Serve

As Christians, Christ has called us to reach out with compassion to those who are troubled, suffering, and in need. Our church loves to serve those in our own church, in our community, in our nation, and throughout the world.

First Presbyterian has a long history of ministry in the community and beyond. We actively provided assistance to our community following the closing of textile mills in 2003. Our partnership with the community continues through work with Cooperative Christian Ministry of Cabarrus County, Meals on Wheels, Habit Missions and Kannapolis City Schools. But we also take seriously the vision of our Missions Team: “To be Christ’s witnesses in Kannapolis, Rowan and Cabarrus Counties, and even to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Please learn more about our love for service through these links:

Outreach

Our mission at FPC is to
“know Christ, serve Him and make Him known.”

World Missions

First Presbyterian of Kannapolis has a great interest in world missions. We regularly contribute over and above our regular giving to special Missions projects like disaster relief, Missionary support (see here – create link), and assistance to those in need. Recently, teams have traveled on Missions Trips to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to work with partner Missionaries Donald and Martha Wehmeyer, and to the North Carolina coast for hurricane relief. Each year, we pack hundreds of shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse. A yard sale in the fall and sales of crafts made by ladies in the congregation helps cover the cost of shipping those boxes. Other projects have benefited Sole Hope, an organization making shoes and providing care for foot parasites in Uganda. Please see our ministry links below for more information on these and other organizations.

Local Missions

First Presbyterian of Kannapolis is proud to share Christ’s love with our community through wonderful organizations in and around Kannapolis. We love partnering with Kannapolis City Schools as a whole and schools individually to provide children with items such as backpacks and school supplies, food pantry donations, and other necessities. For many years, we have supported Habitat for Humanity through special offerings and volunteer work, making home ownership possible for those who could not otherwise afford to buy one on their own. We routinely make donations of money and food to Cabarrus County’s Cooperative Christian Ministry to assist our neighbors in need. We have donated supplies and money to The Salvation Army, most recently supporting the building of their new Center of Hope night shelter in Concord. Many of our members partner with Habit Missions in distributing supplies and sharing the gospel with homeless in the area. We support the Cabarrus Women’s Center’s annual ‘Baby Bottle campaign’, raising funds for Christian counseling to pregnant women. Members also donate to and adopt law enforcement to pray for through the Shield a Badge with Prayer program. More informaion on these and other organizations can be found in our ministry links below.

$.10 A Meal Offering

This offering is collected on the fourth Sunday of every month by the children during the worship service. Proceeds are divided between Cabarrus Meals on Wheels, Cooperative Christian Ministry of Cabarrus County, and Compassion International, where we sponsor 3 children

Our Missionaries

Our church currently partners with several missionaries. Here is a brief description of their positions.

David & Amy Hamilton

Greater Europe Mission
Germany

Check out “The Hamilton Road” newsletters!

The Hamilton Road
The Hamilton Road December 2020
The Hamilton Road February/March 2021
The Hamilton Road September 2021
The Hamilton Road October 15, 2021
The Hamilton Road Winter 2021_2022

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Rev. & Dr. Donald Wehmeyer

Donald and Martha have served for more than 30 years in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. Donald is director of the School of Continuing Education at San Pablo Theological Seminary and also directs the school’s retreat center. In those positions he organizes conferences and workshops, teaches theology courses, and leads workshops in many of Mexico’s rural areas. San Pablo Seminary trains students from throughout Central America. Our youth group traveled to Merida with Son Servants on three different summers to help with construction of the new campus for the seminary. In the summers of 2005, 2006, 2009, and 2011 groups of adults and youth from First Presbyterian spent a week in Merida, helping with church and retreat center construction and leading Vacation Bible Schools. Martha, who is a native of Merida, ministers from the home as a volunteer medical doctor. Donald was born in Wisconsin and has an M.Div. degree from Austin Presbyterian Seminary. Martha earned her MD degree from the University of Yucatan School of Medicine. The Wehmeyers have three grown children. For a full profile, click here.

Sasha Tsutserov

Sasha Tsutserov’s parents were members of the Communist Party in Russia. They never spoke of God or the Bible. However, when he was five years old, his grandmother insisted that he was baptized in the Orthodox Church. This was all done in secret—miles outside of Moscow, inside a dimly lit sanctuary. Although he was young, the Holy Spirit touched a hidden yearning in his heart for spiritual reality. As an adult, Sasha became a member of the Communist Party and worked for the KGB. He had a beautiful wife Natasha, a precious daughter Julia, good friends, a bright future, and all that he dreamed of as a young man. Julia befriended an American girl whose father was a missionary in Moscow. Natasha became their Russian language tutor. As the head of his home and a KGB agent, Sasha felt obligated to investigate these foreigners who had made such an impact on his family. He was awestruck by the humanitarian aid distributed by their church, and he was irresistibly drawn to their joy for life, for each other, and for the Lord. Step by step, he began to realize their generosity and joy stemmed from their love for God. At first, he gave God a 50/50 chance: since no one could prove God’s existence, then no one could deny him either. Sasha stepped away from his aggressively atheistic lifestyle. Then, while praying at a church retreat, he had a vision. He saw God standing on the top of a mountain. He felt he was a jar of clay. God was pouring down the pure gold of the Holy Spirit into the jar—Sasha. From that moment on, he needed no evidence for God’s existence, for he knew God in Jesus Christ. He returned home that day, and when Natasha saw him, she said, “What’s wrong with you? You are smiling!” Sasha had never smiled before. But that day, Jesus made him smile. He admitted that he had become a Christian. Natasha, in turn, confessed that she had become a Christian earlier, but she was afraid to talk about it with her husband, a KGB agent! In July 1993, Sasha was baptized and openly proclaimed his faith in Jesus Christ. Sasha knew he could not keep his faith and his job, so he quit working for the KGB. He helped planted a church in Moscow. Sasha knew that God had called him to ministry in education. But no school in Russia offered a degree in biblical studies because the Communists had prohibited theological training. He attended Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and graduated with an M.Div. in 1997. In 2004, he earned a Ph.D. in New Testament at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. While studying, he also worked at the Moscow Evangelical Christian Seminary by working in every position at the school—from a secretary to the provost. Sasha now serves as director and professor at the seminary in Moscow, where they are raising up a new generation of Christian leaders. Read more about him here.

Sasha invites you to watch a 2.5 minute video https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p89yqMlft9YigQGDoHEW1odW7JCnkJBz/view?usp=sharing

If you would like to support this ministry, you may donate online via https://onemissionsociety.org/Projects/detail/moscow-evangelical-christian-seminary. Or you may write a check payable to One Mission Society, put 301710 Moscow Seminary remark in the memo line of the check, and mail the check to One Mission Society, P.O. Box 1648, Monument CO 80132-1648.

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Church Planting

We have planted three churches over the years, and today we are actively supporting Hope Community Church in Wilmington, NC with Pastor Nate Stratman.

One of the reasons we love our ECO denomination is that church-planting is a priority. Its very name, ECO, is intended to evoke the word “ecosystem:” that is, we are cultivating a healthy environment in which to plant churches and grow disciples.

Hope Community

Ministry Links