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A reason to stay by Kelly Becker Tirrill
In the mountains of northeastern Armenia, political and environmental changes over the past 25 years have caused poverty to descend and linger throughout the region. Where the fall of the Soviet Union upended the economy and earthquakes devastated the landscape, it is now livestock—namely a few hundred sheep and chickens—that are ushering in a new set of possibilities for the people of Akhuryan and Maralik through a project with Foods Resource Bank (FRB), a partner of Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM).
A history of hardship
Akhuryan and Maralik are located in the northeastern province of Shirak, one of the rural country’s most impoverished regions. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the state-owned industries that formed the majority of Armenia’s employment began to shut down, leaving the country to rebuild its economy. As the nation’s 600 collective farms were split into more than 330,000 small-scale plots overnight, agriculture, previously a marginal sector of the economy, became a refuge for many of the newly unemployed, offering some measure of food security and partial employment.
But without the knowledge and technical skills needed to farm effectively, Armenians continued to struggle. When an earthquake hit Shirak in 1988, it devastated the area, leaving thousands of people without homes. Many took up residence in domiks, old Soviet shipping containers, and due to the slow economy, some have taken decades to move out. Many men have given up on finding work locally and have migrated to other countries, leaving women at the head of one in three households, according to the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
“Young men and husbands are immigrating, mainly to Russia,” said Anna Artsrunyan, NCM coordinator for Armenia. “Sometimes, they are not coming back. They are getting married there and having their own families.”
Households headed by women are likely to be the poorest, according to IFAD. Women desperately looking for ways to support their families often turn to prostitution, said Artsrunyan.
Nazarene congregations in Shirak have been deeply concerned with the realities that people living in poverty must face: children without proper nutrition or education and families living in substandard housing.
“We understand poverty, and it is not easy,” Artsrunyan said. “When people live in poverty, you cannot force them to be happy. Even though you can at least try in the moment to make them happy, when you leave them in the same place, for them, everything is dark.”
In the beginning of 2013, FRB gave NCM a grant to provide 10 families in Akhuryan 20 goats each and 10 families in Maralik 10 sheep each. It is an opportunity to take these 20 families to a new place—one of sustainable provision.
Groundwork for growth
The key to a successful agriculture project is laying good groundwork and providing adequate support. The Nazarene chicken and sheep project in Armenia has both.
In Maralik, the mayor has lent support to the local project, making grazing land available for families who were chosen to receive sheep. He even helped the church find the best candidates for the program: those with many children, those who were sick, or those who had little means to provide for themselves and their families. In Akhuryan, the pastor developed a committee of church and community members to choose the recipients of the chickens.
Once the families were chosen, the initial training began, including instruction on how to care for the animals within the guidelines of the program. For example, no one is allowed to kill an animal. That way, at the end of the first year of the project, 25 percent of the livestock, including offspring, can be shared with others in need.
The participants now join in quarterly trainings in subjects such as livestock management and personal hygiene and nutrition. In Akhuryan, the person who sold the chickens to the church for the project has agreed to be a trainer as well.
“It helps us a lot because if beneficiaries have questions, he knows his chickens,” Artsrunyan said. “Whenever we need his help, he’s ready to help. It is a great opportunity for us.”
First fruits
The fruits of the project are already apparent, both for the families who benefit from the project and for the community that benefits from their stability.
“We hope this helps these families not to immigrate,” Artsrunyan said. “They can stay to work with their sheep. They have already gotten benefits from their sheep and chickens. Eggs from chickens from the very first day, and they can sell them. … They are milking the sheep. They are getting cheese. They are getting wool. They will have more sheep coming.”
There has been fruit in the church as well. While it is not a requirement to worship at the church to be a beneficiary of the program, those who have been coming have been contributing in a new way.
“In the case of Akhuryan, people already started to bring tithes to the church,” Artsrunyan said. “They brought eggs to the church. And the first thing pastor did the first time they brought the tithes is distribute them among some elderly ladies in our churches.”
In the beginning of 2014, 20 additional families will join the program, then another 20 in the beginning of 2015. Artsrunyan hopes the families who have been farming this year will become mentors for the next two sets of families. She sees that for this year’s participants, the help they are receiving is not a passing benefit, but something that is transforming lives.
