Local & Global Mission
At Decatur Presbyterian Church we seek to care compassionately for those struggling with life circumstances, including those living on the margins of society.
We accomplish those goals through a variety of our own mission programs, and by supporting many local charities, denominational missions and various non profits around the world.
Contact: Rev. Dr. Todd Speed
Local Missions
Threshold Ministry
Decatur Presbyterian Church’s own ministry to those unhoused, unsheltered and those living with other effects of poverty. the purpose is called Threshold Ministries. It’s purpose is to invite women, men and children who are in need into a community of faith where their stories can be heard, where Christ’s love can be demonstrated and where practical assistance can be offered.
Global Village Project
By hosting this specialized school within our facility, DPC supports GVP’s vision of ensuring that all refugee girls with interrupted schooling have access to the education necessary to pursue their dreams. Their mission is to develop a strong educational foundation for each student within a caring community using a strengths-based approach and intensive instruction in English language and literacy, academic subjects, and the arts. DPC members serve both as volunteers and as staff members for GVP.
Decatur Cooperative Ministry
The largest recipient of local mission support from our church budget is Decatur Cooperative Ministry. A church member serves on the board and many members provide a variety of volunteer services and additional financial support. DCM offers a variety of programs and services, including family transitional housing, Hagar’s House (an emergency night shelter for homeless mothers and their children), and Project Take Charge, a program geared toward preventing eviction and homelessness.
Clifton Sanctuary Ministries
For more than 27 years the doors of Clifton Sanctuary have offered a place of rest, shelter, healing and support to the homeless men of Atlanta. Open 365 days a year Night Hospitality is the oldest shelter in Atlanta operating in a house of worship, providing a range of services to the most vulnerable homeless men, specifically the sick, elderly and/or disabled.
Decatur-Area Emergency Assistance Ministry (DEAM)
DEAM is a ministry to help Decatur-DeKalb families who are in crisis or emergency. DEAM clients are usually people who are about to be evicted, whose utilities are about to be cut off, who have no food in the house, who have a need for clothing, who need assistance with prescriptions or other medical supplies, or who need referral to another source of help.
DPC holds a food drive for DEAM’s pantry twice a year and support DEAM through volunteers and our missions budget. You can help by volunteering to work in the DEAM office or food pantry, by gifts of money, by understanding the outreach ministry and taking it for a project in your Sunday School class or organization.
Memorial Drive Ministries
MEMORIAL DRIVE MINISTRIES: A PLACE OF SANCTUARY, STRENGTH, AND SERVICE IN THE GREATER CLARKSTON COMMUNITY. Located in the most diverse square mile in North America, Memorial Drive Ministries (MDM) is a church-based non-profit that fosters diverse worshiping communities, innovative social services, and transformative relationships. Memorial Drive Ministries nurtures a safe, collaborative, and welcoming environment for the vibrant ministries that call the Memorial Drive campus home.
Leveraging the community trust, location, and campus of the historic Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church (MDPC), Memorial Drive Ministries convenes critical leadership, organization, and a wide network of loving neighbors to create a new expression of God’s Beloved Community.
Our House, Inc.
Our House Mission Statement: to break the chains of homelessness by providing quality Early Childhood Education and comprehensive support services for families who are homeless.
Decatur Presbyterian Church and Presbyterian Women have been faithful in including Our House in their annual mission budgets. DPC member Carolyn Brooks has served on the Our House Board for many years and would be delighted to talk with you about volunteering and/or visiting the children.
Denominational Missions
Norvisi Fellowship
Did you know that an African worshiping community gathers in the Scott Chapel at DPC every Sunday? DPC has been glad to host the vibrant worship of Norvisi (meaning “friendship”) for more than 15 years. Led by the Reverends Johnny and Dorothy Akoto, this fellowship includes both young and old and enjoys special events throughout the year.
Presbytery of Greater Atlanta
DPC provides resources for the broader ministries of the Presbyterian Church (USA), including our support of the local Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, whose mission is to be a catalyst, creator and equipper of healthy, vital and growing congregations. The Presbytery of Greater Atlanta is a supportive network of 100 churches and over 400 clergy.
Presbyterian Church (USA)
More than two million people call the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) their spiritual home. Worshiping in 10,000 Presbyterian congregations throughout the United States, they engage the communities in which they live and serve with God’s love. Presbyterians are distinctive in two major ways: they adhere to a pattern of religious thought known as Reformed theology and a form of government that stresses the active, representational leadership of both ministers and church members.
