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"Nazarenes develop innovative Easter series for MTV Lebanon by Michelle McLane
A Nazarene program airing on MTV Lebanon shared the gospel in innovative, three-minute episodes leading up to Easter.
When it comes to modern audiences, short and powerful pieces maintain attention. For Ayman Kafrouny and his wife, Grace, keeping this year’s Arabic Easter television programs brief was essential in their efforts to share the gospel.
Kafrouny, a well-known secular Lebanese vocalist, left his profitable career when he gave his life to Christ and became pastor of a local Nazarene church. Now, the Kafrounys create television programs to share the Good News with Arabic-speaking people. By featuring celebrities asking questions about Christ, personal testimonies, and dramatized Bible teachings, the Kafrounys produce programs funded by the Church of the Nazarene’s World Mission Broadcast. These shows take the message of Christ to Arabic-speaking people around the world.
For the last two years, the Kafrounys and a group of dedicated volunteers, including members from the Nazarene church that Kafrouny pastors, have produced television shows for the Lenten season. At first, the shows were asked for and eagerly welcomed by Murr Television (MTV) in Lebanon, a secular television station broadcasting across the Arabic-speaking world. Kafrouny is a popular figure, and there is a significant traditionally-Christian population in Lebanon. Religious programming before the Easter holiday is desirable. However, making room for free, 25 minutes shows twice a day made scheduling difficult and costly for MTV. Additionally, some church leaders in other denominations were wary of the airtime and influence the evangelical presentation of the gospel was receiving.This year, Kafrouny and Grace aimed to express the message of salvation in a powerful way and alleviate the airtime pressures MTV was experiencing. Kafrouny’s entertainment industry experience allowed him insight into what a television station might need. Soon, they had a plan to create 14 three-minute segments that would easily fit between shows, acting as fillers for the station and presenting the teachings of Christ in easy-to-understand segments. They would be named “لمحة,” which roughly means “to glimpse or see.” To overcome the critics’ objections that the free airtime for the evangelical message was excessive, the initial spot for the segments was paid for through the Kafrounys, much like a commercial.
Since airtime was being purchased, the station negotiated with Kafrouny for spots. Two were reserved: before the morning news and prior to the evening primetime shows. These were ideal times, providing the opportunity to reach a large number of viewers. The station also used the pieces as fillers after live shows and sports events throughout the Easter season.The completed programs not only shared the teachings of Christ, but engaged imaginations as actors portrayed the principles and stories of the Bible. In one piece, a lamb is lost in the wilderness, crying out for help until the Shepherd comes to retrieve it. Another segment depicts, without words, the importance of showing kindness to your neighbor. The metaphorical illustrations of Christ encourage people to seek and find the hope of eternal life.
In response, Kafrouny’s critics released their own gospel programming for Easter. Kafrouny saw this is as a positive. He paraphrased Philippians 1:18, noting that if leaders in the church are motivated to create these programs and teach “the good news of the word of God, I consider it a gain, not a loss.”
Kafrouny is quick to note that the inspiration for the programming is not his or Grace’s.
“I believe, with my experience with the Lord, this is something that comes, in a way, inspired by Him,” he said. “When we’re praying and we ask Him, ‘Lord, what do you want us to do? Give us an idea…’ and all of a sudden an idea comes—I’m not that creative [of a] person.”
While it is difficult to quantify the lives that are changed by the biblical messages portrayed in these shows, Kafrouny knows that his work is making a difference. He has received positive feedback from Christians and secular leaders alike, and sees the Lord working in their lives. One well-known actor in Lebanon recently contacted Kafrouny through Twitter to praise the shows.
“I really want to encourage you for this show,” the actor said, “even though it [is a] short show, but it’s very powerful. I hope one day you will be able to make it longer because of the good content for the Spirit that you are including in each show.”
Additionally, more than a million Syrian refugees who previously may not have heard the gospel have been flooding Lebanon. The providentially-timed program presents the Good News when they are most in need of hope. As they experience the greater religious freedom that Lebanon offers, there is also the opportunity for them to encounter the Kafrounys’ biblical programs through MTV Lebanon’s channel and website.Every year the Kafrounys and their small team of volunteers face the challenges of creating Christian programming: They encounter financial and political hurdles that can only be overcome by prayer and the partnership of supporters through World Mission Broadcast. Yet, God continues to provide.
