International Ministries
Missionary Support Committee
The Missionary Support Committee provides ongoing spiritual and practical guidance to COA-commissioned missionaries on the field or on home ministry assignment. The committee organizes regular prayer support, communication with the missionaries, and practical assistance when they return home.
The committee also works to increase the congregation's awareness and support of our missionaries and the people groups they serve, and serves as the initial point of contact for screening and preparing members who may be called to short-term or long-term missionary service.
Many of our missionaries serve in countries where they cannot minister openly, so we do not list them online—but we encourage you to find out more about them by looking at the bulletin board in the lobby of the church or by talking with someone on the Ministry Support Committee.
Short-Term Missions
Church of the Apostles has sent out teams of adults, teens, and children for short-term missions trips on several continents. Through these opportunities of sharing God’s love, many lives have been touched, including those who bring the message. Please contact the church office if you would like more information about spending a week or two that could make an eternal difference in the world.
European Ministry
The European Ministry seeks to carry the Lord's joy to people throughout Europe and parts of Central Asia. Primary focus is given to former Communist countries where, until recently, God's people worshipped in seclusion and fear.
The group seeks to train, equip, and encourage Christian leaders in Europe to spread the Gospel and reach out to their communities; to help COA establish long-term relationships with ministries in Europe through prayer, communication, offerings, and hospitality; to provide a range of assistance to fledgling Christian communities and ministries; and to assist in the ongoing reconciliation process in the region.
Supported ministry partnerships connect COA to Slovakia, Armenia, Russia, Romania, Latvia, and Northern Ireland.
Latin America Ministry
The Latin America Ministry develops and strengthen relationships with Latin American people and churches; to assist them in bringing people to the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ; and to better learn how to evangelize our own Latin American neighbors in Northern Virginia.
These objectives are accomplished, in part, through goals that seek to build partner relationships with Anglican parishes in Argentina and Uruguay, in order to help them experience renewal in the Holy Spirit and to strengthen their commitment to evangelism.
Renewal efforts are also being supported by the Anglican Church in Honduras, especially through outreach efforts at Our Little Roses Home for Girls, which Apostles actively supports.
Africa Ministry
The Africa Ministry educates our members about missions and needs in Africa; offers prayer for all the ministries we support in this region; discerns strategies for our involvement within the region; and encourages outreach to Africans in the U.S.
Primary goals: assisting in the spread of the Gospel to the peoples of Africa, specifically in South Africa, Uganda, the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, and the Sudan; supporting the administration of justice for the poor, the sick, widows and orphans, the oppressed, and the imprisoned within those countries; helping to strengthen and renew the Anglican Church in Africa; aiding the Church in building true disciples of Jesus Christ; and demonstrating solidarity with persecuted Christians in the Sudan and aiding their plight through advocacy, prayer, study, visits, and material assistance.
Middle East Ministry
The primary objectives of the Middle East Ministry are to pray for our missionaries in the Middle East and Central Asia, for current issues in the Middle East region, and for the indigenous Church in the Middle East. Other areas of ministry include finding creative methods to support our missionaries and national believers in those areas of the world, and showing love, hospitality, and friendship in the name of Jesus to the local Muslim community.
Native American Ministry
The Native American Ministry is a joint ministry with Truro Episcopal Church (Fairfax). We have a twofold purpose: First, to support the efforts of Native American pastors in Rapid City, South Dakota, to bring the gospel to their people, the Lakota Sioux. Second, we provide practical help for practical needs of this impoverished people group.
We also hope to expand our ministry to Native Americans in Virginia.
We work toward our goals through a summer short-term mission and a winter clothing drive. For more information, contact Helen Metzger.
SOMA (Sharing of Ministries Abroad)
SOMA prepares and sends short-term mission teams across national and cultural boundaries at the invitation of diocesan bishops of the Anglican Communion. SOMA seeks to equip and train overseas leaders to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit, who renews individuals, empowers the Church and transforms society. SOMA accomplishes this goal of renewal through partner parish relationships; training clergy and lay leaders for mission teams; training and equipping leaders of overseas dioceses; and, in turn, bringing the faith and fire of overseas partner parishes to renew the Episcopal Church in the U.S.
