Inside This Issue:
Taxi driver shares Jesus
Rainey new FSC for CIS
Easter Offering
Portugal church reaches out
Prayer and Fasting
CIS FIELD CHURCHES RALLY TO HELP CRIMEA CHURCH by Gina Grate Pottenger, Eurasia Region Communications
Kiev, Ukraine – The Ukraine District, the Russia South District, as well as the Armenian churches, along with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) in Ukraine, have collected
money to send to a Nazarene church in Sevastopol, Crimea, whose families have been struggling to access food during
the tension and political uncertainty
surrounding the transfer of the Crimea
peninsula from Ukraine to Russia in the
past weeks.
“People were running low on savings and local grocery stores were running out of food,” said the Sevastopol pastor*. A major bank had closed due to ownership issues, and other banks were low on cash, so they froze all their patrons’ accounts, according to an NCM
staff member*. Also, shipments of new supplies were not making it into the city.
Friday, 14 March, the pastor of the Sevastopol church called the Ukraine District office with news that 27 of the families needed help to purchase groceries, along with 10 orphans whom the church is caring for. The district and several Ukraine churches collected the money and wired it to the pastor’s credit
card so he could buy the needed food and
supplies and then distribute it on Sunday, 16 March.
The pastor filled four carts with supplies equal to about $900 (9,700 Hryvnia), and approached the check-out lane. The cashier told him that under the circumstances, each shopper could not purchase more than $50 (543
Hryvnia) worth of product per day. He had to return everything in the cart to the shelves. Later the same day, the banks froze all their accounts.
“So, literally, they have money in their account, but won’t be able to use it,” the NCM staff member said.
Sunday morning, NCM sent out a letter appealing to its contacts to be in prayer for Crimea and also asked for help.
The NCM staff member is encouraged by the way Nazarenes in three different countries of the CIS Field are stepping in to help.
“It is exciting, because although we might have different national or political views, we are still united in the desire to help our brothers and sisters who are going through the hard time and appeal for help.”
Two weeks ago, NCM passed more gathered funds to the Sevastopol pastor’s wife who had been visiting family in Kyiv and on 21 March, she returned home and was able to deliver the funds.
NCM expects a report soon on how the funds were spent and the supplies distributed.
The Russia South District received a special offering on Saturday, said Scott Rainey, field strategy coordinator for CIS.
“I am returning to Kiev with the equivalent of $1,918 (USD) … for the needs of the Church of the Nazarene in Sevastopol as they reach out to the community in this important time,”
Rainey said.
The superintendent of the Russian North District said, “We are also taking offerings and will be sending them soon.”
* Names omitted for security
money to send to a Nazarene church in Sevastopol, Crimea, whose families have been struggling to access food during
the tension and political uncertainty
surrounding the transfer of the Crimea
peninsula from Ukraine to Russia in the
past weeks.
“People were running low on savings and local grocery stores were running out of food,” said the Sevastopol pastor*. A major bank had closed due to ownership issues, and other banks were low on cash, so they froze all their patrons’ accounts, according to an NCM
staff member*. Also, shipments of new supplies were not making it into the city.
Friday, 14 March, the pastor of the Sevastopol church called the Ukraine District office with news that 27 of the families needed help to purchase groceries, along with 10 orphans whom the church is caring for. The district and several Ukraine churches collected the money and wired it to the pastor’s credit
card so he could buy the needed food and
supplies and then distribute it on Sunday, 16 March.
The pastor filled four carts with supplies equal to about $900 (9,700 Hryvnia), and approached the check-out lane. The cashier told him that under the circumstances, each shopper could not purchase more than $50 (543
Hryvnia) worth of product per day. He had to return everything in the cart to the shelves. Later the same day, the banks froze all their accounts.
“So, literally, they have money in their account, but won’t be able to use it,” the NCM staff member said.
Sunday morning, NCM sent out a letter appealing to its contacts to be in prayer for Crimea and also asked for help.
The NCM staff member is encouraged by the way Nazarenes in three different countries of the CIS Field are stepping in to help.
“It is exciting, because although we might have different national or political views, we are still united in the desire to help our brothers and sisters who are going through the hard time and appeal for help.”
Two weeks ago, NCM passed more gathered funds to the Sevastopol pastor’s wife who had been visiting family in Kyiv and on 21 March, she returned home and was able to deliver the funds.
NCM expects a report soon on how the funds were spent and the supplies distributed.
