Mission Partners
Be the Change You Want To See
Mission Partners
Whether you are looking for a regular commitment or a one-time service project, the need is great. Volunteer needs range from tutoring, to serving in a food pantry, to mentoring youth, to supporting refugees, and everything in between.
Visit First Pres Serves to learn more about serving with the church. Whatever your skills and interests there is an opportunity for you to serve.
For more information, contact anyone on the Missions Ministry Team: Diane Amstutz, Lin Hancock, Bill Kooser, Traci Melcher, Nancy Nicholas.
Upcoming Mission Partner Events
OPRF YoungLife Comedy Night | Friday, April 5, doors open at 6:30 pm
Young Life’s Annual Adult Comedy night is Friday April 5th! Come support Young Life as friends take to the stage for amateur stand-up comedy hour! 100% of OPRF Young Life budget is raised locally. Help support our area teens.
WHEN: Friday, April 5. Doors open at 6:30 pm
WHERE: Good Earth Greenhouse – 7900 Madison Street in River Forest
INCLUDED: Complimentary appetizers, cash bar, and amazing comedy
COST: The event is free to attend; a $50 suggested donation benefits the ministry of OPRF Young Life
DONATE: If you can’t attend please consider MAKING A DONATION HERE to keep us operating in the black and out in the field reaching students in our community!
Harmony Community Cares Virtual Gala | Saturday, April 20, at 7:00 pm
You’re invited to join HCC to Keep the Vibe Alive in North Lawndale! The 2024 Virtual Gala features amazing raffle prizes, inspirational stories from Pastor James Brooks and others.
Raffle prizes include items such as a mountain cabin vacation, a luxury yacht cruise for 25, Bears and Bulls tickets, Justin Timberlake tickets, and much more. Money raised at the Gala will be used to increase capacity and reach of Harmony’s Food Pantry, Tutoring and Community Arts Programming.
Chicago Hope Academy’s Story of Hope Luncheon | Tuesday, May 7, at 12:00-1:00 pm
The third annual Story of Hope Luncheon is coming soon and you are invited to join our Hope students, staff, and alumni for an inspiring event!
Join us for lunch at the historic Union League Club of Chicago as we share updates on our successful 19th year. We’re excited to celebrate the wonderful students who take part in transformational education every day because of your generous support. We hope to see you there! Can’t make it May 7th? Make a gift towards a Hope student to represent you instead!
First Pres Mission Partners
Chicago Hope Academy
Chicago Hope Academy is a college and life preparatory high school dedicated to nurturing and challenging the whole person—body, mind, and spirit—to the glory of God.
CHICAGO HOPE ACADEMY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES: Event support, financial support
Circle Urban Ministries
Just three miles from our church, Circle Urban Ministries offers a range of services designed to make the Austin community of Chicago a better place to live, learn, grow, and succeed.
CIRCLE URBAN VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES: Mentoring, homework support, food pantry, groundskeeping
Opportunity International
Opportunity International is an organization dedicated to helping end extreme poverty in our lifetime. They believe that empowering individuals to work their way out of poverty and giving children a quality education is the most sustainable way to transform lives, families, and communities.
OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES: Attend an event, join board of governors
Young Life-Oak Park & River Forest
Young Life is a global effort, with local chapter strength. It is focused on walking alongside youth in multi-cultural communities throughout their adolescent years.
YOUNG LIFE VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES: Event support, mentoring, weekly program support
Antioch Partners
A missionary-sending agency which partners with local Presbyterian churches in the U.S. in sending followers of Jesus to participate in God’s mission in the world. Read more about Lisa Alfonsi’s and Clever Sobrino’s work on their blog.
By The Hand Club For Kids
By The Hand is a Chicago-based, Christ-centered, after-school program that takes kids by the hand and walks with them from kindergarten through college, loving and nurturing them—mind, body and soul. By The Hand began in 2001 with 16 children from Cabrini-Green and now serves more than 1,600 kids from Cabrini-Green, Altgeld-Murray, Austin and Englewood, with property in North Austin to begin serving there.
BY THE HAND VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNTIES: Mentoring, tutoring, classroom support, food service, event support
CRU
Cru is an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization for college and university students. Since its founding in 1951, Cru has expanded its focus to include adult professionals, athletes, and high school students. First Pres supports the work at Purdue University and the University of Florida.
Exodus World Service
Exodus World Service mobilizes the Christian community to welcome and befriend refugees. They do this by educating churches and individuals about the plight of refugees, connecting volunteers with refugees through practical service projects, and empowering people to be champions for refugees.
EXODUS WORLD SERVICE VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNTIES: Befriend a refugee, mentor youth, help with English
Frontier Fellowship
Frontier Fellowship looks toward the frontier where the Good News of Jesus has yet to find expression. We believe His message is for everyone, and each person deserves the opportunity to hear the Gospel in the context of his or her language and culture.
Harmony Community Cares
Located in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, the mission of Harmony Community Cares is to plant seeds of love and cultivate hope by providing access to healthy food, academic enrichment, social and spiritual support, and a safe environment for people in North Lawndale and surrounding communities.
HARMONY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNTIES: Food pantry, tutoring, fine arts
Housing Forward
With offices in Oak Park and Maywood, Housing Forward works to transition people from housing crisis to housing stability through a full range of programs and services. Housing Forward impacts the lives of more than 2,000 area adults and families with minor children each year.
Last Frontiers
Working in mountain villages in Mexico, Last Frontiers partners with churches and other Christian organizations to make disciples of the people by teaching them to obey Christ’s commands in word and deed, to love God above all, to love one’s neighbor as one’s self, and teach these disciples to teach and model the same gospel for others.
Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS)
MOPS is a place for moms and their kids, birth through kindergarten. MOPS gathers and supports moms with a simple but revolutionary idea that remarkable things happen when women come together. OPRF MOPS is a place of rest and relationships, with Jesus and with each other. The concurrent MOPS Kids program is a preschool-style experience your Littles will love. Our MOPS Kids program is run by dedicated teachers, who know & love Jesus.
Pars Theological Centre
Pars Theological Centre was founded in 2010 by an interdenominational team of Iranian pastors, theologians and counselors who dreamed of a hub for deep, holistic and contextual leadership training for Iranians. Its mission is to equip and mobilize the Iranian church by training a new generation of biblically grounded, theologically informed, and spiritually mature servant leaders who would lead the church into loving God and one-another, transforming the Persian-speaking world for the glory of God.