Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church

Next Ministries

Who We Are...
We love to laugh, we love to pray. We like to barbeque and drink good beer. We are individuals who recognize that we are no more loved by God than the stranger riding next to us on the subway. We are musicians, doctors, grad students, accountants, waiters, attorneys and such. We enjoy a good debate and learning something new. We rent movies and don’t watch them because we’d rather talk to each other. Our friends include Jews and agnostics, gays and lesbians, republicans and democrats, activists and pacifists. Distinctions between secular and sacred aren’t so clear to us. We take our faith seriously but ourselves lightly. We want to know how you’re doing – really.

We believe where someone is from is less about geography, and more about life experience. We are followers, we are servant leaders. We are diverse, curious, adventurous and centered in faith. We are imperfect seekers of the truth. We are faulty followers of Christ. We strive to meet others wherever they are and provide comfort and support for the next step on this journey of life and faith...

UPCOMING EVENTS

Click HERE for upcoming events for 2008.

• Next Ministries Facebook Group Page: Please Be Our Friend! -
We've created a group page and are sad because we don't have any friends! Check us out (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5925965457)
We will be updating it to make others aware of upcoming events, keep in touch with each other via the wall, posting pictures of recent events and also will try to recruit news members. If you don't have a Facebook account, well, get online and get one!

• View Next Ministries Fall Retreat Photos (October 2007)

• Next Ministries Mission Class Video

• Calling All New York City College Grads! – Did you go to grad school in the New York City area? Next is trying to increase our visibility in the city. One thing we'd like to do is connect with various graduate school Christian fellowship groups and get some of our brochures or a short DVD describing Next into their hands. We'd love to use existing alumni to make this link easier. If you'd be willing to help out, please contact Alexis (alexis@georgeholz.com) or Paul (prock@fapc.org).

• Bite-Sized Volunteer Opportunity: Operation Campfire - This Sunday, May 11, marks the last day of the Deacons' annual Operation Campfire fundraising drive. This drive helps raise money to send underprivileged children from the New York area to Holmes Presbyterian Camp in Holmes, NY. The current cost of sending a child to Holmes for one week of camp is $525, and our goal is to raise enough money to send 40 children to camp this summer—that's $21,000. The Deacons would like to extend their thanks to everyone who has participated in the drive so far. At the moment we are still approximately $11,000 away from our goal, so we encourage everyone who has not yet participated to prayerfully consider making a donation at whatever level is comfortable for you.

• Focus Happy Hour: Friday, May 9, 7:00 pm

• Focus Meeting: The Blessings (and Curses) of Mom: Sunday, May 11, 12:45 pm

• "Happy Feet" Parents' Night Out: Friday, May 16, 5:30 pm - Free food (pizza, soft drinks, cookies), easy babysitting (Happy Feet, animated penguin movie and coloring), great service (hang out with kids for a bit, can still go out afterwards)! 5:30-8:30pm (understand if you can only come for a couple hours...we would still be happy to have you). We're in need of at least three volunteers. Please contact Claire (clangsta@yahoo.com) if interested.

• New2NY Bronx Zoo Trip: Saturday, May 17

• It's That Time Again: Homeless Adopt-a-Week + Steps!: Sunday-Thursday, June 8-12 - Next Ministries will be hosting the homeless shelter, located at the church and run solely by FAPC volunteers. Due to the overwhelming response at our past Adopt a Weeks, we are challenging ourselves a little more by adding the Steps Ministry, a service that reaches out to homeless people who sleep on the steps of FAPC. If you've volunteered before, please sign up again and if you're new, there will be training and an experienced Next volunteer to help you get started. Don't miss out on this meaningful way to serve! Contact Claire for more information (clangsta@yahoo.com ).

• Costa Rica Mission Trip Update: Saturday-Saturday, August 9-16 - We now have 15 people officially signed up to go to Costa Rica in August! Please keep this group in your prayers as we continue to prepare for this venture. Also, if you or someone you know would like to donate airmiles or give advice on Costa Rican travel, please contact Claire (clangsta@yahoo.com ).

*** For general Next Ministries inquiries, please contact us at nextministries@fapc.org.