Serve
Serve In Our Church
There are several opportunities to serve within the context of our congregational life. From leadership on our Session, or governing body, to greeting and ushering on Sunday mornings, to providing flowers for our weekly worship services, members and friends alike can participate in the vibrant life of First Presbyterian Church of Highlands. Please contact the church office for information on the following:
Greeting and Ushering
Providing Flowers (or see the bulletin board on the main level of the Faith and Fellowship Center)
Volunteering for fellowship events
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Serve In Our Community and Beyond
The purpose of the Mission Ministry at First Presbyterian Church of Highlands is to lead the church in reaching out and responding in love and concern to those in need in our congregation, in our community, and beyond. FPCH participates in the following community services with hands-on activity, or by direct funding through grant requests to our mission ministry team.
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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western North Carolina
Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) helps to provide a caring mentor to a child facing adversity. This mentor provides guidance and support leading to long term success in school and life. The BBBS Highlands branch serves children who attend Highlands School. Together we are changing what it means to grow up in America. For more information please visit: www.bbbswnc.org or https://www.publicservicedegrees.org/volunteering/big-brothers-big-sisters-vs-boys-and-girls-club/
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Blue Ridge Free Dental Clinic
Providing critical dental treatment to the needy in Jackson, Macon and Transylvania Counties of Western North Carolina the Blue Ridge Free Dental Clinic delivers high-quality dental care to people who cannot otherwise afford these critically needed services. Motivated by the beliefs and core values of our contributors and founding churches, we restore lives, one tooth at a time.
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Children’s Hope Alliance
Children’s Hope Alliance is the combination of Barium Springs and Grandfather Home for Children joining forces to serve children and families throughout North Carolina.
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Community Care Clinic
The mission of the Community Care Clinic is to provide healthcare to low-income persons in our community who do not have health insurance. Through disease prevention, continuity of care and active follow-up, we can promote the health and well-being of our community.
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FPC Sonshine Program
The Sonshine School Afterschool Program assists parents by providing a safe, Christian, caring environment for children after school. We strive to create a clean, nurturing atmosphere where a child can grow spiritually, physically, socially emotionally, and intellectually. As a Christian center with affiliation to the First Presbyterian Church, we will provide a moral and spiritual environment where each child is treated with respect. For more information please call 828-526-8865.
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Four Seasons Hospice
As the region's largest non-profit provider of end of life care, Four Seasons provides the highest quality of care to patients and families in Asheville, Arden, Balsam, Black Mountain, Brevard, Bryson City, Canton, Cashiers, Cherokee, Clyde, Fletcher, Franklin, Hendersonville, Highlands, Lake Junaluska, Lake Toxaway, Maggie Valley, Rosman, Sapphire, Sylva, and Waynesville.
Gideons International
The Gideons International is an Association of Christian business and professional men and their wives dedicated to telling people about Jesus through associating together for service, sharing personal testimony, and by providing Bibles and New Testaments.
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Highlands Community Child Development Center
The Highlands Community Child Development Center (HCCDC), formally the Presbyterian Daycare, opened on Valentine's Day 2005. The center provides the only state-licensed, full-year, 5-day per week, 10 hours per day child care program in the Highlands Township. HCCDC is designated a Four-Star Center by the State of NC based on the quality of its programs and the educational credentials of the staff.
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Highlands Emergency Council
Highlands Emergency Council is a grass roots organization. The mission of the Highlands Emergency Council is “people helping people.” The Highlands Emergency Council assists low income residents of the Highlands area, senior citizens, young families, single parent families and those who have lost or are unable to find a job. For more information call 828-526-4357.
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Highlands School
The mission of Highlands School is to challenge each child to learn, to achieve, and to fulfill his or her potential with the highest expectations.
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International Friendship Center
The International Friendship Center is a non-profit organization founded in 2002 by the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches of Highlands, NC. Our mission is to reach out to the underserved local and international populations with respect, compassion and information; to foster harmony, to facilitate access to human services, and to promote absorption of the international population in our community by providing necessary services not otherwise provided in this area. For more information please call 828-526-0890.
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The Literacy and Learning Center
The mission of the Literacy Council of Highlands is to enrich lives and expand knowledge of children, adults and families in the greater Highlands community through diverse educational programs that advance literacy in its many forms, promote lifelong learning that result in an informed and empowered community. The Literacy Council of Highlands, changing lives...one mind at a time.
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Little Children of the World
Little Children of the World is a Christian ministry dedicated to helping street children and children at risk in the Philippines through sponsorship, scholarships, and programs addressing urgent needs. These children are victims of extreme poverty and/ or neglect, as well as vulnerable to abuse. LCW brings help and hope to more than 700 children and ministers to over 5000 people.
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Medical Benevolence Foundation
MBF works diligently to proclaim the Gospel and to serve the poor by providing quality health care services. MBF serves globally in building sustainable medical care to 34 developing countries. They work to transform individuals, communities, and nations through long-lasting relationships with hospitals, nursing schools, and clinics in these countries served.
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R.E.A.C.H. of Macon County
REACH of Macon County provides comprehensive services to victims of domestic
violence, sexual assault and/or human trafficking including male, female, and
child victims. REACH provides outreach and services throughout Macon and
Jackson Counties that include 24-hour crisis and text line, safety planning, crisis
counseling, court advocacy, medical accompaniment, emergency housing, and
educational services to support victims through the entire process of physical,
mental, and emotional recovery. REACH is a 501c3 non-profit.
WNC Bridge Foundation - The Rathbun House
The Rathbun House provides lodging and other supportive services in a "home like" environment for patients and or their caregivers coming to Asheville, North Carolina for medical treatment.
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Presbytery of Western North Carolina
Located in Morganton, NC at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Presbytery of Western North Carolina has 110 congregations with over 17,000 members. We span to the east to Gastonia, north to Banner Elk and west to the Tennessee line.
John McCall
Mission Co-worker in Taiwan
John McCall has been serving in Taiwan for over 20 years. He spends a lot of time on trains, buses, and subways as he travels throughout Taiwan teaching courses on ministry and spiritual formation at the seminaries of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan. John leads groups of pastors in different parts of Taiwan that meet monthly to find encouragement and challenge. “I have the privilege of accompanying both seminary students and pastors as they seek to be Christ’s light and salt in this land,” he says. Most every weekend, John is in a different church or presbytery teaching and preaching and equipping the leadership of the Taiwanese church. Many of these churches are indigenous, located in the high mountains, on the coast, or in Taiwan’s teeming cities.
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Brian and Sandi Thompson-Royer
Mission Co-workers in Guatemala
Brian and Sandi will work with the women’s organization of the National Presbyterian Church of Guatemala in its efforts to empower women. They will facilitate leadership development and will help nurture relationships between Guatemalan women and Presbyterian women in the United States. Sandi believes “miracles can happen” when women take leadership roles in families, churches, and communities. “I am a quiet leader, strong networker, and collaborator, bringing people’s strengths and abilities together for goodness,” she says. Brian adds that he wants his service to encourage “brothers and sisters to grow in their peaceful walk of faith and in their capacity to love one another and themselves.”
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UKIRK WCU, Presbyterian Campus Ministry
We serve the Western Carolina University community in Cullowhee,
North Carolina, through our coffeehouse ministry, Hillside Grind.
Kirk WCU operates the coffeehouse as a non-profit, donation-based
coffeehouse. The ministry is led by a campus minister who ministers
directly with students through personal connections, mentorship, staff
formation, and Bible Study.
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