Extra Commitment Opportunities

There is a channel through which gifts can be designated for specific items 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 Nicaragua. For a complete listing visit Mission Funding's Web site and type Nicaragua into the search box.

Development

CEPAD Ministries

The Council of Evangelical Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD) supports the efforts of local community members to better their material, social and spiritual resources and enable them to live more fulfilling lives. Contributions help provide training and materials for potable water projects, cooperatives, housing and latrine construction, children's and women's projects, agricultural improvement, and education and exchange of people in travel/study seminars and partnerships.

Disaster Response

Disaster Response—Central America

This account supplements the One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) offering to enable a significant response for relief and disasters in Central America. Visit the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) Web site for updates and information on the response.

Education

The Facultad Evangelica de Estudios Teologicos

The Evangelical Faculty for Theological Studies (FEET) serves students from over 40 denominations. It offers programs that range from a Bible study diploma to university-level degrees and a Women's Theology Program that trains women church leaders.

Mission Personnel

Carlos Cardenas works with the Council of Evangelical Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD) as he serves in development and disaster relief. He travels all over Central America in the event of a natural disaster. Raised in a Marxist-atheist context, Carlos experienced a spiritual awakening through his contact with Quaker relief workers. “I crossed an important bridge when I could say to myself that I’m here in this world because of God’s will. I found a way to come back to God through community service to those suffering in hopelessness and need.”

Carl Agsten and Leslie Clay— Partnership and Communication Facilitators

The PC(USA)'s partnership facilitators work with CEPAD, a Christian non-profit, non-partisan association of social concern. It is comprised of denominations, Christian institutions and departmental pastoral committees that confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and desire to live out the gospel through service to others. As a Christian institution CEPAD works to serve poor communities, promoting justice, peace and equitable solidarity with the aim of improving quality of life. Carl Agsten and Leslie Clay are filling this position. They facilitate PC(USA) congregational and presbytery partnerships established through CEPAD as well as communications between CEPAD and partners both in Nicaragua and in North America.  They also coordinate and support partnership visits of Nicaraguans to the United States and U.S. church delegations to Nicaragua.

Tracey King serves as regional liaison for Central America with a particular calling to peacemaking and reconciliation. Her work includes travel to the five Central American countries in which the PC(USA) has denominational partners: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. “Being in partnership means we not only listen, but we also risk being touched and transformed by our partners’ perspectives and realities,” writes Tracey. “As a mission worker of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I am lucky to be part of a new model of mission and of relationship between institutions. Please pray for our church and institutions as we struggle to work together in healthy and fruitful partnership.”

Doug Orbaker, an ordained PC(USA) minister, serves as delegations coordinator with CEPAD, the Council of Evangelical Churches in Nicaragua. He develops the programs carried out by many mission teams that go to Nicaragua. Doug has noticed that a growing number of young people and college students are taking these trips, and he is touched by the notes students write him: “I changed my major because of this experience,” or, “My faith has grown since my time in Nicaragua.” Doug writes, “God has given us a world of great and wonderful variety. I am privileged to see it in the variety of groups that come here, as God’s people from North America try to figure out how they can best join hands with God’s people in Nicaragua.”