The Russia South District received a special offering on Saturday, said Scott Rainey, field strategy coordinator for CIS.
“I am returning to Kiev with the equivalent of $1,918 (USD) … for the needs of the Church of the Nazarene in Sevastopol as they reach out to the community in this important time,”
Rainey said.
The superintendent of the Russian North District said, “We are also taking offerings and will be sending them soon.”
* Names omitted for security
YOUR STORY
GOD'S STORY
OUR STORY
GOD'S STORY
OUR STORY
Taxi Driver Shares Jesus With Passengers by Gina Grate Pottenger
"Hadi died and another Hadi lived."
5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
eurasiaregion.org or visit
www.eurasiaregion.org.
We welcome stories, photos and prayer requests. E-mail submissions to communications@eurasiaregion.org
Brad Firestone, Comm. Coordinator
bfirestone@eurasiaregion.org
Gina Pottenger, Editor in Chief gpottenger@eurasiaregion.org
Matt Lee, Writer & Designer
mlee@eurasiaregion.org
Zarah Miller, Video Producer
zmiller@eurasiaregion.org
Arthur Snijders, Regional Director
awsnijders@eurasiaregion.org
Transforming Our World:
In Christ • Like Christ • For Christ
E u r a s i a R e g i o n a l O f f i c e • P o s t f a c h 1 2 1 7 • 8 2 0 7 S c h a f f h a u s e n , S w i t z e r l a n d
Phone (+49) 7734 93050 • Fax (+49) 7734 930550 • E-mail whereworldsmeet@eurasiaregion.org
"Hadi died and another Hadi lived."
Hadi*, of Lebanon, may drive a taxi as his occupation, but his preoccupation is sharing Jesus with as many passengers as he can by playing the audio Bible in dozens of languages, as well as handing out Bibles, tracts and copies of the JESUS film on DVD.
He wasn’t always so zealous about evangelism. In fact, he spent half a lifetime simply figuring out what it means to follow Jesus Christ.
Hadi was raised in another religion, but when he was 16, a friend invited him to a Christian church, and he quickly identified himself as a Christian.
However, the teaching at this church didn’t lead him into a personal, transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. It was simply another religion for Hadi to follow, and he didn’t read the Bible.
As a result, he struggled in his new beliefs.
“There wasn’t a very good relationship between me and Jesus. I wasn’t aware of what Christianity means or what holiness means at that time, so I wasn’t really aware of myself as a Christian.”
Without proper discipleship, Hadi floundered in his relationships and decisions. That’s how he ended up married to two women at once.
In Hadi’s former religion, it is acceptable to have multiple wives. After having four children with his first wife, he fell in love with a second woman.
He approached the leaders at his church about the situation. They encouraged him to be with both women at the same time, but said he would need to go through an informal divorce ceremony with his first wife to make the dual marriage ethical.
After the “divorce,” Hadi made a habit of spending half the week with the first wife and their children, and then half of each week with his second wife.
His relationships with his first wife and
children deteriorated.
Then his daughter Sarah began attending the Bouchrieh Church of the Nazarene. Hadi decided to visit and see what it was like. Gradually, the biblical teaching transformed his mind and heart.
He began to read his Bible.
Soon, Hadi became convicted by the Holy Spirit about his dual marriage. He prayed and asked Jesus what he should do.
One afternoon he was napping. In a place between dreaming and waking, he felt a hand on his shoulder. This sensation gave him a joy he had never experienced before. A hand took his and led him down the stairs of his home in
the vision, but it felt like he was floating.
“I felt such a joy that so far I cannot really verbalize it, I cannot give any explanation to it,” Hadi said, with tears filling his eyes. “I woke up from my nap and I felt I am a totally different person [than] who I was before the nap. Hadi died and another Hadi lived. A new Hadi lived and Jesus Christ came into my life.”
Shortly after this experience, Hadi’s second wife called him to ask him for a divorce. He tried to share Christ with her, but she wouldn’t listen.
The divorce allowed him to return to a Biblical family situation with his first wife and children. Now the entire family attends the Nazarene church, and are growing in their faith, as well as their harmony with each other. They have shared their faith with people from their home village and a new house group is now meeting there.
As Hadi grew in a genuine and healthy relationship with Jesus, doors flew open to share his faith with his taxi passengers. People who knew about his occupation would give him Bibles – boxes and boxes of them. One person gave him 22 boxes. Another gave
him three boxes, another five. He had Bibles in many languages of potential passengers. He also was given an audio Bible in dozens of languages. And he carried Christian music CDs.