“When we went for the training,” Artsrunyan said, “people couldn’t find words for how thankful they are, how happy, because this never happened to them before.”
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Un motivo para quedarse by Kelly Becker Tirrill
En las montañas del noreste de Armenia, los cambios en el clima político ocurridos en el correr de los últimos 25 años han causado que la pobreza se propague a lo largo de la región. En un lugar donde la caída de la Unión Soviética permitió la apertura de la economía y donde terremotos devastaron el territorio, hoy en día el ganado (básicamente algunas centenas de ovejas y gallinas) es lo que está abriendo las puertas a una nueva serie de posibilidades para los habitantes de Akhurian y Maralik, mediante un proyecto del Banco de Recursos Alimenticios (BRA), asociado con el Ministerio Nazareno de Compasión (MNC).
Una historia de dificultades
Akhurian y Maralik se encuentran ubicadas en la provincia de Shirak, en el noreste, la cual es una de las regiones rurales más pobres. Luego de la disolución de la Unión Soviética en 1991, las industrias propiedad del estado, las que proveían la mayoría de los puestos de empleo en Armenia, comenzaron a cerrar, dejando al país en necesidad de reconstruir su economía. Como las 600 granjas colectivas del país fueron divididas de un día al otro, convirtíendose en más de 330.000 terrenos más chicos, la agricultura (anteriormente un sector marginal de la economía) se convirtió en el refugio de muchos de los nuevos desempleados, ofreciendo un relativo nivel de seguridad de alimentos y empleo parcial.
Pero sin el conocimiento y habilidades técnicas necesarias para desarrollar las actividades en manera efectiva, los armenios continuaron enfrentando dificultades. Cuando Shirak fue azotada por un terremoto en 1988, el área fue devastada, dejando a miles de personas sin hogar. Muchos hicieron su vivienda en domiks, viejos contenedores de carga soviéticos, y debido a la lenta economía, muchos deberion esperar décadas para poder mudarse. Muchos hombres se han rendido y han dejado de buscar empleo en manera local, de modo que han emigrado a otros países, dejando a las mujeres a cargo de uno de cada tres hogares armenios según datos provistos por el Fondo Internacional para el Desarrollo de la Agricultura (FIDA) de las Naciones Unidas.
“Muchos hombres jóvenes y esposos se encuentran emigrando, especialmente a Rusia”, dijo Anna Artsrunyan, coodinadora del MNC para Armenia. “En algunos casos, ellos jamás regresan. Ellos terminan casándose y teniendo sus propias familias allí”.
“Los hogares liderados por mujeres tienden a ser los más pobres según el FIDA. Las mujeres más desesperadas por encontrar maneras de mantener a sus familias a menudo deciden dedicarse a la prostitución”, dijo Artsrunyan.
Las congregaciones nazarenas Shirak son muy concientes acerca de las realidades que las personas en pobreza deben afrontar: niños sin una nutrición o educación adecuada, así como familias que viven en lugares de alojamiento mucho menos que deseables.
“Nosotros entendemos lo que es la pobreza, y no es fácil”, dijo Artsrunyan. “Cuando la gente vive en pobreza, uno no puede forzarlos a ser felices. Incluso cuando uno intenta traerles felicidad en el momento, cuando se los deja en el mismo lugar donde uno los encontró, para ellos todo es oscuridad.”
En el inicio de 2013, el BRA le otorgó al MNC un préstamo para proveer 20 cabras a cada una de 10 familias en Akhurian, y 10 ovejas a cada una de 10 familias en Maralik. Ésta es una oportunidad para llevar a estas 20 familias rumbo a un nuevo lugar: un lugar de provisión sustentable.
Preparativos para el crecimiento
La clave para un proyecto agricultural exitoso se encuentra en los preparativos y la provisión de apoyo adecuado. El proyecto nazareno de gallinas y ovejas en Armenia cuenta con ambos.
En Maralik, el alcalde ha brindado su apoyo al proyecto local, poniendo terrenos de pastura a la disposición de las familias que fueron seleccionadas para recibir ovejas. Él incluso ayudó a la iglesia a identificar a los mejores candidatos para el programa: aquéllos con muchos hijos, los que enfrentan enfermedad, o quienes cuentan con medios limitados para proveer para sí mismos y sus familias. En Akhurian, el pastor desarrolló un comité de miembros de la iglesia y la comunidad para elegir a quienes recibirían las gallinas.
