Missions Engagement Committee

The Missions Engagement Committee is a group of laypeople who manage the church's mission budget, increase awareness of needs and opportunities to help, and provide prayer, financial and in-person support to both local and international missions.

The Missions Engagement Committee would like to thank you, our congregation, for finances given, prayers offered and serving as a volunteer this past year. At ACP there are many ways we can engage our world with hope. This listing outlines the causes we care about. It is made with you in mind, a reminder to pray for our partners and to ask the Lord how you can become more engaged.

ACP-Led Ministries

  • 100 NOW Winter Shelter

    2 January through 14 March 2025

    100 NOW is the American Church's winter homeless shelter for refugees in Paris. Each winter, in the gymnasium of ACP, we host 10-15 guests nightly. The guests can shower, wash clothes and sleep in the basketball court. Two volunteers ensure that everyone is safe and well provided for. We're now in our 7th winter of 100NOW (2025), and it's been a blessing to all. We have made lifelong friends with guests from Afghanistan, Iran, Guinea, etc.

    If you’re interested in volunteering with 100NOW, contact 100NOW task force.

  • Sandwich Ministry

    Late 2024 schedule

    Thursday 24 October, 17h
    Thursday 7 November, 17h
    Thursday 21 November, 17h
    Thursday 5 December, 17h
    Thursday 19 December, 17h

    You can be a part of this team at ACP, which usually gathers on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month, 17h-18h to help make over one hundred sandwiches for Serve the City. Join at acparis.org/sandwich.

  • Community Dinners

    The Missions Engagement Committee planned six dinners for our friends in the 100 NOW program and other refugees and homeless in 2023. We had the privilege of being the face of Jesus to our guests! Some people rarely get direct, kind eye contact so this is a gift we can give freely. We will have three such community dinners monthly starting in January 2024.

  • Paris Prison Ministry

    One ACP member serves as a Prison Chaplain to Protestant women at a prison in rural Paris. She and her team provide worship services, a Christian singing group, and are currently engaged in a tele-series. The Prison Ministry offers rich support to these women. They also support the “Sycamore Tree” program, a Restorative Justice program held at prisons around Paris. Classes of 20 inmates meet one day a week for 4 to 6 weeks to examine the impact of their crimes on the immediate victims and their families, the prisoners themselves and their families, and the community at large. These classes are life-changing experiences for the prisoners.

ACP-Supported Ministries in Ile-de-France

  • Serve the City Paris (STCP)

    Serve the City Paris (STCP) is part of a global movement of international volunteers who show kindness and generosity in practical ways. STCP provides opportunities, activities and programs that mobilize volunteers in our city to aid refugees and the homeless in Paris. ACP supports STCP by supplying fresh sandwiches, fruit, etc. on a weekly basis, as well as financial support to STCP’s food security program.
    servethecity.paris

  • The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS)

    JRS has many programs to help migrants survive and prosper. One of them, JRS Young Adults, allows asylum seekers and refugees to meet and participate in various activities such as: theater, dance, football , volleyball, yoga, board games, sharing a meal, language classes, etc. The purpose is to provide opportunities for the refugees and asylum seekers to develop and share their talents and individual confidence. The benefit of meeting local people broadens their ability to engage in an international community. jrsfrance.org.

    Would you like to host a dinner, engage in friendship, and welcome refugees? Dinners average eight people: the ACP host, 3 of their friends, and four refugees recommended by JRS. If you’re interested in hosting or have questions, please contact Refugee Dinners, Ursula Perrier.

  • Love in a Box

    Love in a Box Paris is a non-profit association that for over 20 years has worked with volunteers to provide holiday presents to children in local homeless shelters, children’s homes, and community centers mostly in the Ile-de-France region, but also in the Grand Est and Hauts-de-France regions.

    The boxes can be brought back to ACP as early as Sunday 27 October and the final day is Sunday 1 December 2024. You can receive more information on Sundays at the LIAB table or at the reception desk during the week. Packing instructions are here: acparis.org/liab.

  • Kabubu

    Kabubu’s mission is to facilitate the social and professional inclusion of exiled people through the power of sport. They organize weekly inclusive sports activities that bring together people from all walks of life. It is free for participants and open to all abilities.

    Kabubu is a training organization, offering support and courses in the sport professions and learning French through sport. In addition, Kabubu has created an educational tool called the Migration Fresco to help educate migrants learn how to live in France through awareness and experience.
    kabubu.fr

  • DK-Bel Company

    Our vision is to live in a fully accessible world, where everybody has access to art, dance and culture, no matter their situation, background or beliefs. This is accomplished by joining global networks with like-minded collaborators working together to raise awareness on inclusion, diversity, and equality through dance.
    dk-bel.com

  • SOS Mission

    The mission of SOS Help is to help prevent suicide and alleviate anxiety. Our English-speaking telephone helpline is confidential and anonymous. Our listeners offer active non-judgmental listening to those going through a difficult period. You can help SOS Help continue to grow as an organization either as a listener, supporter or doner. We are grateful for the continued support of the English-speaking community in France. Welcome - English Speaking Helpline in France | SOS Help
    soshelpline.org

ACP-Sponsored Ministries Abroad

  • Hope for Girls and Women

    Hope for Girls and Women was founded in 2017 by the Tanzanian activist Rhobi Samwelly (one of France’s Marianne Initiative Human Rights Defender). This organization runs two safe houses in the Butiama and Serengeti Districts of the Mara Region of Tanzania, which shelter and support those fleeing FGM, child marriage, and other forms of gender-based violence.

    Hope for Girls and Women offer safe house residents free classes in vocational training, such as tailoring and computer skills. Through this training they support women’s entrepreneurship. Women can use their new skills to generate much needed income, becoming valued providers for their families while also increasing their independence, and making them less vulnerable to forced marriage and FGM. free medical exams and HIV testing are also provided to improve the health of girls and women.
    hopeforgirlsandwomen.org

  • Rafiki Foundation

    Rafiki has been serving God in ten African countries for almost 40 years. Our motto, God’s Word at work, means equipping Africans to know God through Bible study, orphan care, education, and church partner organizations. Hundreds of Bible study groups meet weekly. Thousands of Bibles are shipped to schools, seminaries and churches. Our orphans are growing up; some are already receiving full support for higher education. Our schools are providing Christian Classical Education to over 3,000 orphans and community students. We are training the next generation of teachers in our Teachers’ Colleges. Please help Rafiki give hope to the people we touch in Africa.
    rafikifoundation.org