Whenever a new passenger enters his car, Hadi asks the person if it’s OK for him to play the Bible. Most passengers say yes. Hadi selects the language of the passenger. Later in the ride, he hands the passenger a Bible or a tract in his or her language.
“Jesus just gave me the green light to start evangelizing Him and now today I am a postman for Jesus Christ.”
Hadi has a warning for fellow believers: the most dangerous thing you can do is justify your personal choices and actions through a twisted understanding of God’s Word. He also
warns against following teachers of the Word who lead believers into false teachings. *Last name omitted for security.
Scott Rainey appointed FSC for CIS Field by Gina Grate Pottenger, Eurasis Region Communications
Kyiv, Ukraine - After serving as a missionary with his family in the CIS Field since April 2012, Scott Rainey has been appointed field strategy coordinator (FSC), succeeding Lonnie Norris.
“We are excited for the CIS field with this announcement,” said Norris. “Scott and family are passionate for the CIS and its ministries and churches. With the Raineys come a lot of experience, vision, an evangelist’s heart and great administrative skills. They are an answer to our prayers.”
Rainey, who spent 18 years as a local church pastor prior to becoming a missionary, has been assisting Norris since the latter part of 2012, when the Norrises relocated to the U.S. to support family there. Being Norris’s feet on the ground in the CIS helped Rainey get
to know the field more intimately, and become familiar with what is involved in the FSC role.
“The task is definitely bigger than I am,” Rainey said. “I’ve prayed God would always have me doing something I couldn’t do in my own strength and my own power, so I had to totally depend and rely on Him. I’m definitely there. I will rely on Him. I will also lean on our mission team; we’ve got a really good
mission team.”
In his first two years in the CIS Field, Rainey focused on encouraging and mentoring pastors and leaders in the practical side of pastoral ministries. Rainey said he quickly fell in love with the field, and got to know the people, spending a lot of time with the pastors.
During this spring’s district assemblies in the field, Rainey cast a vision for the field as a whole to strive for unity, evangelism and discipleship.
“What I’ve laid out before our districts is a focus … for us to be unified in Christ,” he said. “The scripture says the world will know you’re disciples by your love. The result of unity and love for one another is the world looking in and noticing there’s a difference.”
Rainey believes that unity, evangelism and discipleship are inextricably intertwined. Evangelism naturally flows out of unity in the body of Christ, and discipleship is wrapped
up closely with evangelism. Building on these principles, he challenged the five districts of the CIS to work together in sending their
own missionaries to new countries on the field where the denomination does not yet have a
presence.
In a recent interview with Engage magazine, Rainey shared how God led his family to Ukraine:
My heart has leaned toward missions since I was a teenager.
While I had never felt a call to go and serve as a missionary, we always wanted to serve God’s Church with missions at the forefront. At the start of 2011, while I was serving as lead pastor in Houston, I began to feel that
God was going to bring a change in my life away from pastoring the local church. In October 2011, at a Eurasia mission conference, we were asked to consider coming as missionaries to the CIS to develop and mentor
pastors. After a month of fervent prayer, we knew that God was saying, “This is the way of obedience and peace for you.” We gladly said
“yes” again to our Sovereign Savior and within two months our journey began.
“I appreciate Scott as a team builder,” said Arthur Snijders, Eurasia Region director. “He reaches out to other leaders in other parts of the CIS to bring them together as part of the team. In that sense he embodies the interconnectedness we need as a region”
The Rainey family – Scott’s wife, Jenny, and their two daughters, Bekah and Sarah – will remain in Kyiv, Ukraine. (To read the interview with Scott Rainey in Engage, visit http://tiny.cc/dk8kdx.)
NEW LIFE: Plan Now For Global Easter Offering
A few Sundays from now, Christians worldwide will celebrate the glorious fact that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered, died, and rose triumphantly so we might “have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10b). Hundreds of thousands of those who will join in this incredible celebration are Nazarenes, and these Nazarene worshipers will gather to praise our risen Lord in at least 159 world
areas.
How is it possible that the Church of the Nazarene has such enormous outreach among the lost around the world? The answer is simple — our people are known for sacrificial giving
to missions. From our earliest days, in obedience to God, Nazarenes have been
committed to make Christlike disciples
in the nations.