Una vez que las familias fueron seleccionadas, se dio comienzo a la capacitación inicial, incluyendo la instrucción en cuanto a cómo cuidar de los animales dentro de las guías del programa. Por ejemplo, a nadie le es permitido matar a un animal. De esta manera, al finalizar el primer año del proyecto, 25 por ciento del ganado, incluyendo a las crías, puede ser compartido con otras personas necesitadas.
Los participantes ahora asisten a cursos de participación cuatro veces al año, en los cuales se cubren temas que van desde el cuidado y administración del ganado, hasta la higiene personal y la nutrición. En Akhurian, la persona que vendió las gallinas a la iglesia para el proyecto se ha puesto a disposición para impartir los cursos.
“Nos ayuda en gran manera debido a que si los beneficiarios tienen alguna pregunta, él conoce a sus gallinas,” dijo Artsrunyan. “Siempre que necesitamos su ayuda, él está listo para brindarla. Es una gran oportunidad para todos nosotros.”
Primeros frutos
Los frutos del proyecto ya pueden verse, tanto para las familias que se benefician del mismo, así como para la comunidad que se beneficia de su estabilidad.
“Esperamos que esto ayude a que las familias no emigren,” dijo Artsrunyan. “Ellos pueden permanecer aquí y trabajar con sus ovejas. Ellos ya han recibido beneficios por parte de sus ovejas y sus gallinas. Reciben huevos de sus gallinas desde el primer día, y pueden venderlos... Ellos pueden ordeñar las ovejas. Pueden obtener queso. Pueden obtener lana. Y ya tendrán más ovejas.”
El fruto se ha visto también en la iglesia. Si bien la participación dentro de la iglesia no es un requerimiento para ser beneficiario del programa, quienes vienen han estado contribuyendo en una nueva manera.
“En el caso de Akhurian, la gente ya ha empezado a traer sus diezmos a la iglesia,” dijo Artsrunyan. “Ellos traen huevos a la iglesia. Y la primer cosa que el pastor hizo el primer día que trajeron los diezmos, fue distribuirlos entre las señoras ancianas de las iglesias.”
A principios de 2014, 20 familias adicionales se unirán al programa, y otras 20 al comienzo de 2015. Artsrunyan espera que las familias que han estado desarrollando actividades de granja durante este año se convertirán en mentores de los próximos dos grupos de familias. Ella puede ver que para los participantes de este año la ayuda que están recibiendo no es un beneficio pasajero, sino que es algo que está transformando vidas.
“Cuando fuimos a la capacitación,” dijo Artsrunyan, “la gente no podía encontrar palabras para expresar su gratitud y su felicidad; jamás les había ocurrido algo como esto.”-- Traducido por Ed Brussa.
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Ask the missionary: Time for a tune-up by Teanna Sunberg
Question: What should a missionary never do? -- Jimmy Claros
Answer:
It was a frosty weekday morning as I waited at the stop light by the zoo. Memories sped through the race track of my mind. That corner seemed to become God’s meeting place for me. I drove the same path twice a day, but so often, right there at the zoo intersection, God would speak to me about my attitude, my behavior, my expectations, my selfish desires. It was almost as if He had built a pit stop portal for Teanna at the corner of the zoo. Anthropomorphically speaking, the God of creation would throw on a pair of grease-stained overalls and give my soul a little tune-up when it needed it – and it needed it frequently. Still does.
On that particular frosty morning, I had been ruminating over the issue of the girls’ schooling. It is a deal breaker for a lot of missionary families and it deserves its rightful place in our spirit-directed decision making. But, at that intersection on that Monday, the Engineer tapped the back of my humming motor and said, ‘Let go of the expectation that your kids will have your definition of an ideal school experience. Lean into what I have provided for them. Be thankful.’
That is a solid, field-tested response for your question, Jimmy. ‘What are some things that we should not do as missionaries?’ Your question took me back to the zoo’s pit stop portal and reminded me of other lessons God taught me there.