“We see that the Lord is coming back very soon,” Kafrouny said, “and what we are doing, presenting the Church of the Nazarene in that part of the world, we could not do it without the support of all the saints around the world, especially those who want to serve the Lord but cannot go there. We are doing the work on their behalf.”Read More
"Amersfoort church develops new direction, expands to three locations" by Gina Grate Pottenger
Outgrowing its original meeting place, a Dutch church chose to separate into three locations with the intention of reaching more areas and making room for new people.
The Church of the Nazarene in Amersfoort, Netherlands, has responded creatively to the good “problem” of growing too large for its original church meeting place: Last September, the congregation established two additional locations in other parts of the city.
In Trinitarian language, the church is now three-in-one.
Founded nearly 25 years ago, the church had reached a membership of about 300. The high school theater where they met had seats for just 150, so they moved to two services. But it still felt crowded, with little space for newcomers.
“People felt lost in their own church,” says Pastor Karel Muller (photo left).Although they explored the idea of finding or building a larger worship center, it proved to be financially difficult.
“The church board invested much in communication with the congregation. We paid attention to the ideas and plans in the meetings on Sunday, organised several special meetings on other days and held digital surveys,” he said.
The congregation made the innovative decision to move into three separate locations, not only giving them more space, but expanding their reach in the city. By having smaller congregations in each location, they believe it may be easier for people to participate and know many of the other regular attenders.
Three in one
“We believe in small churches and in this time of the culture we think that community building in churches is more important than growing bigger and bigger,” said Gerrie Huizenga, who now leads the location that is called City Church. “And discipleship, we can do it best when we know each other.”
According to Huizenga (photo left), it’s not strictly church planting, as the church doesn’t see the three locations as three separate churches, just three different worship spaces that meet simultaneously.The South location, with about 70 to 80 people, meets at the church’s original location, led by Erik Smit. The group in the north of Amersfoort is called Link, with about 100 people on Sunday mornings led by Muller. City Church, with 70 to 80 regular attenders, meets in another Protestant church building, which was willing to share their space.
Each group is developing a distinct flavor, as they assess the needs of people in those immediate neighborhoods.
The Link church is exploring new forms of worship that they hope will speak to spiritual seekers, or to gradually attract the uninterested partners and children of those who are already attending.
City church offers a service shaped more like a small group or Bible study, as participants sit in a circle and interact with one another as part of the service. They recently opened a special room that all the church members across the city can use for meetings, study, pastoral activities, having coffee and so on. They also expect to begin deploying into community social action in partnership and service with organizations already active in the urban center, which is populated by more people in material need.
The staff see themselves not only responsible for their respective group, but to the whole. Muller preaches in all three locations, and for special occasions they gather as one group to worship. The youth, ages 12 to 18, also have their own service once a month, organized by Monique Kalkman, the church’s youth worker.
Change is hardNearly six months since the new approach began, the church is assessing how the process has gone and is reflecting on what they’ve learned.
“We’re trying to do our best to be one church with three,” said Huizenga. “It’s not a problem, but it’s a struggle how to do it.”
The three pastors meet weekly to stay close as a team, sharing and offering help to one another. Yet, they and the church board have been challenged in finding their way in somewhat altered roles, Muller said.
Attenders have struggled with a sense of loss, mainly because in choosing a new location in which to worship, some have been separated from friends who committed to a different location.
“One side is that you become smaller, you become more of a family again, you know who’s there,” said Jacqueline van der Korput (photo left), who has attended since 2000, and served as a worship leader for many years. “The negative is that you miss your friends. That’s what I keep hearing. I miss my friends, but I think it is very good. When you stick together and you organize for yourself, that can just swallow you, and you are busy with the church and you forget there are people out there who need Jesus, they need attention, our love.”As a result of the new locations with smaller numbers, there are new members.
“To divide is to multiply and that’s what’s happening already.”
One man from a non-Christian background had never gone to church because he suffered from an anxiety disorder. Yet, the smaller, more informal setting at one of the new locations gave him the courage to begin attending regularly.
Another couple from a non-Christian background heard about one of the new locations from others in their neighborhood. They had been eager to learn more about faith in God, and have joined that Nazarene community.
New vision
The congregations are still trying to determine what style and forms they will adopt for worship and outreach.