Columbia Theological Seminary
Columbia Theological Seminary DPC is a close partner in ministry with our sister institution, Columbia Theological Seminary, only a mile away from the church. We support the annual fund of CTS, regularly mentor supervised ministry interns, host faculty for lectures and classes, and find other ways to support CTS students who are often part of our congregation and/or staff.
Montreat Conference Center
Montreat Conference Center aims to help people encounter God through relationships, renewal, recreation, and rest.
Global Missions
“Mission is bearing witness to God’s love for the world in Jesus Christ.” ~ Presbyterian Church (USA) Study Catechism, Question 63
Witnessing Ministries of Christ is a fundraising organization in the United States that proclaims the healing and transforming power of Jesus Christ to the untouchables (Dalits) in India by support of the Rural Presbyterian Church of India. Decatur Presbyterian Church provided over $200,000 to this ministry from 1998 through 2012, fulfilling a covenant pledge that helped create the self-supporting presbytery of Rasulabad with over 10,000 members.
DPC partners with five global missionaries who extend the ministry of our congregation across the globe.
Mark and Miriam Adams
Mark and Miriam are mission co-workers with the Presbyterian Border Ministry in Agua Prieta, Mexico. Mark is responsible, in partnership with the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico, for the coordination of the six ministry areas of Frontera de Cristo: church development, health, family counseling, the New Hope Community Center, mission education, and the Just Trade Center. Miriam serves as a liaison of Frontera de Cristo with the Center for Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation and Recuperation.
Jim and Jodi McGill
Jim serves in Malawi as coordinator of protected water within the Synod of Livingstonia’s Development Department. Jodi serves as a clinical instructor at the Ekwendeni Hospital’s nursing school.
Shelvis and Nancy Smith-Mather
Shelvis and Nancy work with Resource Centre for Civil Leadership, an indigenous ecumenical Christian organization in South Sudan, which promotes “peace building” by providing training in trauma recovery, conflict transformation, and civic education.
Dan and Elizabeth Turk
Dan and Elizabeth work in Madagascar as advisors to the reformed church’s environment and health departments, respectively. In 2014, Dan and Elizabeth Turk were honored by the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar/FJKM for 20 years of dedicated service.
Other Global Missions
Honduras Outreach, Inc.
Honduras Outreach is a non-denomination, Christian organization dedicated to building life-changing relationships between the people of the Olancho department of Honduras and caring North Americans and other nationalities. Rancho el Paraiso is the focal point of the Honduras Outreach ministry and is located in the department of Olancho in central Honduras.The Jef Jel Project
“Jef Jel” is an expression in the Wolof language of Senegal that comes from the words “jef” meaning “effort” and “jel” meaning “take.” Together, “jef jel” translates to “give and take” or that “the nature of your reward equals the nature of your effort.”
Ndangane is a small, rural fishing and farming village within the region of Kaolack in Senegal, West Africa. The mission of the Jef Jel Project is to provide vital assistance to struggling communities in Senegal so that they can fully participate in their local economies.
Rural Presbyterian Church of India
Witnessing Ministries of Christ is a fund raising organization in the United States that proclaims the healing and transforming power of Jesus Christ to the untouchables (Dalits) in India by support of the Rural Presbyterian Church of India. Decatur Presbyterian Church provided over $5000 to this ministry in 1998 and has contributed over $15,000 in each subsequent year through 2012. The sum of $125,000 of this was a covenant pledge we made that created the self-supporting presbytery of Rasulabad with over 10,000 members. We continue to provide annual financial support to this Ministry.
Cafe Justo Coffee
Café Justo is a Grower owned Coffee Cooperative based in southern Chiapas Mexico, formed to address the poverty and migration from Mexico to the U.S.A. Their mission is to deliver the highest quality, organic, environmentally conscious, fresh roasted coffee to their customers at a price that is fair and just. PCUSA Mission co-workers Mark Adams and Miriam Escobar are a part of this cooperative’s work. When DPC brews coffee on Sunday mornings we purchase our coffee from Café Justo. We encourage our congregation to buy their own personal coffee from Café Justo as well.
Rise Against Hunger
Rise Against Hunger recognizes that hunger will not end without creating a global movement. We engage hundreds of thousands of volunteers and advocates each year to build awareness and activation. Over the next several years, we want to engage over 2 million donors, fans and influencers to make a difference through our various opportunities, including meal packaging, virtual experiences, digital and social engagement, and more.