We share His life with others out of gratitude for what He has done for us! Yet, there are still countless people who are unaware of His grace for their lives. In fact, the Great Commission is a huge unfinished task that no one person, no individual church, not even one denomination can complete alone. But
together, we can and are changing lives through Christ by our faithful giving.
The nazarene.org/generosity website provides a variety of free tools your church can download and use to promote this year’s global Easter Offering for the World Evangelism Fund on April 20.
Resources include videos, posters, bulletin inserts, bookmarks, logos, a children’s activity sheet, sermon, PowerPoint presentation, and leader’s guide to help use the elements to their full potential. Languages include English, Español, Français, Português and Korean.
We invite you to join us now in praying that the Church of the Nazarene will indeed share NEW LIFE with men, women and children everywhere who are in need of His grace. May God use you to make a difference for His kingdom.
-- David W. Graves, chair - Board of General Superintendents
-- Verne Ward, director - Global Mission
-- Daniel Ketchum, director - Nazarene Missions International
Plan now for global Easter Offering
Reprinted from NCNNews.com
Portugal Church Attracts Neighborhood by Gina Grate Pottenger, Eurasia Region Communications
Cascais, Portugal - Pastor Josue Reis and his wife, Eloize, have helped to lead the Alcabideche Church of the Nazarene in reaching out to its community by partnering with a local government organization called The Wheel.
Through proposals for free music lessons to children and daily food delivery to people in need, the Nazarene church in November was awarded grants from The Wheel to fund its social programs.
The Wheel is a neighborhood government organization which has numerous businesses and institutions, as well as nonprofit organizations, in its membership. The members have representatives on its council, and also
contribute financially to the organization.
Members can make presentations requesting grants, and the representatives vote on funding the social projects.
For two years prior to approaching The Wheel, the Reises had already been offering free music lessons to children in the three neighborhoods surrounding the church. Last fall they presented the program at a Wheel meeting. As a result, a member organization – which happened to be Muslim – agreed to
purchase a piano, guitar and drums to expand the church’s lessons. The Reises teach 21 students over three days a week. Now, two of the children are in turn teaching new students themselves.
The Wheel also provides boxes of food to the church, which then distributes them daily to five different families who are in need.
The church members, which numbered about 10 when the Reises began pastoring 18 months ago, now average about 50 people in worship
attendance. They have gotten involved in the outreach through delivering the food packages.
“We would speak at the church about being a community, so the people at the church helped give out the food to the families,” Eloize said.
Being part of The Wheel has also opened doors for sharing about their mission with the council members and organizations. At a Wheel reception, the Reises made a presentation
about the love of God. Josue continues building relationships in the community by serving on The Wheel’s committee around sports and leisure activities, while Eloize serves
on a committee that works in social assistance.
“The church is well known in the community now. We have the doors of our church open every day of the week,” said Josue.
Although most of the children in the music classes, as well as the families who receive food, have not started attending the church, a few have. They have baptized four of the children who took music lessons, as well as one mother. In March, they’re going to baptize one more music student.
Miguel and Carlitos are two of those students. Josue taught Miguel how to play the drums and they began to develop a solid relationship. Sometimes Miguel and his younger brother Carlitos would even spend the weekend with the Reises. This turned out to be providential, when last summer the boys’ father died suddenly. Their mother was unable to care for them effectively, so the boys temporarily stayed with the Reises in their apartment.
“We were able to be there and talk about God with them and share things,” Eloize said. “Even up until now every weekend they stay in our apartment and go to church with us.” Miguel plays drums in the church’s worship team, and is growing in a relationship with God.
And they’ve just started to teach Carlitos
how to play base.
Josue and Eloize have big dreams for more community services in the future. They would love to begin offering computer classes for people who don’t know how to work a computer. They also want to launch a ministry to married couples to build marriages around a
deeper relationship with God.
Eloize recently started a ministry to women in the neighborhood, and about 30 women attend the once-a-month gathering, where they play games, talk and hear an evangelistic message.
“They feel more free when they’re just with other women, because they might not want to go and talk to the pastor,” she said.
Very quickly, some of the women began attending the church. One of the women was a very lonely person who had lost connection with her family. She Portugal: Free music lessons draw kids was drawn to the love demonstrated in the women’s group. As a result she was attracted to the church, accepted Christ, and started coming to worship services.
Now the church is praying with her for a
restoration of her family relationships.