Digna van Geest, who has attended the church for 15 years, chose to worship at the Link church because it is closest to where she lives. She said the transition has been positive, but the group is still trying to determine what their vision is and how they will be involved in the community.
When Link evaluated themselves, they realized that there were two very different visions among the group. Yet, van Geest said, the overall attitude among the group is to stay committed and continue communicating with one another, despite potential conflicts or disagreements.
Muller said that because the church and the leadership were united in the change, it has held them together through the transition and resulting challenges.
“When things are not like you wish or your way, everybody is willing to try new things and even if it’s always not what you specificially want, it’s not [as if] with one hurdle everybody runs away,” said van Geest.Read More
"Amid ruins of Ecuador earthquake, pastors preach, show JESUS film" by Santiago Bereche
It was raining furiously the whole way but we finally pulled into Jama. We went from shelter to shelter questioning if anyone knew where Pastor Servio Macías might be.
After the April 16 earthquake shook parts of Ecuador, killing more than 600 and injuring thousands, Nazarenes searched for missing church members, suffered the destruction of many of their homes and mourned loss of life. But, that didn’t stop them from jumping into action to help others – and tell them about hope in Jesus.
District Superintendent Santiago Bereche, of the Ecuador North Coast District, went to investigate what was happening and wrote this report.
It has been so difficult to make any kind of an assessment due to the collapse of the road system. On Sunday, April 17, the morning following the 7.8 earthquake we attempted to make it to the most affected cities and towns where we have Nazarene congregations. Jama was on the list but the roads were impassable.
On Monday, April 18, after hours of work we decided to try again to make it to Jama. We were told that the only way to get there was with four-wheel drive and that was not within our possibilities.
On Tuesday, April 19, and remember there has been no telephone contact within that entire area since the earthquake, we decided that one way or another we were going to make it to Jama. The road was to take us through Pedernales, but when we arrived within 20 kilometers of that town, we found that the traffic was backed up bumper to bumper all the way into town and the road would not be opened until midnight.
We began to investigate for an alternate route and discovered that if we backtracked about an hour, we could take a torturous country road. It was raining furiously the whole way but we finally pulled into Jama.
We went from shelter to shelter questioning if anyone knew where Pastor Servio Macías might be. Someone finally told us he was in a shelter with a big group of people at the top of a very difficult hill to climb.
It was 10:30 p.m. when we dragged ourselves over the top to find a number of temporary shelters made from plastic stretched across rough poles. Under a black plastic covering we found Pastor Servio with his wife and five children. It was an emotional reunion! When he saw us, his face broke into a smile and we all embraced one another. We were impacted by his unbreakable spirit and his firm faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We were all reduced to tears as the pastor told us how the rented three-story church building had collapsed. The evening of the earthquake, a bit before 7 p.m., 10 people had already arrived to pray for the service. When the shaking began, six were able to race out the door and into the street. Four were buried under the building. The pastor, who had not arrived yet, turned around and rushed home first to check on his family and then came to the church to find, to his utter despair, that the church had collapsed and four were trapped inside.
They found flashlights and peered inside as best they could with the hope of rescuing their brothers and sisters. There was a small opening of 12 to 16 inches wide and a passerby offered to try to fit inside to see how he could help. He was able to clear the debris off the two children and they pulled 12-year-old Diego and his 13-year-old sister out alive.
It was too late for brother Colofito Avila Intriago and his wife Lidia Paredes. Apparently Lidia had died instantly. Colofito could be heard screaming for help for a few minutes. The next day both bodies were recovered from under the church.
Brother Israel Vélez was riding his motorcycle taxi from the beach towards the town when the earthquake occurred and he lost control and suffered a fatal crash. In total, six Nazarene members in Costa Norte were killed, and 12 additional family members.
The town people had naturally set up the shelters on high ground because of the fear of a tsunami. The night of the earthquake, at 2 a.m., Pastor Servio Macías preached a powerful sermon to all in the shelter, with several city authorities present. The Word has been planted in the hearts of all those who were lucky enough to be in that highest refuge. We made it back home to Santo Domingo at 5 a.m.
A decision was made to return the next evening, April 20, to show the JESUS film at 7 p.m. on top of the highest hill of Jama. In moments like these, as difficult as they are, there is great hope in our Jesus of the Gospel message.
