Missions
The members of Pickens Presbyterian Church support mission outreach to share Christ’s love in upstate South Carolina and throughout the world.
South America Missions, Pucallpa, Peru. Dave and Marilyn Simmons
Dave went to Peru in 1952 when he was 2 years old, along with his parents who were missionaries to Asheninka people in eastern Peru. Marilyn grew up in Due West, SC. Except for two years in the US and 4 in Bolivia, they have served together in Pucallpa, Peru from 1978 to the present.
Dave serves as pilot/mechanic to fly missionaries, indigenous pastors and students to indigenous villages, etc., and is responsible for 42 missionaries and 12 different ministries.
Jane B. Morris Memorial Service and Fuel Fund, and PPC Food Pantry
PPC offers assistance with utility bills for local residents in need. Kerosene vouchers for heating in the winter are available from mid-November through mid-February. We also offer emergency food boxes each week for residents in need. The Annual Souper Bowl Offering is collected by the Youth to support the PPC food pantry. We receive donations of memorials and honorariums through our Easter Lily and Poinsettia Offerings that support our Morris Service Fund.
Angel Tree and Giving Tree
Each Advent season, the Angel Tree Project provides Christmas gifts for needy children in our community. The Giving Tree offers opportunities for members to provide much needed educational toys and supplies for the Child Development Center.
Special Offerings
Throughout the year we collect special offerings through PC (USA) Missions that are used for programs in upstate South Carolina and throughout the world. These include: One Great Hour of Sharing Offering at Easter (to support ministries of disaster response, refugee assistance and resettlement, and community development), the Peace and Global Witness Offering (to support work for justice and peace), and the Joy Gift at Christmas (to help retired Presbyterian clergy and staff, and to support racial ethnic education).
Marilyn serves as a counselor at Latidos de Esperanza, the crisis pregnancy center in Pucallpa, Peru and she and Dave serve as counselors at their local church in Pucallpa. Marilyn also serves as a member care facilitator for the Peru field.
“We plan to stay in Peru as long as we have the health to be here and until the Lord leads us to go back to the US or somewhere else. So thankful we can serve the Lord in Peru! So thankful for His faithfulness all these years!”
Family Promise of Pickens County
Family Promise of Pickens County opened on August 24, 2014. PPC along with other churches serve as host churches and support churches to homeless families for a week at each church location. Families are assisted with housing, employment, benefits, health and dental services, parenting training, education and financial literacy.
Families join us in the evening for a hot meal and a safe place to sleep overnight. During the day they go to jobs, school or the Family Promise Day Center to work on their needs. Our volunteers help provide a meal, provide snack or breakfast foods, host overnight, set-up or take-down living areas, or provide Saturday activities.
Each year PPC collects gifts towards the Presbyterian Giving Catalog.
It is easy to make a big difference in people’s lives through the Presbyterian Giving Catalog.
Mission
To connect people as neighbors with others experiencing needs, supporting projects and friendships that grow gardens and generations, bring water and watch for corruption, share education, tools and training, and link each of us, more closely with one another and with God.
Meals on Wheels and United Christian Ministries
A number of our members actively participate as volunteers for these and other local organizations. Meals on Wheels operate 23 home-delivered meal routes and serve all communities in Pickens County to residents that are homebound and physically or mentally challenged, and are unable to prepare their own meals. United Christian Ministries exists as an extension of the local church community; working together to help people meet their basic needs. Over 80 area churches provide resources through financial assistance, donations of food and clothing, and volunteers.