Africa Giving Opportunities

There is a channel through which gifts can be designated for specific projects that support the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s work around the world. These are called Extra Commitment Opportunities (ECOs). You can give directly to an ECO account online or by mailing your check designating the name and account number of the particular item you have chosen to:

PC(USA) Individual Remittance Processing
P.O. Box 643700
Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700

Your gift will go directly into the ECO Account designated, and you will receive a letter indicating that your gift has been received and will be used for the purpose intended.

Below are some ECOs related to Africa. For a listing of giving opportunities in other areas visit Mission Funding's Web site and type other specific countries or regions into the search box.

Children and youth

Children of Africa  

This ECO supports the various efforts of the PC(USA)'s partners in Africa as they engage in ministering to children in need. Programs reach out to orphans, street children and education and skills-building opportunities.

Development

Self-Help Projects, Africa 

The PC(USA)'s partner churches in Africa are involved in a variety of ministries to help unemployed, homeless and physically challenged people. Gifts to this ECO will enable them to provide material assistance, comfort, self-help counseling and hope.

Africa General Fund

This ECO is useful in supporting projects that do not fall under the specific opportunities listed in the other ECO projects and with undesignated donations gives the Area Coordinator, Doug Welch, the ability to respond to unforeseen and emergency needs of our partner churches in the area.

Education 

Education in Central Africa 

Responding to the cries of the populations, Presbyterian churches in Central Africa strive to provide quality education with Christian moral character development. Economic conditions seriously inhibit these churches in fulfilling this ministry. Contributions to this ECO will help the PC(USA)'s partners furnish schools with teaching materials, train teachers, put metal roofs on rural schools, repair deteriorating facilities and build new facilities for the growing school-age population.

Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology

The Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST) is the only graduate-level theological training program in the Horn of Africa. Its ownership is shared by the Ethiopian Evangelical Mekane Yesus Church, the PC(USA)'s partner in Ethiopia. EGST is the first graduate theological school in Ethiopia offering master's level training in systematic theology, biblical studies and church history. The mission of the school is to prepare Christlike servants through postgraduate theological training who can equip churches, primarily of Ethiopia, for maturity, ministry and mission. EGST pursues this mission primarily by training those who will serve as professors and instructors in the theological training programs of Ethiopia's many churches.    

Scholarships for AIDS Orphans

As the numbers of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Africa increases daily, the infrastructure to take care of them is lacking, and they often are forced to drop out of school. Donations to this fund will help keep these children in school.

Training Church Leaders in Africa 

PC(USA) church partners in Africa continue to place leadership development as a high priority. Educated leaders are needed to serve an ever growing African church population. Donations to this ECO support the education needs of PC(USA) church partners.

Evangelism

Evangelism and Church Growth in Africa 
   
Spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ remains at the very center of Presbyterian global mission. The PC(USA) continues to partner with churches in Africa as they reach out to unreached populations, train pastors and lay leaders, build churches, manses and Christian schools. With support, the efforts of the PC(USA)'s partners in Africa to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ can be magnified.

Frontier Mission: New International Projects

Windows of opportunity open regularly during the year to reach out in the name of Christ among international unreached people. In recent years money has gone to the Philippines, Nigeria, South Asia, West Africa and Latin America.

Health

AIDS Crisis Overseas

AIDS continues to be a crisis for entire families in many parts of the world. Gifts to this account will support congregation-based AIDS projects, prevention education, various forms of training and continuing education events, including the training of pastors, materials development, support of hospitals doing testing, counseling and training of staff among other things.

Mission Personnel

Give to Mission Personnel in Africa 

For nearly a century the Presbyterian Church has had a mission presence in Africa. Today over 50 mission personnel continue to bear witness to the love of God in Christ through education, evangelism, health ministries and community development, and regional coordinators work with African communities and congregations in the United States to ensure that short-term mission trips are held in the context of sustainable ministry for the good of the whole community and church. Gifts to this account assure a strong mission connection through our mission co-workers on the continent of Africa.

Other Support

Regional Liaison of Central Africa — Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea — Expenses 

This ECO provides travel and operating expenses for the work of the regional liaison in supporting partner churches and programs, mission personnel and involvement of PC(USA) presbyteries and congregations, as well as organizations and mission networks in the region, which includes Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Regional Liaison for East Central Africa — Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia

The Regional Liaison for East Central Africa serves as a facilitator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) support for partner programs, relationships and activities and as a implementer of regional strategies in Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia. This position is currently filled by Nancy Collins.

Regional Liaison of Horn of Africa — Expenses 

This ECO provides travel and operating expenses for the work of the regional liaison in supporting partner churches and programs, mission personnel and involvement of PC(USA) presbyteries and congregations, as well as organizations and mission networks in the region, which includes Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan.

This ECO provides travel and operating expenses for the work of the regional liaison in supporting partner churches and programs, mission personnel and the involvement of PC(USA) presbyteries and congregations, as well as organizations and mission networks in the region, which includes Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Regional Liaison for Southern Africa — Expenses

This ECO provides travel and operating expenses for the work of the regional liaison in supporting partner churches and programs, mission personnel and the involvement of PC(USA) presbyteries and congregations, as well as organizations and mission networks in the region, which includes Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.

Regional Liaison for West Africa — Expenses

This ECO provides travel and operating expenses for the work of the regional liaison in supporting partner churches and programs, mission personnel and the involvement of PC(USA) presbyteries and congregations, as well as organizations and mission networks in the region, which includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Women's Programs

Capacity Building for African Women