On April 20, the JESUS Film team of the Ecuador North Coast District made the 3+ hour trip to the demolished town of Jama. They passed small groups of shelters on each hill until they reached the highest hill where the pastor and his family had constructed their rustic, temporary dwelling place.
The JESUS Film team set up the equipment, passed out water, non-perishable food items, and invitations to the JESUS film. At 7 p.m., with the little Yamaha generator purring gently in the background, 120 people settled in to watch the two-hour story of Jesus from the book of Luke. As always, at the conclusion an invitation was given and 20 people prayed to accept Jesus as their personal Savior.
Pastor Servio Macías and the Jama congregation will now begin the work of discipling these new believers into the family of God.
Local churches have already begun to come together to respond to the needs in their communities with the resources they have on hand, according to Nazarene Communications Network. They are requesting support to provide for urgent needs, including bottled water, food, mosquito nets, blankets, and medicine.
Watch this video to see them in action.
District Superintendent Santiago Bereche, of the Ecuador North Coast District, went to investigate what was happening and wrote this report.
It has been so difficult to make any kind of an assessment due to the collapse of the road system. On Sunday, April 17, the morning following the 7.8 earthquake we attempted to make it to the most affected cities and towns where we have Nazarene congregations. Jama was on the list but the roads were impassable.
On Monday, April 18, after hours of work we decided to try again to make it to Jama. We were told that the only way to get there was with four-wheel drive and that was not within our possibilities.
On Tuesday, April 19, and remember there has been no telephone contact within that entire area since the earthquake, we decided that one way or another we were going to make it to Jama. The road was to take us through Pedernales, but when we arrived within 20 kilometers of that town, we found that the traffic was backed up bumper to bumper all the way into town and the road would not be opened until midnight.
We began to investigate for an alternate route and discovered that if we backtracked about an hour, we could take a torturous country road. It was raining furiously the whole way but we finally pulled into Jama.
We went from shelter to shelter questioning if anyone knew where Pastor Servio Macías might be. Someone finally told us he was in a shelter with a big group of people at the top of a very difficult hill to climb.
It was 10:30 p.m. when we dragged ourselves over the top to find a number of temporary shelters made from plastic stretched across rough poles. Under a black plastic covering we found Pastor Servio with his wife and five children. It was an emotional reunion! When he saw us, his face broke into a smile and we all embraced one another. We were impacted by his unbreakable spirit and his firm faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We were all reduced to tears as the pastor told us how the rented three-story church building had collapsed. The evening of the earthquake, a bit before 7 p.m., 10 people had already arrived to pray for the service. When the shaking began, six were able to race out the door and into the street. Four were buried under the building. The pastor, who had not arrived yet, turned around and rushed home first to check on his family and then came to the church to find, to his utter despair, that the church had collapsed and four were trapped inside.
They found flashlights and peered inside as best they could with the hope of rescuing their brothers and sisters. There was a small opening of 12 to 16 inches wide and a passerby offered to try to fit inside to see how he could help. He was able to clear the debris off the two children and they pulled 12-year-old Diego and his 13-year-old sister out alive.
It was too late for brother Colofito Avila Intriago and his wife Lidia Paredes. Apparently Lidia had died instantly. Colofito could be heard screaming for help for a few minutes. The next day both bodies were recovered from under the church.
Brother Israel Vélez was riding his motorcycle taxi from the beach towards the town when the earthquake occurred and he lost control and suffered a fatal crash. In total, six Nazarene members in Costa Norte were killed, and 12 additional family members.
The town people had naturally set up the shelters on high ground because of the fear of a tsunami. The night of the earthquake, at 2 a.m., Pastor Servio Macías preached a powerful sermon to all in the shelter, with several city authorities present. The Word has been planted in the hearts of all those who were lucky enough to be in that highest refuge. We made it back home to Santo Domingo at 5 a.m.
A decision was made to return the next evening, April 20, to show the JESUS film at 7 p.m. on top of the highest hill of Jama. In moments like these, as difficult as they are, there is great hope in our Jesus of the Gospel message.
On April 20, the JESUS Film team of the Ecuador North Coast District made the 3+ hour trip to the demolished town of Jama. They passed small groups of shelters on each hill until they reached the highest hill where the pastor and his family had constructed their rustic, temporary dwelling place.