1. Stop trying to design your own life.
2. Stop trying to be the ideal missionary. Such a creature does not exist.
3. No more big project, change my world heroics.
4. Do not think that you will ever completely fit into a culture again - even your home culture.
5. Stop believing that the way you did things "back home" including church, is the right way to do them in your host culture.
6. Do not expect to have all the answers.
7. Do not live as if you were in your home culture.
8. Never give up on language learning.
9. Stop thinking of your passport country as "home."
10. Don’t be crushed when people in your passport country seem relatively uninterested in your life.
11. Never expect people in your host country to adjust to you. You adjust to them and their culture.
12. Never speak negatively about your host country.
13. Never forget that relationship is 75 percent your responsibility.
14. Never forget that when the going gets tough, you have a luxury that those around you do not: You can leave.
15. Never underestimate the power or the tenderness of the Holy Spirit.
And, because I think these statements resonate best with their positive correlations, the next 15 answer the question: “What should missionaries always do?”
1. Always lean into God’s plan. He’s got this. He really does.
2. Be an authentic person in the kingdom. Seeing you struggle and that you lean upon the Lord’s strength, especially if you are from a ‘wealthier’ culture, is a great testimony.
3. Relationship. Relationship. Relationship. True transformation (yours as well as others) come mostly through those personal relationships with Christ and with others.
4. Embrace the expanded world view that you gain. It gives you insights into other’s lives and God’s heart.
5. Appreciate the creativity and the variety in people, culture, and God’s way of dealing with them.
6. Get in the habit of saying, “I don’t know.” It is humbling but honest. “I don’t know how to say this, or do this. I don’t know why God does what he does.”
7. Learn to do things, to think things, to say things as those in your host culture. Incarnational living means adopting the skin of those that you serve beside. That cannot happen if you transplant your home culture into your host culture. As long as you continue to think of your passport country as "home," you will not be able to flourish in your new home.
8. Respect the rhythm of language learning. It comes differently to different people, but it is never impossible. 9. There is nothing that speaks love more plainly than an attempt to communicate in the language of the heart.
10. Lower your expectations about returning to your passport country. People there love you but often do not have the reference points for asking meaningful questions about your life. They have no idea of the inner transformation that has taken place in your soul.
11. Learn to always be the one inconvenienced. If you do not understand, do not assume that someone should translate. Instead, use this moment as an opportunity to work on your language acquisition and let the feeling motivate you to do more study.
12. Always be verbal about the positive aspects of your host culture. Even if you hear people critiquing their own culture, stay positive. The moment you express negative observations, walls go up. Every culture has a positive. Dwell on it.
13. Be proactive about initiating and developing genuine, authentic relationships. We like to imagine that a relationship is 50/50 but the truth is, especially cross-culturally, you must decide to invest the bigger percentage of patience, time, sacrifice, and understanding.
14. Keep in mind that the people who live in your host country do not have the luxury of leaving when life gets too hard. This fact should color how you hear their fears, frustrations, and tragedies. Listen, cry, pray, counsel from that perspective.
Remember that God loves each and every person you see on the street, including the store employee who just yelled at you in a language you do not understand. Learn to see the possibility for redemption in every person you meet. More than once, the last person that I ever imagined would show an interest in spiritual things was the very one who responded to the Holy Spirit’s presence. We just do not know.
And now, Jimmy, lest you think these lists were made by a missionary who did it right, see point #2. Quite honestly, the "NEVER" comes from the humbled heart of one who made these mistakes and many more. But, God is faithful and His people are compassionate. There are wonderful men and women in Russia, Bulgaria and Hungary who have loved me in spite of my glaring faults and many mistakes. It is not a false humility to admit that God has to daily pull on His grease-stained overalls for me. Soul tune-ups.
Raw truth: Most of us view missions from a rose-colored lens born out of missionary books and pulpit tales of pirate adventures and God-styled heroics. God is faithful, there is no doubt. And the stories are true. But, the most heroic thing that God did was incarnation, death and resurrection. His invitation to join Him in His redemptive missioning to the world is an extravagant grace. Running late with the tank on empty, muttering irritations fueled by a travel mug of lukewarm coffee; what is the probability of that creature ever making a difference for the kingdom? Improbable. Impractical. Outrageous. But, NEVER underestimate God, Jimmy (see #15). Sometimes in our weakest moments, the Engineer crawls into the driver’s seat and mercifully takes us on the journey to the World He died to save. Be thankful. Lean into God. Enjoy the ride.
