Engage Magazine - Issue No. 125 - Engage: A Global Mission Magazine of the Global Church of the Nazarene for Friday, 17 November 2017

Engage Magazine - Issue No. 125 - Engage: A Global Mission Magazine of the Global Church of the Nazarene for Friday, 17 November 2017

www.engagemagazine.com for Friday, November 17, 2017 Issue #125

RECENT ARTICLES:

My friend, a refugee by Abby SlingerlandThis summer, I went as a volunteer missionary to Serbia for about five weeks with Courage for the Journey, a Nazarene initiative to support refugee aid work in Central Europe. During our first couple days, my team and I were asking for directions to the local Western Union in Belgrade when I first met Samuel* at what the Serbians call “Afghan Park.”
Samuel, young man of about 20 years old with curious brown eyes and a thoughtful smile, offered to help us. He quietly walked just ahead of us, though we learned later that day over tea at the train station café that he loves to tease and make jokes with a mischievous smile.
During our stay, he became like a brother to us. We continued to spend time with Samuel until we left Belgrade.
One hot afternoon (it was about 49 degrees Celsius/120 Fahrenheit), I pulled out my new green notebook, which I had just purchased from a street vendor, and asked Samuel if he would tell me his story. He laughed a little, shrugged his shoulders, telling me to ask anything I wanted to but warned me that it would make me cry.

Samuel was born in Pakistan in a family of five sisters and three brothers. I could see the shadow of grief in his eyes when he told me his oldest brother had disappeared, as many young men had. The worst part, he told me, was that they don’t think they will ever hear from him or see him again: his family believes religious extremists in their community are responsible. Samuel’s family was heartbroken, which led them to worry even more about Samuel.
Not two weeks later his father came into his room, telling him he needed to leave before they came for him or threatened to kill their family as a way of coercion. Samuel told me that this was the first of the hardest moments of his life.
He traveled for a time with someone his uncle knew. They drove some, but most of his traveling was done by foot. He progressed through Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey with different strangers; he had to entrust his life to guides he did not know, through mountains, cities, forests. Food and water was hard to come by in his travels; there was even a period of four days where he could not get any food at all.

From Turkey, he reached Bulgaria where he says authorities caught and beat him for two months to force him to give his fingerprint, which could have had him sent back to Bulgaria once he reached a country in which he could live peacefully. They finally dropped him off in one of the only open-borders countries in the area: Serbia.
Samuel was stuck in Serbia for almost a year. He tried to cross the borders into Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina… but he each time officials returned him to Serbia.

He and other refugees in Serbia waited and waited. Many are still waiting. I was there, witnessing their frustrating situation. However, what amazes me is that they never give up on the idea that someday they are going to make it somewhere good for their families.
Samuel’s dream is to continue medical school and bring his family to join him in a safe place, although he said he hopes to someday return to Pakistan as a doctor to help his country.
Samuel contacted me not too long ago and said he made it out of Serbia after 11 heart-wrenching attempts; he is struggling to survive in a world where he feels discriminated against and sometimes feels less than human.
I feel very honored to have met him and to have been part of helping him restore his dignity. During one of our conversations, I asked him what he missed most about Pakistan. His answer still breaks my heart: “Everything. The food… my family… my culture… my people… everything.”
Please pray for Jesus’ peace and comfort to rest on Samuel and the other refugees.
Samuel asked me to share his story and his poem with all my friends:

About Time

There Was a Time When I Loved Alone

A Change of Season

This Prisoner Breathes

How Hard It Is to Manage Life Insight

To Catch Butterflies

Kept On Compromising on Life

You Know Only Dreams

There Was a Heart that Burnt Out: Light

The Wind, Too, Can Change Direction

Can Someone Bring Me My Entire Being?

Last Conversation with the Sky

The Breeze Rewrites

Please Bring a Token Home from Each Journey

The Flower is Torn at the Heart

I Say Nothing Anywhere.