“God has a big plan to rescue humanity,” Josue said. “The essence of this plan of rescue is love, and the church is here is to continue this plan. Our mission is to [share] the love of God here to the people."
PRAYER & FASTING
UNITED
Philippians 2:If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, 2 make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; 3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; 4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
Regional Director Arthur Snijders invites you to join the Eurasia Region in a united prayer and fasting initiative which started 7 March.
Field strategy coordinators, district superintendents and local pastors have been asked to lead the monthly prayer and fasting effort on the first Friday of every month, through 5 September.
The objective of this seven-month emphasis is to bring Nazarenes across the Eurasia Region together in a new spirit of interconnectedness and unity around God’s mission.
The theme for the initiative is drawn from Philippians 2: 1-5a (NIV): “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any
common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the
same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own
interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ
Jesus.”
Each month we will focus on one section of this scripture in our prayers, and also focus
our prayers on requests from one field of the Eurasia Region.
A prayer coordinator has been appointed for each field and this person will help to distribute the month’s themed prayer and the
list of prayer requests to all who wish to participate.
The Eurasia Region communications team will
also post prayer requests, short themed prayers and prayer and fasting resources on our regional prayer web page, at www.
eurasiaregion.org/prayer
The following people will serve as prayer coordinators for each field. Write to them if
you would like to receive the monthly prayer requests:
Central Europe Field:
Steve and Rachel Beiler, ceur-prayer@eurasiaregion.org
Eastern Mediterranean:
Seta Green, emed-prayer@eurasiaregion.org
CIS:
Alexander Zelensky, cis-prayer@eurasiaregion.org
Northern Europe:
Rev Colin McConkey, neur-prayer@eurasiaregion.org
India:
To be decided
South Asia:
Silvia Sinha, sasia-prayer@eurasiaregion.org
Western Mediterranean:
Shannon Herndon, wmed-prayer@eurasiaregion.org
We will pray for each field in the following order:
March: Central Europe
April: Eastern Mediterranean
May: CIS Field
June: Northern Europe
July: India
August: South Asia
September: Western Mediterranean
Join us for a new spirit of unity in prayer and fasting this year.
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave
himself as a ransom for all men.”—1 Timothy 2:5-6
All content in Where Worlds Meet is permissible to be republished within the Church of the Nazarene. Simply include this statement: “Reprinted with permission from Where Worlds Meet; April 2014 issue, available at eurasiaregion.org.”
PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray for God’s hand on the Nazarene TV show being broadcast on MTV in Lebanon through March and April. Ask God to use this program to inspire many people to accept Christ personally, and also to build the faith of those who are already believers. Please also pray for the Church of the Nazarene across the Middle East to effectively follow up with viewers who contact them for help.
Please pray for Hadi, in Lebanon, that God would work through his witness to bring many people to salvation in Jesus Christ.
Pray for the Alcabideche Church of the Nazarene in Portugal, and for Pastor Josue and Eloize Reis. Ask God to work through their ministries and witness to bring many people in their neighborhood to salvation in Jesus Christ, and that new believers will be effectively discipled.
Pray for the churches in Russia and Ukraine, that God would bring unity and enable them to be a witness to their communities during this time.
Christ commands us to pray for more workers for the harvest in Luke 10:2: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (NIV).
Pray that Godwould raise up and equip new workers across the region.
Where Worlds Meet is the monthly newsletter for the Eurasia Region of the Church of the Nazarene. To subscribe, e-mail communications@eurasiaregion.org or visit
www.eurasiaregion.org.
We welcome stories, photos and prayer requests. E-mail submissions to communications@eurasiaregion.org
Brad Firestone, Comm. Coordinator
bfirestone@eurasiaregion.org
Gina Pottenger, Editor in Chief gpottenger@eurasiaregion.org
Matt Lee, Writer & Designer
mlee@eurasiaregion.org
Zarah Miller, Video Producer
zmiller@eurasiaregion.org
Arthur Snijders, Regional Director
awsnijders@eurasiaregion.org
Transforming Our World:
In Christ • Like Christ • For Christ
E u r a s i a R e g i o n a l O f f i c e • P o s t f a c h 1 2 1 7 • 8 2 0 7 S c h a f f h a u s e n , S w i t z e r l a n d
Phone (+49) 7734 93050 • Fax (+49) 7734 930550 • E-mail whereworldsmeet@eurasiaregion.org
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