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Missionary profile: Scott and Jenni Rainey
Scott and Jenni Rainey are missionaries serving in the CIS Field (Commonwealth of Independent States, or the former Soviet Union) since April 2012. They are based out of Kiev, Ukraine. Scott is involved with discipleship, leadership development and pastoral mentoring across the field.
Previously, the Raineys pastored local churches in the U.S. from 1994-2003. They have two children: Bekah, 9, and Sarah, 5.
Engage: How did you first recognize God’s call to be involved in missions?
Scott: 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.
Engage: What is your favorite aspect of what you do in your present assignment?
Scott: I love to “rub shoulders” with the pastors across the field, spending time in their homes and their churches, training through informal conversations, and challenging them to follow God with boldness, integrity, and conviction.
Engage: What are some of the challenges that you face in carrying out your work?
Scott: I face challenges of distance and time. Our field includes 12 countries. The Church of the Nazarene currently ministers in six of them. Our churches exist across four time zones and two thousand miles. The balancing act of raising a family of two small children in Kiev while meeting the demands of visiting our churches and pastors is a constant challenge. Our greatest challenges, however, are fighting the constant attacks of the enemy (the devil) against Christ’s Church. These attacks come in many forms: from government limitations and laws from the outside to internal mistrust and dissention from the inside.
Engage: Please share a story of a significant event or moment that has happened in your current assignment.
Scott: In the summer of 2013, I was asked to be the speaker at the Ukrainian district youth camp. One hundred youth from all over the country of Ukraine gathered near the Sea of Azov for a week of camp. On our final night together, I shared the simple gospel message and called the young people to give their hearts to Jesus and repent of their sins. One third of the camp (34 young people) responded and came forward to the altar to seek God’s forgiveness and grace.
Engage: How do you maintain a close relationship with God and your family in the midst of the demands of missionary service?
Scott: My first mentor in ministry used to tell me, “You are never stronger in ministry than you are in your alone time with God.” I continually develop my relationship with God through daily Bible reading, prayer, private worship, and accountability relationships with close friends. As a newer missionary with deep relationships still forming on the field, I keep an accountability relationship with a friend from the States via Skype.
I maintain our family relationships by making and taking time for monthly dates with my wife and both daughters. We also take “adventures” together, exploring our city and country as personal and ministry time permit. After traveling alone, I try to always have a “re-entry” day back into our home where I avoid meetings and work. My oldest daughter attends an international Christian school. We use public transportation to take her to school and return her to our home each day. I take her to school and my wife picks her up, giving us some special time with her each day. Jenni homeschools our youngest daughter.
Engage: What are the rewards of what you do?
Scott: The greatest rewards in our ministry are lost people finding Jesus and a unified church moving forward together to accomplish the mission of the church.
Engage: What are some aspects of the culture where you live that you have come to love or embrace?
Scott: We enjoy the relational aspect of the culture in the CIS. We love the fact that people are outside walking everywhere. There are always people gathered, sitting, standing, and talking in parks and along the streets. We also enjoy the slow pace that is found particularly in restaurants. When you go to a restaurant, it is quite normal to stay and talk for a couple of hours.
Engage: What do you like to do for fun?
Scott: We go to the zoo, take long walks to explore, visit the beautiful sites of our city, play games, watch movies at our apartment and read.
Engage: What is something people would be surprised to learn about you?
Scott: I moved 14 times (seven different states) before I was 18 years old.
Engage: What advice would you have for others exploring a possible call to missions, or embarking on their first missionary assignment?
Scott: There is no greater place to be than in the center of God’s will. Be sure of your call so that when the hard times come, you can fall back on what you know God asked you to do. Stay close to God, love the people, and stay on your knees.