*A different name is used in order to protect him as he travels. Photo credit: Samuel. (Abby is a missionary kid who grew up in Latin America. Her missions calling and love for people has led to her current Intercultural Studies and Psychology double major at a Nazarene university. She hopes to go on to graduate school and become a counselor in crisis situations around the world.)
Read More

Mission briefing: culture shock by Howard Culbertson
People often think the feelings arising in encounters with strange foods or customs constitute “culture shock.” In reality, those brief moments of discomfort are not what anthropologists mean by culture shock.
Anthropologists and psychologists use “culture shock” to describe the confusion, doubt and nervousness common to people who have recently begun living cross-culturally and who are also experiencing one or more of the following:

• Exaggerated homesickness
• Excessive sleeping
• Loss of sense of humor
• Avoiding contact with local people by spending hours on email, the Internet and social media
• Suffering psychosomatic illnesses
• Frequent feelings of boredom or apathy
• Inexplicable bouts of weeping
• Eating compulsively
• Diminished ability to work effectively
• High level of irritability
• Hostility towards people of host culture
• Jingoism or super patriotism
• Stereotyping of people of host culture
• Exaggerated attention to cleanliness

Real culture shock is thus more deep-seated than the momentary discomfort felt when confronting strange things to eat or unfamiliar social norms. What anthropologists call culture shock grows out of a long period of coping with unfamiliar ways of doing, organizing, perceiving and valuing things. Indeed, because people experience culture shock symptoms over a period of time rather than in one isolated event, some anthropologists say “cycle of adjustment” rather than “culture shock.”
Culture shock symptoms appear quite prominent in some people and less so in others. Nonetheless, the cycle of adjustment (or culture shock) – honeymoon, frustration, adjustment, and acceptance – is inevitable. Though culture shock is not a medical condition, the psychological disorientation, the withdrawal and excessive sleeping can be compared to organisms going into physical shock after a trauma.
Culture shock symptoms may come and go over a period of time. Describing her experiences in Senegal, missionary Linda Louw said, “I thought culture shock was something that you got through and it was done, but it just keeps coming.”
The sense of unease and heightened irritability common in the frustration stage can be triggered by small things. The adjustment stage usually does not kick in until a person has become familiar with and increasingly comfortable in a new culture.
Fortunately, the effects of culture shock can be somewhat mitigated. Here are half a dozen coping suggestions:

• Realize what is happening to you and why.
• Remind yourself that this happens to every expatriate to one degree or another and that people do regularly survive it.
• Refuse to succumb to the desire to withdraw from people. Choose instead to engage with those of your host culture.

• Get involved in a hobby that involves in some way the place where you serve.
• Be bold about reaching out to people in your host culture to build a support network of confidants, including enlisting individuals to help in improving your language and cultural acquisition.

• Consciously cultivate your curiosity about the wildlife, geography, plant life, history, literature, foods, social norms, folk tales, children’s stories, proverbs, legends and fables of the place where you serve.

Have you lived for an extended period in another culture? What strategies helped you cope and adjust? Send us a message at facebook.com/engagemissions
Photo credit: Brian and Julie Woolery, missionaries in Japan.
Read More

First missionaries sent by church in Africa Central Field by Carol Anne EbyNazarene churches of the Africa Central Field have sent out one of their own families to serve as missionaries.
While districts and fields in several other areas in Africa have sent missionaries, it is the first time for the Central Field to send missionaries outside their field.
Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Milly and Agnes Ibanda are now settling into their new home on the island of Madagascar with their four children: Gustav, 11; Alphonsine, 10; Bertha, 3; and Theresa, 7 months.
The Nazarene denomination has had a thriving presence for 27 years in the North Kivu Central District of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the Ibandas grew up and began their family. Joyfully, yet in the midst of many challenges, local churches pledged a support offering of US $700 for the family.
The other four districts in DRC pledged prayer support as they leave their country, language, culture and families.
Gavin Fothergill, field strategy coordinator, says, “They not only left all that but also their [field], as Madagascar has now separated to become part of the new Africa Indian Ocean Field. We miss their presence among our leaders.”
The Ibandas will work with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) to serve vulnerable street children, help in church growth and leadership development, and coordinate education. They also hope to be part of planting churches in Seychelles, Mauritius, La Reunion and other parts of the island where the church is not yet, and where the people may never have had the opportunity to hear and know about Jesus Christ personally.
Their life experiences have certainly qualified them for these ministries. Along the way, God has moved them from personal commitment to Jesus to serving their local community and nation, and finally to recognizing His call to cross-cultural service outside their home country.