The JESUS Film team set up the equipment, passed out water, non-perishable food items, and invitations to the JESUS film. At 7 p.m., with the little Yamaha generator purring gently in the background, 120 people settled in to watch the two-hour story of Jesus from the book of Luke. As always, at the conclusion an invitation was given and 20 people prayed to accept Jesus as their personal Savior.
Pastor Servio Macías and the Jama congregation will now begin the work of discipling these new believers into the family of God.
Local churches have already begun to come together to respond to the needs in their communities with the resources they have on hand, according to Nazarene Communications Network. They are requesting support to provide for urgent needs, including bottled water, food, mosquito nets, blankets, and medicine.
Watch this video to see them in action.
"Entre las ruinas dejadas atrás por el terremoto de Ecuador, hay pastores que predican y exhiben la película JESÚS" by Santiago Bereche
Llovió furiosamente durante todo el camino, pero finalmente llegamos a Jama. Fuimos de un refugio a otro preguntando si alguien sabía dónde se encontraba el pastor Servio Macías.
Después del terremoto del 16 de abril, que resultó en mas de 600 muertos y miles de heridos, los nazarenos buscaron a sus miembros desaparecidos, sufrieron la destrucción de sus hogares y lamentaron la muerte de sus seres queridos. Sin embargo, esto no les paró y no perdieron la oportunidad de ayudar a los demás – y compartir con ellos la esperanza que hay en Jesús.
El superintendente del distrito Costa Norte, Santiago Bereche fue a ver lo que estaba pasando y escribió este informe.
Ha sido difícil hacer algún tipo de evaluación por el derrumbe de las carreteras. El domingo 17 de abril, después del terremoto de 7.8, intentamos ir a los áreas mas afectadas donde tenemos congregaciones Nazarenas. Jama estuvo en la lista, pero por la carretera fue imposible de llegar.El lunes 18 de abril, después de horas de trabajo, intentamos de nuevo llegar a Jama. Nos dijeron que la única manera para poder llegar sería si fuéramos en cuadriciclos y no estuvo en nuestras posibilidades.
El martes19 de abril, (y recuerden que no hubo ninguna comunicación por teléfono en toda esta área desde el terremoto), decidimos que de alguna manera íbamos a llegar a Jama. Tratamos con la carretera que va por Pedernales, pero al llegar dentro de 20 kilómetros del pueblo, encontramos toda la carretera llena de trafico y nos enteramos que no abrirían paso hasta la medianoche.
Empezamos a buscar una ruta alternativa y descubrimos que si retrocedíamos una hora, podríamos ir por otra carretera tortuosa por el campo. Estaba lloviendo fuertemente todo el camino pero por fin llegamos a Jama.
Buscamos albergue tras albergue preguntando si alguien sabia algo del Pastor Servio Macías. Finalmente alguien nos dijo que él estaba en un albergue en la cima de una colina muy difícil de subir.Era las 10:30PM de la noche cuando llegamos a la cima y encontramos varios albergues temporales hechos de plástico estirados entre varas. Debajo de una cubierta de plástico negro encontramos al Pastor Servio con su esposa y cinco hijos. ¡Fue un reencuentro emocional! Cuando nos vio, sonrió y todos nos abrazamos. Nos impactó mucho su espíritu irrompible y su firme fe en nuestro Señor Jesucristo.
Todos lloramos mientras el Pastor nos contó de cómo su iglesia de 3 pisos se había derrumbado. En la noche del temblor, un poco antes de las 7:00PM, 10 personas ya habían llegado a la iglesia para orar por el culto. Cuando el temblor empezó, 6 personas lograron escapar a la calle, 4 fueron enterrados debajo del edificio. El pastor, quien aun no había llegado, fue a su casa primero para averiguar de su familia y después regresó a la iglesia solo para ver que la iglesia se había derrumbado y que 4 personas estaban atrapadas adentro.
Encontraron linternas y haciendo su mejor esfuerzo, miraron hacia adentro con la esperanza de rescatar a sus hermanos de la iglesia. Hubo una hueco de 30 o 40 centímetros. Pasó un hombre y se ofreció a meterse al hueco para intentar ayudarles. Se pudo meter y sacó a David de12 años, y a su hermana de 13 años.
