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Missions @ Parkwood
Presbyterian churches contribute to missions in a couple of ways. First and foremost, they support Presbyterians Sharing, forwarding designated donations to the national church for support of its operations, as well as supporting Presbyterian missionaries in the field at home and around the world. The Presbyterians Sharing webpage - presbyterian.ca/sharing/ - provides information on the financial goal for the current year, and links to ministries in Canada supported by Presbyterians Sharing, mission staff worldwide, ministries of aboriginal peoples and our theological colleges. The Mission Moments that are included in our Sunday bulletin monthly describe ministries that are funded through congregations' contributions to Presbyterians Sharing.
Parkwood's direct support for various organizations at home and abroad is coordinated by our Mission Team. The team's "terms of reference" can be found here. The Team, through its annual budget (currently 2023), provides ongoing support for the following seven ministry organizations and/or individuals:
 Carlington Chaplaincy Fund
The Carlington Community Chaplaincy is a ministry of presence, rooted in the Gospel, fostering a safe, supportive and empowering environment for everyone within the Carlington Community, a catchment area of 4,000 - 5,000 residents, roughly bounded by Carling Avenue, Maitland Ave./Clyde Ave., Fisher Avenue, and Baseline Road. Their ministry is geared to help people living in social housing and on low incomes.
More information can be found on their website - www.carlingtonchaplaincy.com.
Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church (Uganda)
Funds support with work of Leah Hopp, MPH, a member of Parkwood church.
Leah is a health professional providing education and community health programs in the area surrounding Namalu, Nakapiripirit, Uganda.
She provides periodic reports to Parkwood in person and via our church newsletter.
Leah has now been living and working in Karamoja for fourteen years with the OPC Uganda Mission. Previously, she had graduated with a Bachelor of Health Sciences from the University of Western Ontario and a Biblical Studies certificate from Kuyper College. After spending one year as a public health intern in rural Tanzania, she returned to Canada to work for Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship's Urbana 2006 Mission Conference and also IFES's World Assembly in 2007. As a Health Educator, she started a community health program in conjunction with a mission clinic to employ six Karimojong health teachers in Uganda. They walk in pairs to teach in six villages alongside two primary schools and at the mission clinic. A Ugandan nurse now assists with the management of the team allowing Leah to conduct locally relevant research. After graduating with a Master of Public Health, she has published two journal articles and is embarking on further research in conjunction with a very well-experienced Christian, Ugandan, research advisor.
See also the website of the Uganda Mission of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church - www.opum.org/about-us/
 Gracefield Christian Camp & Retreat Centre
Gracefield Christian Camp and Retreat Centre, under the leadership of the Presbytery of Ottawa, is a ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Gracefield Christian Camp and Retreat Centre is dedicated to helping all people experience spiritual discovery, growth, and renewal. It is a community that nurtures a deeper love of Christ, provides comfort and support, builds leadership, develops meaningful relationships, and practices stewardship of the environment.
Located on the shores of Lac du Castor Blanc in Gracefield, Quebec, the 250 acres of camp property serve as a year-round retreat for guests, a tent and trailer loop for seasonal and daily itinerants and a summer camp for children and youth. See their website - gracefieldcamp.ca - for more information.
 Ottawa Innercity Ministries
Ottawa Innercity Ministries (OIM) was established in June, 1988. After years of serving the poor through other agencies, Rev. Susan Brandt and Katrine Coward answered God's call, leaving their jobs to go into the highways and byways, bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the poor. With the support and blessing of local churches, they became OIM's first street missionaries to the poor in the Nation's capital. Mobile on the streets and operating in borrowed space, Susan and Katrine worked among Ottawa's vulnerable, offering hope and practical care to those who called the streets their home. Street Outreach remains as the largest component of OIM's work but other ministries now include drop-in programs, a youth arts program, work skills development, as well as individualized advocacy and referrals. Behind the scenes, and playing a crucial role, is also a faithful team of "Innercity Intercessors" who pray daily for this ministry. OIM focuses specifically on those experiencing poverty and homelessness in Ottawa. OIM has served street youth, sex workers, released offenders, de-institutionalized individuals with mental illnesses, the physically ill, the socially isolated, the elderly, the least and the lost. By coming alongside the wounded and vulnerable, by offering hope and practical care, and by identifying and encouraging the use of their skills and talents, OIM seeks to communicate to the public and to its street friends that the poor and marginalized are valuable and capable community members. A few years back, OIM staff developed a strength-based initiative called Passion 4 Youth. Today, the program, now called Innercity Arts, has grown and changed with the needs of Ottawa's most vulnerable street youth. See OIM's website
ottawainnercityministries.ca for more information.
One Bible Ministry selected each year from the following list of six Bible Ministries:
The Bible Ministry selected for 2024 support is Share Word Global.
Two campus ministries selected each year from the following five ministries:
For 2024 the Mission Team have chosen to support only one campus ministry, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF),
and in particular Mary Howard, campus staff at the University of Ottawa.
Special Appeals:
Under our terms of reference the Mission Team is mandated to bring forward, before our congregation, mission support requests, four times each year.
From many requests for Mission support that the Parkwood Mission Team has compiled over the years, the following four Special Appeals have been selected for 2025:
(picture @ top: earth from the Galileo spacecraft - NASA Commons)
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