Loss and suffering
Both born in the Congo, Milly and Agnes experienced painful childhoods, which has given them an affinity for suffering children.
Milly was the only son of his parents. Until he was 4, the family lived in the neighboring central African nation of Burundi. They were forced to leave when Congolese citizens were no longer allowed to live and work there.
Both of his parents died while he was still in primary school – his father was tragically murdered. He was moved from family to family, as no foster care agency existed. Finally an uncle adopted him.
Milly’s parents had been Catholic, but his uncle was Pentecostal, and he was very influential in encouraging Milly to follow Christ. Although at first he had to force Milly to go to church, Milly felt it helped build his faith. One day in children’s church, he made his own decision to accept Jesus as his Savior and Lord and was baptized.
Yet, Milly became disillusioned with the church while in his teens. He decided to boycott all churches. But after two years, he recommitted, along with his friends, to give Christianity another chance. He asked God to lead him to where he should worship.
In 2000, a Nazarene pastor moved into the area and started a worship group in his living room. Eventually from this small beginning, the Himbi Church of the Nazarene was formed. Milly renewed his commitment to Christ and was among the first members of the church.
Agnes’s parents separated when Agnes was only 5. She was then obliged to live with her father who took on his 6th wife. She had many painful experiences, but her father was determined to keep her in school. She focused on her studies, wanting the opportunity for a better life.
In high school, Agnes loved biology and chemistry. She wanted to attend medical school and become a doctor. Her father believed in her dream, but could offer no financial help. She failed to complete even one semester because of sickness and inability to pay the tuition fees. The only work she found was cleaning offices, but much of the time she was not given her paychecks.

During these years, DRC was torn by rebellion. In the midst of this societal turbulence, Agnes came to know Christ. After she surrendered her life to Him, a burning love for God and His service ignited inside of her. That passion led her to study theology. She met Milly at the Nazarene church and in 2005 they were married. They both worked hard to earn bachelor’s and then master’s degrees.
Agnes was the first woman to be ordained in the North Kivu Central District in March of 2015. Milly has met ordination requirements and is awaiting ordination.
Both have worked as lecturers at Africa Nazarene University, at Nazarene Theological College of South Africa, and Nazarene Theological Institute in DRC .
Preparation for a missionary calling
The Ibandas have a passion for working with youth and sharing the gospel. Milly began a Congo DRC Youth in Mission (YIM) team. During their three consecutives summer missions, the Ibandas and the YIM teams fed abandoned babies in orphanages in Uganda, fed children who were suffering from malnutrition in Burundi, taught English in Congo and Rwanda, showed the JESUS Film, and conducted public evangelism campaigns through performances and door-to-door ministries. Milly says, “All these were preparing me for mission work.”
While Milly and Agnes were in Nairobi, they felt God directing them to partner with a pastor in Kabiria, one of the slums in Nairobi, Kenya. Today that church is doing well and again Milly felt it was molding them for mission work. It was at that time they began to feel a call for cross cultural ministry.
While he was still at ANU, Milly attended an Africa-wide conference of Nazarene churches in 2015. It came at a time when he was discouraged and unsure of his future. Then regional director Rev. Filimao Chambo gave a powerful message from Romans 10:13-15 challenging the audience not to become complacent.
Milly said, the call for “sending and going to make Christlike disciples in the nations was like a spear pointing directly to my heart. I went to my knees and asked God to use me.”
He left that conference with a renewed passion and confidence to continue reaching people for Christ wherever God might lead.
Milly feels his call to missionary service was shaped and mentored by many leaders in Africa and professors at Africa Nazarene University who challenged and encouraged him to follow God’s call.

The Ibandas are facing many challenges and need the prayer support of their global church.
-- They arrived in Madagascar just a few weeks ago in the midst of a national crisis dealing with Pneumonic plague. Public gatherings are not encouraged and schools have been closed.
-- They need to learn a new language (Malagasy) and adjust to a new culture and to new foods.
-- Adjusting to narrow roads and mountainous terrain is a challenge in driving.
In spite of it all, they have experienced friendliness from the people and believe God has a purpose in sending them to Madagascar. They believe in the race they have begun, and rely on His strength and the prayers and support of the church to sustain them to the finish line.
Read More

Video: People see JESUS in their language for first time by JESUS Film Harvest Partners Nov 7, 2017JESUS Film Harvest Partners recently made the JESUS film available in Cabécar, the language of an indigenous people group in Costa Rica.
Download this and watch other stories at nazarene.org/stories.