Era demasiado tarde para el hermano Colofito Avila Intriago y su esposa Lidia Paredes. Aparentemente, Lidia había muerto al instante. Le podían escuchar a Colofito gritando por unos minutos. El próximo día se pudo sacar los dos cuerpos de debajo del derrumbe.
El hermano Israel Vélez estaba manejando su moto taxi desde la playa cuando empezó el temblor y perdió el control, sufrió un accidente fatal. En total, 6 miembros nazarenos de Costa Norte murieron y12 familiares. Todos los fallecidos fueron del distrito Costa Norte. No hubo muertos del distrito Costa. Aunque han muerto parientes de nuestros hermanos y necesitamos seguir orando por ellos.
Naturalmente la gente del pueblo hizo albergues en tierra alta por el temor de un tsunami. La noche del temblor, a las 2 de la mañana, el Pastor Servio Macías predicó un sermón poderoso a todos en el albergue y con muchas autoridades de la ciudad presentes. La Palabra esta plantada en los corazones de los que tenían bendición de estar en ese refugio alto. Regresamos a la casa en Santo Domingo a las 5 de la mañana.
Tomamos la decisión de regresar el próximo día 20 de abril, para mostrar la película JESUS a las 7 de noche en la cima de la colina mas alta en Jama. En momentos así, aunque sean difíciles, hay una gran esperanza de predicar las buenas nuevas de Jesús.
El 20 de abril, el equipo de la película JESUS del distrito Costa Norte hizo un viaje de mas de 3 horas a la parte mas destruida de Jama. El equipo pasó varios grupos pequeños de albergues hasta llegar a la colina mas alta donde el pastor había construido su vivienda temporal.
Cuando llegaron, arreglaron el equipo, entregaron agua, víveres e invitaciones a las personas para mirar la película JESUS. A las 7 de la noche, con el generador sonando suavemente en el fondo, 120 personas llegaron para mirar la película de 2 horas sobre la vida de Jesús según el libro de Lucas. Como siempre, después de la película, hubo una invitación y 20 personas oraron para aceptar a Jesús como su Salvador personal.
Pastor Servio Macías y la congregación Jama, ahora estarán haciendo el trabajo de discipular a estos nuevos creyentes en la familia de Dios.
"Scotland church takes a risk" by Ted Voigt
A Nazarene church in Scotland decided to take a risk and go outside their walls to reach an unreached part of their community. They had no idea if it was going to work or not.
How do we decide it’s time to act? When is the moment we step out in faith in a new direction, and how do we know it will be worthwhile? And what if we fail?
Clive Tutty, pastor of the Uddingston Church of the Nazarene just outside of Glasgow, Scotland recently took a step out in faith with his congregation, but their story isn’t what you might expect to hear. They spent over four months planning, praying, weighing the costs, assessing the risk, and then they did something bold: they moved their Sunday morning service to a cinema.“We’ve been toying with the idea of going somewhere novel, someplace new,” says Pastor Tutty. The cinema turned out to be a possibility. They started with a trial run and after advertising widely they began moving their worship service to the cinema on a once-a-month basis. They hoped a change of venue might reach the generations their congregation was currently missing.
Because of the risks and costs involved, the bar for success was fairly high.
“We need to see 100 new people on the first day. That would be the sign that this would really work.”
On the day of the first cinema service, the Uddingston church arrived, along with two other local congregations, the Viewport and Twechar churches. Some required transportation as they typically walked to worship, and some didn’t make the journey to the new location at all.
“That first day in October, no new people came. None at all, it was just ourselves,” Tutty says. “Even some of my own people didn’t come.” But the service went on, with about 25 faithful gathered in the cinema. “We enjoyed the service, and the important thing was we were trying something. If people didn’t come, we couldn’t control that. We had done everything we could do.”
This is not a story of staggering numbers in attendance. This is a story of daring to try, about boldly going beyond the church doors, and refusing to see the outcome as failure.
“In a nutshell, I would say, we thought about it, we calculated, we prayed, we set out a price and the number of weeks we would do it. In the end it didn’t work, and no one was discouraged.”
Pastor Tutty and his congregation may not have attained the results they hoped for, but they don’t seem to regret taking the opportunity to do something new.
