Church Mission Study Offering
Diocesan Press Service. November 8, 1965 [XXXVII-3]
Nickels and dimes put into Missionary Offering Boxes this Lent will find their way to many parts of the world. There they will be used to help laymen become aware of their mission as Christians and become better able to exercise it.
Part of the 1966 Church Mission Study Offering will be sent overseas. Destinations include the Diocese of Malawi in Central Africa, the Nippon Seikokai (the Holy Catholic Church in Japan), the Church in West Pakistan, and the Church of the Province of Uganda where money will be used to support lay training centers. The work of the Melanesian Brotherhood, a lay national order, will also receive support, as will the establishment of a child care and social service center in Panama City, Panama.
Domestically, the offering will be used to train and support Christians working with children and young people suffering under the insecurities of modern life. The offering might, for example, help train laymen or clergy to assist children and young people in dealing with conflicts between them and their elders, provide counsel in newly integrated communities, prepare high school boys as they face choices about military service, help deprived children successfully move into the schools, or develop ways to work with young people in the area of love and sex and marriage. There are certainly many other types of projects, but these give some possibilities.
The domestic projects must be directed to service to,, or work with, children or young people; toward the training of leadership for such work (either professional or volunteer); toward helping young people deal creatively with the crucial issues or insecurities which they face. They must be sponsored and developed by a responsible agency; have the support of the bishop of the diocese concerned, give evidence of significant local and diocesan support, evidence of careful planning, and of a future for the program after the grant expires. They should, if possible, be designed within the context of community efforts and be ecumenical in character. Applications must be sent to the Director of the Home Department, Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, 815 Second Avenue, New York, New York 10017 by June 30, 1966