REFLECTION
Love, Faith and Obedience - I John 5:1-5
Rev. Samuel Chung, Chinese Ministries Facilitator USA/Canada
We usually talk about love and faith as though they are entirely separate things. Yet John shows us a better way to understand these virtues: love and faith are connected in that, when we receive the love of God and follow His commands by faith, our faith finds its outgrowth in love for others.
I believe this insight is crucial when we come to the Lord’s Table. When we partake of the bread and the cup in remembrance of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we are enacting an interconnection of love, faith, and obedience.
Recently, I started a Cantonese/Chinese worship service in my local church. Right now, it is made up of a core group that is working together to plan the services. The first Sunday we gathered, we had Holy Communion at the end of the service. As we took the bread and cup together, I acknowledged to the group what we all knew: that in and of ourselves, it would be almost impossible to plant a new ministry. We don’t have enough people in our group, we don't have financial support, and we don’t have a good place to meet. Nonetheless, we all felt the Lord leading us to start this ministry. We do what we do because we have experienced God’s love and want to respond by sharing His love with others. With our own knowledge and abilities, we know we can’t do much. Yet, by faith, we do what God asks of us. We know that when we try our best, God will do the rest.
When we study Hebrews 11, we see that many of the heroes of faith did not see the result of their faith. Abel was killed before he could hear God commend him. Enoch was taken up to heaven before he could hear the commendations of his fellow believers. Abraham did not see his heirs became nations. Moses did not see the Israelites enter the Promised Land. But as the author of Hebrews writes, “Faith is being . . . certain of what we do not see ” (11:1).
So today, as we start planting ministries for God, we do so because we want to respond to God’s love by loving Him, loving others, and following His commands. We plant by faith. And indeed, we are blessed as we do so because, as Hebrews 12:1 tells us, “we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.” Scripture shows us the results of faithfulness—we can know for sure that if we walk by faith, God will bless our work and be glorified through our faithfulness.
Let us continue to serve Him with faith, love, and obedience.
Statistics: Chinese Ministries
Congregations - 19 * Total Members - 1,279 * AVG Worship Attendence - 901
*These statistics are based on churches/districts that identify their congregations as Chinese
NEWS
Nazarene Bible College - New Educational Opportunity to Ministerial Students - MPPAs you continue your ministry preparation, we would like to inform you that Nazarene Bible College and the USA/Canada Region's Multicultural Ministries Office, directed by Roberto Hodgson, have launched a new educational opportunity for you. The program will provide Church of the Nazarene ordination courses for ethnic students in the United States and Canada through Nazarene Bible College (NBC).
It is hoped that this new venture will incentivize the younger generation of various ethnicities toward ordination educational opportunities at NBC. The program is a multicultural collaboration to raise up a new generation of ethnic pastors.
Multicultural Ministries of the Nazarene Global Ministries Center in Kansas City, Missouri, will provide scholarships for the Ministerial Preparation Program at Nazarene Bible College to any ethnic students preparing for ordination. The normal cost per ordination class is $125, but will be reduced to $90 per class with the scholarship. All classes are offered in English and are available either online or at our beautiful campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Ethnic students may contact Admissions at Nazarene Bible College by calling 719-884-5060 or by sending an inquiry to: info@nbc.edu.
David M. Church, PhD
Vice President of Enrollment Management
Nazarene Bible College
BIA Update
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE IMMIGRATION RESOURCE CENTER OF
SAN GABRIEL VALLEY RECEIVING FEDERAL APPROVAL
As of 6/12/15 the Immigration Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley is officially recognized by the BIA! This Immigration Resource Center has already been providing in-office legal services as of January of this year under the temporary legal covering of an immigration attorney on the advisory board, Robert Romero. Now that they are BIA recognized, they can smoothly continue on with the work they have already begun. This has been a 1.5 year process.
Scott Haskins is the Director of the Immigration Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley which is an Extension of Mountainside Communion and Community Partners. www.ircsgv.org and www.facebook.com/ircsgv
Did you miss the webinar: Launching an Immigration Legal Services Ministry?
Kathleen Leslie, Director of the Immigrant Legal Services Tech Unit for World Relief sent the recording for you to listen to as well as some other helpful resources. You can also find these on the Multicultural Ministries website.
A recording of the webinar (please click the link and download the recording to your computer before listening)
A link to the Board of Immigration Appeals Roster (this will detail current BIA providers by state and city)
A link to demographic data: Migration and Policy Institute (MPI) (a great resource for general immigration data) Also, MPI provides county-specific information on undocumented populations as well; at this link, Excel spreadsheets are available on the right side of the screen for this research. Center for Migration Studies (CMS)(information regarding undocumented populations by state)
Don't forget to register for the NTS Preachers Conference if you haven't already!