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Why WEF: From an NMI Global Council member by Mary Johnson
As part of Nazarene Missions International's video series on World Evangelism Fund, the below video describes all the various ways that your giving to World Evangelism Fund helps to expand the Kingdom around the world. Following is a commentary written by Mary Johnson, a former missionary to Mexico, about how World Evangelism Fund enabled her family to be more focused and effective in their ministry and how it continues to support the mission efforts of the denomination.
http://medialibrary.nazarene.org/files/1438543.mp4?rp_log_id=lxrA2kjn5CrlbrQILTGaw2D2rAM
As I think about the World Evangelism Fund, I realize, as a former missionary, the tremendous benefits it afforded us while we were on the field. As missionaries, we were faithful stewards of those funds because we recognized the sacrifice the churches made to put us on the field in the first place. Specialized assignment and career missionaries are the Church’s foundational investment. They are the infrastructure that provides consistency to the field. The short-term missionaries provide the opportunity for new works, and replace retirees or returned missionaries. They are tremendous assets to the field. They often become contracted missionaries returning term after term. While volunteer, short-term missionaries raise their operating funds, contracted missionaries still reap the benefits of a church that provides them the infrastructure or backbone for their ministry.
Missionaries’ salaries, language school, housing, children’s education, emergency funds, ministry allocations, and so much more come out of this fund. In the U.S., our ministers have the benefit of attending the great conferences that our General Church has provided with little or no registration fees. Everyone benefits from the World Evangelism Fund. Global ministry is in the DNA of every Nazarene church. It is who we are.
When we were assigned to language school, we studied with a passion as we were handed the gift of a lifetime: the opportunity to fulfill our call. The Church had entrusted us with the job of learning Spanish so that we could meet a need in a Spanish-speaking nation. We were going to do our best to be as proficient as we could be and develop relationships with people as we did it. While studying, we met missionaries from other organizations learning Spanish. They marveled at us, because we could dedicate so much time to study. Our friends had to dedicate time to writing letters to the States asking for funds. If a supporter forgot to send their pledge that month, this family did without. It truly affected their personal budget as well as their ability to study. We were grateful because our church, in its wise history, has always been committed to keeping missionaries on the field and maintaining a consistent income so that they would not interrupt their ministry efforts being concerned by plenty one month and not enough the next.
The World Evangelism Fund represents the global commitment of every organized Nazarene church around the world to continue to reach 159 world areas and consider new works in others. When a district overpays their World Evangelism Fund commitment, the overpayment is designated for new works.
As a denomination we have tightened the belt on budgets for conferences, field expenses and deployments of missionaries. We are streamlining and looking for cost effectiveness. We are good stewards of each church’s sacrifice and commitment to global outreach. As a denomination, we are committed to the 159 world areas where we are proclaiming the holiness message. We do not send our missionaries out alone with just a promise of support. We truly do support them financially and prayerfully. There is no “token” commitment here. Our missionaries recognize that they are “sent” servants, sent by a church who believes in them and trusts them to be faithful with the call God has given them. Those who give send. Those who go are sent. Together we touch the world for Christ. Together we serve.
May we be faithful as we prayerfully consider our participation in our greatest global outreach project, the World Evangelism Fund.-- Mary Johnson is a former missionary to Mexico (1989-2002), and is currently the Hispanic coordinator for the Oklahoma District; she also serves on the Global NMI Council. In addition, she is a missions speaker for children, teen and adult events, and is an adjunct instructor for Nazarene Bible College (Colorado Springs) with the Hispanic Ministries program.
Talk about it:
*What is World Evangelism Fund and how does it work?
*Many people would rather make a donation to a specific project or ministry than to a general fund like WEF, which supports the overall infrastructure in which specific projects or ministries function. Why is it also important to give to the general fund we call WEF?
*In what ways does World Evangelism Fund support missionaries?
*Why might it be detrimental to a missionary's work to have to spend significant parts of their time fundraising?
*What happens when a district overpays their WEF commitment?
*Why do we give to missions around the world?
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'Sheep without a shepherd'
Fundiswa Veronica Mnyanda serves as a chaplain with the South African Defence Force. She is single and lives with her son and two teenage grandsons. The Africa Region newsletter, Out of Africa, recently interviewed to Mnyanda about her calling into chaplaincy ministry and how God is using her there.
Out of Africa: Share about your decision to follow Christ.
