Thursday, September 25, 2014

Multicultural Ministries of The Global Church of the Nazarene "Roberto's Reflections - September 2014" for Wednesday, 24 September 2014

Multicultural Ministries of The Global Church of the Nazarene "Roberto's Reflections - September 2014" for Wednesday, 24 September 2014









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ROBERTO'S REFLECTIONS
General Superintendent



Immigrants in the Bible: For such a time as this!
Paul as Immigrant:
But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. Acts 9:15
We are familiar with the story of Saul of Tarsus who persecuted the disciples of Jesus.  On his way to Damascus he had an encounter with the risen Lord “Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"  The Lord Jesus had plans for Saul to go out of his native country and to travel the world preaching the gospel of Jesus.  Paul a Roman citizen became an immigrant in many foreigner lands.
Paul came to the Antioch church, the first Multicultural Christian community as we know it in the New Testament.  There God confirmed his call: “As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.”  We know that in Antioch there were at least five large ethnic communities: Syrian, Jewish, Latin, Greek, and African.
Dr. Ray Bakke, in his book entitled “Integral Mission In The City” states: that “Paul and Barnabas went on to plant churches patterned after the model of the church of Antioch- -a church that brought together ethnically, racially, socio-economically, and linguistically diverse elements of the city and that met with equal integrity the needs of the “haves” and the “have nots.” 
Paul used the privilege of his Roman’s citizenship to travel the world in fulfilling the call of God on his life to the Gentile world.  More than any other Apostol in the New Testament, Paul traveled the known world of his time as an itinerant evangelist and church planter.  He became an immigrant/missionary in many different world areas.
 Practical lessons from this reflection:
  1. God continues to call people to become immigrants/missionaries to carry out the gospel of Jesus.
  2. God prepares people in a multicultural environment for a multicultural journey.
  3. God can use the advantages of our particular nationality or citizenship to allow us to reach people of different countries with the gospel.

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SNAPSHOT

Ethnicity
District
Churches
Worship
Membership
Multicultural
Alaska
1
24
 -  
Multicultural
Anaheim
4
429
459
Multicultural
Arizona
2
399
280
Multicultural
Canada Central
8
1,204
1,156
Multicultural
Canada Pacific
3
211
350
Multicultural
Canada Quebec
1
62
68
Multicultural
Central California
1
887
1,204
Multicultural
Central Florida
5
920
1,611
Multicultural
Chicago Central
2
82
113
Multicultural
Dallas
1
68
82
Multicultural
East Tennessee
1
106
31
Multicultural
Georgia
1
15
23
Multicultural
Hawaii Pacific
11
1,172
1,067
Multicultural
Illinois
3
133
91
Multicultural
Intermountain
2
62
29
Multicultural
Joplin
1
 -  
 -  
Multicultural
Kansas City
6
345
570
Multicultural
Los Angeles
5
233
241
Multicultural
Louisiana
1
11
8
Multicultural
Metro New York
7
425
375
Multicultural
Mid-Atlantic
6
253
148
Multicultural
Missouri
1
63
96
Multicultural
New England
2
250
903
Multicultural
New Mexico
2
617
1,170
Multicultural
North Carolina
2
80
68
Multicultural
Northeast Oklahoma
1
45
45
Multicultural
Northern California
12
1,850
2,483
Multicultural
Northwest
1
 -  
 -  
Multicultural
Northwest Indiana
3
8
8
Multicultural
Northwestern Illinois
1
33
33
Multicultural
Northwestern Ohio
1


Multicultural
Oklahoma
1
55
 -  
Multicultural
Oregon Pacific
3
81
81
Multicultural
Philadelphia
2
173
126
Multicultural
Pittsburgh
2
 -  
 -  
Multicultural
Prairie Lakes
3
233
235
Multicultural
Sacramento
4
708
751
Multicultural
South Arkansas
1
587
456
Multicultural
South Carolina
3
46
12
Multicultural
South Central Ohio
2


Multicultural
South Texas
2
771
933
Multicultural
Southern California
2
46
178
Multicultural
Southern Florida
2
87
151
Multicultural
Southwest Indiana
1
25
38
Multicultural
Southwest Oklahoma
1
171
83
Multicultural
Southwestern Ohio
4
82
240
Multicultural
Virginia
1
 -  
 -  
Multicultural
Washington Pacific
3
110
170
Multicultural
West Virginia North
1
22
5
Multicultural Total

136
13,184
16,171
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CALL FOR PRAYER

Mulicultural Ministries Facilitator - Rev. Junior Sorzano
Multicultural Ministries Pastors and Congregations

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EVENTS
September 29 – October 2 - Korean Ministerial Conference
October 14 – 15 – Haitian French Pastor’s Teachers Training
October 16 – 18 – Ethnic Facilitator’s Training/Meeting


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Multicultural Ministries vision is to encourage the development of strategy and initiative to reach the USA/Canada mission field through the visionary leadership of the ethnic facilitators, and their strategy committees.


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