Trevecca Nazarene University - Nashville, TN
June 30 - July 2, 2015
UPCOMING EVENTS 2015
July 16 - 19, 2015 - Samoan Conference USA/Canada
Clarion Hotel Anaheim Resort - Anaheim, CA
For more information contact Rev. Taulima Oge at taulimapoto@yahoo.com
July 16 - 19, 2015 - Haitian National Nazarene Convention
"Se Preparere pour Proclmer or Equip to Proclaim"
New Jerusalem COTN
2431 Church Ave., Booklyn NY
Contact Rev. Pascal Permis at pascase7@aol.com
July 17 - 19, 2015 - Black Ministries SE Regional Fellowship, Birmingham, Alabama
For more information contact Bill Allen at cfcnaz.bill@att.net
July 23 - 25, 2015 - Native American Ministries Conference, Bethany First COTN
For more information contact John Nells at jrnells07@gmail.com
August 28 - 30, 2015 - Black Ministries Zone 4 Labor Day Celebration -
Location - Lexington, Kentucky
Everyone is invited to attend whether you are on or off the zone. It will be a blessed weekend!
For more contact information contact Rev. Robert Hunter at Roberth210@aol.com
September 17 - 19, 2015 - Ethnic Student Leadership Development Initiative
Global Ministry Center - Lenexa, KS
For more information contact Multicultural Ministries at multi@nazarene.org
September 28 - October 1, 2015 - Korean Ministerial Conference USA/Canada, Chicago First Korean
For more information contact Rev. Stephen Lee at slee4j@sbcglobal.net
The African Ministries Conference that was scheduled for July at MNU has been cancelled and is scheduled to be revisted for 2016. For the most update information on Multicultural Ministries Events visit our website
BIRTHDAYS
June 27 - Rev. John Nells, Native American Ministries Facilitator, USA/Canada
July 6 - Rev. Michael Gatkek, Sudanese Ministries Facilitator, USA/Canada
July 8 - Rev. Samuel Chung, Chinese Ministries Facilitator, USA/Canada
July 9 - Rev. Pascal Permis, Haitian Ministries Facilitator, USA/Canada
If you are an Ethnic Facilitator and we missed your birthday please contact multi@nazarene.org
CALL FOR PRAYER
Upcoming Multicultural Ministries Events USA/Canada
NYC 2015 - Louisville, Kentucky
Charleston Carolina AME Church and Community
Those Churches and 501c3's applying for BIA
Chicago Central Liberian Conference in July
All Multicultural Churches and Pastors
Race Relations in the USA/Canada
For More Ethnic Leadership to be Called into Ministry and Leadership
PALCON TNU
A NOTE FROM THE MULTICULTURAL MINISTRIES DIRECTOR
DR. ROBERTO HODGSON
A few days ago, I participated in the North American Dynamic Church Planting International Summit at Mid America Nazarene University. The Summit was focused on vision casting, training, and reporting by DCPI leaders, strategic planning for a church planting movement in North America and world-wide, as well as time for testimony, prayer, fellowship and more. In one of the presentations the following chart was introduced in a lesson entitled “Mentoring Rhythms”. I’d like to share this chart with you; I thought you might find it useful to adapt these concepts for mentoring your leaders of influence.
Battle Rhythm for Mentor/Coach Leadership
Daily - Prayer: Pray for those you are mentoring - Empowerment
Weekly - Personal Touch: Connect with key ministry leaders with a telephone call or a personal email/text - Empowerment: Encouragement
Monthly - Create Monthly Teleconference/Podcast for key SMT/MT Mentor/Coaches - Empowerment: Equipment
Quarterly - Personal Engagement: Travel quarterly to meet face-to-face with key WZL/SMT/MT Mentor/Coaches to train and equip them Empowerment: Engagement
Yearly - Gathering/Summit: Gather with key SMT/MT a yearly summit - Empowerment: Strategic Planning
Battle Rhythm for Mentor/Coach Leadership
| Daily | Prayer: Pray for those you are mentoring | Empowerment |
| Weekly | Personal Touch: Connect with key ministry leaders with a telephone call or a personal email/text | Encouragement |
| Monthly | Create Monthly Teleconference/Podcast for key SMT/MT Mentor/Coaches | Equipment |
| Quarterly | Personal Engagement: Travel quarterly to meet face-to-face with key WZL/SMT/MT Mentor/Coaches to train and equip them | Engagement |
| Yearly | Gathering/Summit: Gather with key SMT/MT a yearly summit | Strategic Planning |
Have a great Summer!
____________________________
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