Mnyanda: I gave my life to Jesus at the age of 24, which was 6 April 1986, during the Sunday morning church service. I cannot recall what the message was about because my mind used to be far away even though my body would be in the church. The only words I heard the pastor say were, "SIYAHAMBA THINA SIYA EZULWINI UZOSALA WENA NGOBA UTHANDA ISONO." This means, "We are going to heaven leaving you behind, because you love sin." It seemed as if I was sleeping and woke up, I questioned myself, "What is sin that I would not go to heaven because of it?" That was the day I made a decision and gave my life to Jesus. I was truly born again, as I am still enjoying that blessing even today. I experienced something that I never experienced before, and my heart was overflowing with unspeakable joy. I love my Lord wholeheartedly as He saved and sanctified me. Before sanctification, which is regarded as the second work of grace, I was struggling a lot with my spiritual life, until I received this baptism of the Holy Spirit.
OOA: Share about your childhood.
Mnyanda: I grew up in a Christian home. The whole family attended the Wesleyan Methodist Church for many years until my late beloved mother, Nowandile Phildah Mnyanda, joined the Church of the Nazarene in 1982. She played a very important role in my life, in fact to all her children. She used to quote 1 Peter 1:3-5.
It was not very long after I gave my life to Jesus at the First Church of the Nazarene Zone 11 Mdantsane East London that I sensed God's call in July 1986. I began my theological studies in January 1987 at Africa Nazarene Theological College Port Elizabeth. I did three years there, and my final year at Nazarene Theological College (NTC) when the four Nazarene colleges in South Africa merged together. I graduated in 1990.
OOA: How did you become a chaplain?
Mnyanda: After graduation, I started pastoring. While I was still in Kimberley, something started to bother me every time and everywhere I saw soldiers in uniform; they were like a sheep without a shepherd. The pain and the passion to preach to them grew in my heart, but I did not know the 'how' part.
I applied to the South African National Defence Force in 2002, but I was only appointed as a regular military chaplain in February 2006. I was placed in Bloemfontein at 1 South African Battalion. It was a training and deploying unit, hence I deployed with my soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2008. Since, I have been transferred to different units gaining more experience.
OOA: What does a military chaplain do?
Mnyanda: As a military chaplain, my job and ministry is to preach the gospel to the soldiers during the scheduled church services. I also have opportunities for personal soul winning during counseling sessions. Another opportunity is when soldiers are sick in hospitals and at homes where I can introduce them to Christ.
So, briefly, chaplains preach, counsel as needed and lead presentations and discussions about certain topics that have to do with value-based living -- how soldiers can behave and conduct themselves respectfully. As a chaplain, I do hospital visits and home visits. Even when the soldiers are deployed internally and externally, I need to visit their families. Before the soldiers are deployed or attending long courses, the chaplain must conduct the resilience program, for both soldiers and their families, to prepare them as they will be separated for a longer period. The chaplain also has opportunity to deploy with the soldiers, hence I also deployed in Mussina (internal deployment) along the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
OOA: What is it like being a woman chaplain? Please share some stories:
Mnyanda: There are a number of female chaplains in the Defence Force, even though there are more male chaplains. God is using female chaplains tremendously. I believe there is a divine secret in women's ministry. We become spiritual mothers to our soldiers. The chaplains are part and parcel of military training; we are treated as soldiers and the training is very tough.
I believe that God is using me through preaching, teaching, ministering through music and battling through prayer. At Tsolo, I conducted a military funeral and many gave their lives to Jesus. People kept calling me to share that they had been entirely transformed. One lady who was selling liquor switched to selling meat because God changed her completely.
I was praying with one of the female soldiers in hospital. She cried a lot and shared that the doctors were encouraging her to have an abortion because the child would not be able to speak, hear nor walk. Many people had also spoken to her about miracles. She didn't want to hear anything else; she had heard enough. People could not understand how she felt. I did not know what to do, but after some time holding her tightly, I said to God, "Lord, even if I can say some words to her, she is not prepared to listen to me. Lord, speak to her, and let her listen and hear your voice. I know that if you want, you can reveal yourself to this young lady, Lord, as you listened to Joshua's prayer, 'Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.'" Later, she called and said that she was not going to have an abortion. The baby is fine and the doctors were amazed. We serve a Mighty God, and that is how He also reveals Himself, even in the Defence Force.
