is due to desperate people fleeing Central American countries. If

we help them improve their lives locally, it can have a wide-ranging impact.

4. How many other congregations, Presbyterian or others, will participate in your mission plan? Can

others join? If so, how?

We have shared information about Zopilotepe and El Bijagual LWW projects with the Boone Presbyter-

ian Church, Northminster Church in Ames, First Presbyterian Church in Ottumwa, St. Thomas Aquinas

Catholic Church, a Presbyterian Women meeting in Cedar Rapids, the 2017 regional Presbytery meeting

in Ames, and with other local charitable organizations. As we continue to gain experience and inform

others about the LWW mission project, we generate interest and support. We hope other Iowa congre-

gations will be inspired to support this Presbyterian mission effort. We welcome additional churches to

start their own mission project with LWW and/or join our efforts. We would be pleased to consult with

and mentor any church in Iowa that wishes to affiliate with LWW, or that is exploring the possibility of

doing international mission.

5. What are the financial needs and resources of your mission project?

These are the expenses we anticipate for 2018:

Travel, room, meal expenses @ $1500 each (minimum of 6 people) $9,000

In-country supplies $2,000

Education materials $ 500

System $3,500

Total $15,000

Resources include CPC support, LWW team members’ self-funding, and fundraising events.

6. How much financial support will your congregation be willing give to this project in 2018?

CPC’s Church & Society Committee plans to provide at least $1500 in 2018, and the committee contin-

ues to assist with fundraising activities. The PW, Presbyterian Walkers, Rummage and community indi-

viduals have contributed as well. We have had an annual fundraising Honduran meal at the church, and

recently added a fall Wine-Into-Water event. Participants going to Honduras contribute at least half of

their travel expenses.

7. How much funding do you plan to request from North Central Iowa Presbytery? $3,000

8. How many years has this project received Mission/Ministry grants from presbytery? 3

9. Give your three best reasons for saying “YES” to this project.

• LWW has enabled installation of 800+ water filtration systems in developing countries around the

world over the past 24 years. Over 90% of these systems are still in operation, making clean water af-

fordable, providing better health to infants and toddlers as their young bodies develop, and empower-

ing communities.

• As CPC and all levels of PCUSA strive to serve God’s people around the world, LWW provides a proven

model and a profound mission experience.

• Presbytery’s support enables not only CPC, but all churches and individuals in North Central Iowa Pres-

bytery to be part of a mission effort beyond our own community.

10. How do you intend to share your project with other congregations in the presbytery in 2018?

We will continue to make regular reports at CPC and to accept every invitation from other churches and

organizations to present information about our LWW work. We will also have poster boards that can be

displayed at presbytery meetings, and we would be pleased to provide written updates for presbytery

publications or electronic formats. We welcome any opportunity to share.

11. Please include a ½ page narrative, telling us what excites your congregation about doing this pro-

ject. If this is an on-going project, please share with us what you have accomplished so far. (We will use

this information to inform the congregations in our presbytery of how their mission dollars are used.

Please make this narrative interesting by including pictures, etc.

Seven people from Collegiate Presbyterian Church (CPC) attended training in 2014 to learn how

to help communities install, distribute, and prudently use clean, safe drinking water. With financial sup-

port from CPC, the Presbytery of North Central Iowa, and a Living Waters for the World (LWW) grant, in

October 2015 CPC’s LWW team completed its first water-system installation in partnership with villagers

in Zopilotepe, Honduras. Then in 2016, a neighboring community—El Bijagual—partnered with us to in-

stall their system. In addition to meeting a physical need in these communities, we shared Bible truths

and stories, and developed relationships with the local Honduran people and within our own team as we

worked together to accomplish a goal. The Hondurans’ generous spirit and open hearts, even when

dealing with limited resources and the lack of simple amenities, was heart warming.

May 2017 found CPC joining its financial support with the volunteer efforts of Hondurans Help-

ing Hondurans and parents of school children to install a clean-water system at the school in Guaimaca,

which serves 1,000+ students. In July 2017 we will be in La Talanquera for another installation. We look

forward to making new friends there. And, we are eager to greet our good friends in Zopilotepe and El

Bijagual, where we will learn about their experiences with the water system and how having convenient

access to affordable water is affecting their communities.

As the sending congregation, CPC’s members have embraced our Living Water for the World

projects with enthusiasm, generosity, and gratitude. They eagerly seek to hear each village’s stories, to

see the faces of excited children and joyful parents celebrating the gift of clean water, to understand

that faith has the power to create change, to experience God’s love through distant friendships.

(Pictures included on the last 2 pages)

12. Session approved this project on, _________________.

Signature of Clerk of Session ___________________________________________

13. How many people from your congregation will stay for lunch after the consultation?

1 - Susan Cramer

7/25/2017

Zopilotepe - Water Operators

El Bijagual -

Water

Committee

El Bijagual -

Celebration

Water filtration system -

in El Bijagual

Guaimaca school