 Read More

The garage that was too small for God by Nicole Almeida
Candeias, Brazil – A four-person church plant, which began meeting in a garage just two years ago, has grown to 500 members and moved to its own building, with room to continue adding new people to its church family.
Pastor Ricardo Carvalho was discipling a small group as part of his obedience to God’s call to ministry on his life. But during the 2013 General Assembly, a quadrennial international gathering of the global Nazarene denomination that met in Indianapolis that year, he felt that God wanted him to start a church. While listening to one of the denomination's leaders speak at the assembly, Pastor Ricardo heard him say, “If God is calling you to start a church in a garage, then do not hold back.”
A year later, and with his pastor’s help, Pastor Ricardo started meeting in his garage with four people.
Pastor Ricardo said that within a month, “the garage was too small for us. My son would stand at the gate waiting for people to come in. We had no sign saying who we were, it was the Holy Spirit acting in a supernatural and unexplainable way.”

After a couple more months, the doors opened for the group to move to a bigger place. Once again, they outgrew the space, and moved to two evening services.
Some keys to the congregation’s growth include forming them into small groups, and using a leadership model they call “voluntary servants.”
“With God’s movement and the members of the church being happy, we started small groups,” said Pastor Ricardo. “In these groups, many people would convert and would be transformed. People that were involved with drugs or had tried suicide would come into our church and we started to work with people that truly were lost. Today they are transformed and are pillars of the church.”.
Eighty-six people accepted Jesus in this year’s first semester. All are baptized and are ready to go through a process called “Altar,” where they get to know the Church of the Nazarene.

Children, family and youth are the church’s focus. Classes are offered to children of all ages, the worship team has its own class, couples have their class and new members have a class just for them. The children have a weekly children’s worship service designed to help them grow in faith according to their physical and emotional stages of development.
“Every first Sunday of the month, I ask the children to come to the temple [sanctuary] and join their parents for communion. One Sunday after preaching and calling people to the altar, six children gave their lives to Jesus. Their teacher shared with me how impressed she was by the conviction of their decision,” said Pastor Ricardo.
The congregation has adopted a unique leadership model, in which a select group known as “voluntary servants” help to lead the church. Rather than being assigned one specific ministry to lead, and giving them a title that confines their role, they are expected to simply serve wherever and however they are needed, with the emphasis being on “service.”
Pastor Ricardo said, “The Bible itself says, ‘whomever wants to be of use, then serve.’ Therefore, we must learn to serve one another to learn how to honour our pastors and our brothers and sisters.”
Although the church in Candeias has found space for all its activities, they had to overcome challenges came along the way.

Some were financial. Brazil has undergone an extended financial crisis, which has affected churches, as well. Every time Candeias moved to a larger facility, renovations were needed. Sometimes it was air conditioning and chairs; other times it was making more space for the members to be comfortable and room for more people to come to church.
Having completed the sanctuary, one of the church’s next plans is to renovate five rooms to serve the community, including a pastoral office to offer spiritual guidance, a legal counsel, psychological counseling, and financial and administration counseling. There are church members qualified to offer services in each area, and eventually it will be a way to meet practical needs they’ve recognized in the community.
Being able to keep the theology firm and close to the word of God is another big challenge.
“Be a welcoming church that loves the soul of the sinful man. We want to love and search for lost souls,” the pastor says, is a challenge for the church. Sometimes people in their community do not want to know about God, enter a church, or get to know the pastor. But once they get to know the loving God, many change their ways and start being a part of the church.
Candeias Church is working with youth from a local pre-school and some high schools. Some of the youth they are reaching have been enslaved by drugs and prostitution. Their first youth camp was during the annual Carnival season.
In Brazil, and more specifically in Recife, Carnival is not just dressing up and going to the streets. The festival is marked with heavy drinking, and witchcraft and Satanic cults are more visible and attractive.
Since this can be a dark and dangerous time, the pastor was not willing to leave the youth vulnerable to temptations. They had no place to go, so he offered his home for the camp. It was a time to grow closer as a group. Since then, they have grown in their faith, and are active members of the church.

In the future, the pastor wants to train more people, buy land to start building their own church center, and have seminary students reach people living in government-funded estates to plant small churches there.
Candeias Church also has a vision to open a Christian school.
Read More

Video: A broken family is restored by South America Region Communications
Alba Gaibor felt trapped in a broken marriage and longed to run away until a pastor and his wife offered marital counseling and a new hope in Christ. Today, Alba's family is completely transformed thanks to the work of God through the church in Ecuador.
Alba Gaibor felt trapped in a broken marriage and longed to run away until a pastor and his wife offered marital counseling and a new hope in Christ. Today, Alba’s family is completely transformed thanks to the work of God through the church in Ecuador
Download this video

Read More
contact us Nazarene Home
-------