“It takes a lot of energy out of you doing something like this, mentally and physically. After that, we rested for a bit, and we are now looking at new ways to reach out. But we’ve all been encouraged by it really.” The British Isles North District, where Uddingston is located, is striving to embrace a culture where churches and leaders dare to dream of what God can do, and are willing to take risks to pioneer new, creative expressions of church, and reach their communities in innovative ways. Uddingston certainly exemplifies this new attitude toward taking risks. Tutty reported at the recent assembly about the cinema outreach effort, and was praised at the assembly for his church’s willingness to try something new. And even though they didn’t see the outcomes they hoped for, he says that receiving permission, even permission to fail, was an important motivating factor in their planning process.
Success is a relative term, and when a church is willing to seek out new expressions of corporate worship in their community, simply trying feels like success.[Ted Voigt is a writer and full time missionary with the Church of the Nazarene working in Wicklow, Ireland along with his wife Sarah and their kids.]
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"Baseball and bullfighting" by Shannon Herndon
When missionaries in Spain asked a local councilwoman for permission to run a kids' baseball camp in a green space outside the city bullfighting arena, the council woman made an astonishing suggestion.
It’s not every day that you hear baseball and bullfighting in the same sentence.
Josh and Shannon Herndon, missionaries in Spain, recently partnered with a Work & Witness team from the U.S. to lead baseball ministry for the children of Illescas, where the Herndons live and minister. Because baseball is not widely available in Spain, it has proved an incredibly popular way to build relationships and serve the community. (Read more and watch a video.)
The Herndons wrote about how baseball opened the door to a local school, and to … well, read on.
On March 12, 2016, a Work & Witness team from the Gateway Church of the Nazarene in Murrieta, California came to Illescas, outside Madrid, to put on a sports camp for the children of our community. We were unexpectedly blessed to be invited into one of the local primary schools to teach baseball in some of the physical education classes. This was a big deal, because Spanish schools are very closed off to visitors. Parents don’t even have easy access to the classroom or teachers. The fact that we were invited to interact and play baseball with children every day inside the school was amazing. We had approximately 120 children a day playing baseball at the school.
God once again opened unexpected doors to us for our evening baseball camp. Originally, we had hoped to play baseball at the local soccer field, as we had done in the past. When I went to find out if it was available, I was told that it was reserved every day of the week until 10 p.m. There was no room for baseball. So, we needed to find another option.
In our town, like almost every Spanish town, we have a bullfighting ring: The Plaza de Toros. In our town, there is a very large, open area outside of the bullfighting ring. This large area is meant for parking, most likely, but it is grassy and spacious. We approached the local City Hall to ask if we could use the green space outside of the bullfighting ring to hold a baseball camp. I submitted the paperwork explaining what we wanted to do, and where, and we waited for a call back.A few days later, I received a call from City Hall asking if I would come to meet with the Councilwoman in charge of sports, culture and education for our city. When we met her, she asked us questions about our baseball camp. She was concerned that it may rain. She was also concerned that it would get dark out too early, and we would not have enough time to play baseball.
While we understood these concerns, we didn’t have another option, so we told her that we were still interested in the green space. She was quiet for a moment. Then she looked at us and said, “What about the bullfighting ring? Would that be good enough for what you want to do?”
We just stared for a moment, dumbfounded. The bullfighting ring is the largest building in the city. It is the center of all cultural activities for our community. It is the epitome of Spanish culture.
“Yes,” we replied, “the bullfighting ring would be wonderful.”
She felt that if we used the bullfighting ring, we would be indoors, so it didn’t matter if it rained. There are lights, so it wouldn’t matter if it got dark. And there was enough seating for thousands of people – plenty of room for the parents to stay and watch their kids play baseball. God did it again. He provided in the most unexpected way!
Over the course of the week, we had 65 kids participate in our evening baseball camp. They were thrilled, not only to be playing baseball, but they got to be in the center of the bullfighting ring! The kids had a blast and the team from the Gateway Church had a wonderful time interacting with the kids and showing them the love of Christ.
We had one little girl who was blind. She was one of our school kids, but she had such a great time and learned to trust the team, that she came in the evenings, too. She played outfield with an adult partner from the team, batted using a “T,” and ran the bases holding her partner’s hand. It was a beautiful experience all around. It was wonderful to be reminded that God cares about our lives and ministry, and He provides in the most unexpected and excellent ways.
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