Lessons from Kenya, Russia, and God’s Work on Mission Day

Nazarene Missions Around the World: You Can Be Part of Global Missions—Here’s How

October 19 is World Mission Day. However, in the Church of the Nazarene, every day is World Mission Day! Here are some ways that people can participate in world missions through the Church of the Nazarene.

How Can You Participate in Missions? PRAY!

One of the most important things that every Christian can do is to pray for missionaries and mission world around the world. The Church of the Nazarene currently has over 450 missionaries serving around the world. These missionaries come from 60 different countries, and are serving in over 80 countries. Missionaries would tell you that they always need your prayer support!

How should you pray for missionaries? You can pray for their

• Marriages and their families
• Ministries
• Safety
• Spiritual strength and health
• Nurturing relationships

These are just a few of the ways that you can pray for missionaries!

How Can You Participate in Missions? LEARN!

In order to pray effectively for missionaries, you should learn more about them. For example:

• Where are they serving?
• What type of mission work are they doing?
• What challenges do they face?
• How can you encourage them?
• How can you help support them?

The Church of the Nazarene has many resources available to help educate people about Nazarene missionaries and their work. For example, you can subscribe to the weekly NMI Central e-mail, which highlights different aspects of the work of the Church of the Nazarene around the world. Nazarene churches and districts in the United States also regularly host missionaries on speaking tours. This provides the opportunity to hear up to date information about missionaries and their work.

The denominational website, nazarene.org, also supplies information about global missions work. And the missions auxiliary, Nazarene Missions International (NMI) works to educate and mobilize believers to assist mission efforts around the world (see here). The more that you know about missionaries and their work, the more you can encourage and help them!

How Can You Participate in Missions? GIVE!

It should go without saying that giving is one way that everyone can participate in mission work. Nazarene churches around the world assist in the mission work of the Church through the World Evangelism Fund (WEF). Each church contributes a percentage of the amounts it receives to support world evangelism. This giving provides the “backbone” of world missions. WEF giving enables salaries and health care for our missionaries, allowing them to focus on their ministries.

Nazarenes also have the opportunity to participate in special ministry offerings throughout the year. These offerings include:

• Alabaster (February and September): The Alabaster offering provides funds for purchasing buildings and property for mission work around the world.
• Easter Offering: Funds given in the Easter Offering each year supplement the WEF, and also help to establish mission work in new areas around the world.
• Thanksgiving Offering: Received each year in November (Thanksgiving in the United States), the Thanksgiving Offering supports the same works as the Easter Offering.
• “Special Offerings”: These offerings provide opportunities to support particular areas of mission work, such as radio broadcasts, compassionate ministries, child sponsorship, and others.

Additionally, a number of Nazarene missionaries are “sponsored missionaries.” This means that they are responsible to raise the funds for their support. These gifts come from individuals and churches who are led to support that particular missionary.

The Church of the Nazarene offers numerous ways to support mission work financially. Everyone can take support mission work, no matter how much or how little they have to give. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).

How Can You Participate in Missions? GO!

The Church of the Nazarene encourages people to travel to other parts of the world to assist in mission work. This participation could be as part of a short-term group (“Mission Teams”), or as an individual in a longer-term volunteer role. I have been privileged to participate in a number of short-term teams over the past 25 years, and I am looking forward to another trip to Italy next March.

Some people criticize such short-term trips, asking whether the money spent to travel might better be used to directly support the mission work. However, my experience has been that people who go on short-term mission trips are more motivated to support missions after they return. Pastors who participate in mission teams transfer their passion to their congregations. Laypeople who go to the mission field share their enthusiasm with others. Team members tend to pray more for missionaries and their work. They also are more receptive to calls to financially support mission work.

My Experiences: Russia

However, one of the most important benefits to traveling to a mission field is the spiritual transformation that God works in you. I have often shared with people that every mission trip I’ve taken has been an opportunity for God to show me something new. My first trip was to Volgograd, Russia, in 2001. Our team was helping two different churches with construction-related projects, as well as hosting a Vacation Bible School program at one of the churches. My part of our team worked on renovating the basement of a church building into a fellowship space for the congregation. As we did, I was amazed at two things. First, where we would often see “problems,” our Russian brothers and sisters found solutions. We don’t have this material available? Okay, we’ll use something else. Second – and more important, in my view – was the way that God showed me the spirit of gratitude that the Russian believers demonstrated. They were grateful to God for everything He had given them – and they understood that He gave them everything they had.

God applied that to me in a very particular way when I returned from that trip. The previous summer had been my first vacation after beginning my ministry. When I returned from that vacation, I was surprised – and upset – that a substantial percentage of the congregation had also “taken off” while I was away. My response was to preach about commitment for a couple of months. When I was in Russia, though, God told me: “Okay, you’re not going to do THAT again. Instead of complaining, rejoice at the faithfulness of those who were there. Don’t look for the negative; think about the good things that I’m doing.”

My Experiences: Kenya

One other lesson that God taught me took place on a trip to Kenya in 2006. One day, we traveled into Kibera to visit an elementary school there. Kibera is a depressed area made up of mud houses with corrugated metal roofs along the sides of the railway that runs into Nairobi. As we neared the school, we were greeted by dozens of smiling children. They were practically singing “Welcome, welcome!” to us as we came. When we delivered backpacks of basic supplies – notebooks, pencils, and the like – to the teachers, they wept. We watched as the teachers taught the students, and saw how hungry the children were to learn.

As I watched this, my first thought was: “This is ridiculous! We need to go home and raise money so these kids can have a real school, with real equipment! They need computers and other modern tools so they can really thrive!” And God said, “Okay, stupid! (God sometimes has to be blunt with me to get my attention.) Do you understand why that won’t work? They don’t even have electricity here. How can they use computers?” Chagrined, I said, “Wow, I guess that wasn’t very smart, was it?”

And then came the lesson. “You don’t think that you’re materialistic because you are give generously to support the church and its missionaries. But when you see a situation like this, your first thought is that more money is the answer. That’s a sneaky form of materialism, but it’s materialism all the same. Throwing money at this situation won’t help. The answer is in what they’re getting: support, education, and love. There are problems that money can’t fix, that only I can fix. But if you’re always thinking about money, you can miss the ways that only I can work.”

How Can You Participate in Missions? DO WHAT GOD LEADS YOU TO DO!

The most important step to take is to ask God: “How can I participate in Your work around the world?” I’ve outlined a number of ways that the Church of the Nazarene encourages its members to participate in world missions. If you’re part of another denomination, or a non-denominational church, look for ways that you can support its mission work. After all, Jesus commissions us: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

How does your church or denomination “do missions”? What are your experiences related to mission work? Feel free to share your stories in the comments!