OOA: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Mnyanda: It is when the soldiers understand the ministry or the service that I am delivering to them and put it into practice. Their testimonies bless me and lift me up spiritually. Also, when I know that the Lord is my Shepherd, He guides me and I am doing His will.
OOA: What is the most difficult part?
Mnyanda: It is when I am working under pressure. Such times come often. That is when a chaplain also needs a caregiver, but no one is looking after us. While I still have that feeling for need of a caregiver, many soldiers will come with their problems and I will have to forget about myself and attend them. Because I stay at the military base, others even come to my place for their problems. God is my Care Giver; He is my Source, Wonderful Counselor and my Comforter.
OOA: Any advice for people who feel that they are called to be chaplains?
Mnyanda: They need to be certain whether their ministry is in the military, police or correctional service.
OOA: How can we pray for you and other chaplains?
Mnyanda: Pray for God to give us the divine wisdom and knowledge to spread this gospel. We desperately need the Nazarene prayers.
OOA: Anything else you'd like to say?
Mnyanda: I am grateful and thankful that I am serving God in the SANDF under the affiliation of the Church of the Nazarene. I also want to thank my church and its leaders for granting me this opportunity by recommending me to be employed in the Defence Force. Shalom.
Reprinted with permission from the Out of Africa newsletter. Visit www.africanazarene.org to subscribe.
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Taking the helm
In Extreme Nazarene Ministries, we plant churches in teams. We’ve got five pairs of 40/40 missionary church planters, who act on the front lines of the mission work, i.e. knocking on doors and speaking about Christ, managing and executing events, consolidating contacts, etc. We’ve got cluster coordinators, who act as the emotional/spiritual/parental/cultural support for the 40/40 missionaries. And then we’ve got the pastoral couple, who act as the driving force to the teams by providing their experienced insight into how the ministry in the church should run.
Pastor Lenilde and his wife Consuelo are the pastoral couple for the church plant in Ambato, Ecuador. Though he is working in Ecuador he is far from home. “I was born in Quispe, a small town within the Amazon of Peru. I lived there until I was 17 years old,” he recounts. It’s neat to think about how God was preparing him those years he grew up in Quispe. He grew up in a Christian home where his parents were major role models for him in his relationship with Christ. When he was thirteen he officially gave his life to Christ. But even before that, God had been showing him what his life was for.
“When I was still a kid there was a pastor that inspired me through his commitment to serving God and that’s what made me want to be like him, but of course, at 5 or 6 years old I didn’t understand what God’s call meant for a specific ministry. The call grew over time so that when I was a teenager the call was stronger because even I could see the need in my own church. There weren’t a whole lot of people to help in the ministry, when I was 15, the chose me to lead the adult sunday school classes. It was actually really crazy, but it impacted my life and it was pivotal in my accepting God’s call on my life into ministry.”
The clarity of his call led him to study abroad, outside of Peru in the Nazarene Seminary of Quito, Ecuador. He had his first pastoral experience right out of seminary when he and his classmates were sent to different areas by the seminary to complete their practicals for their degrees. Lenilde was sent to the dry, high altitude of Arequipa, Peru in 2002. He worked alongside the superintendent of the area speaking at the different churches and eventually started to pastor one of the small churches there. He says that first church proved to further establish the call that God had placed on his life.
One of our own partners, Elvin Diaz, is actually one of Lenilde’s good friends. Elvin had mentioned the work of Extreme Nazarene to Lenilde on some occasions but it never made much of an impact on him because he was already a pastor of his own church in Ecuador. But, a little over a year ago Lenilde and his wife, Consuelo, had learned that Extreme was going to be doing church plant projects in Ecuador. “[The project] really caught our attention, so my wife in I started praying for signs from God. We were contacted by our area director (Dwight Rich) to propose our involvement in the church plant in Ambato along with a wonderful team of national and North American missionaries.”
They signed on not long afterward. Lenilde, his wife Consuelo and his two children, Eslie Jemima (6 years old) and Bruno Caleb (4 years old) have been working with this team of missionaries in Ambato, Ecuador for almost a year now. Their fruit is undeniably devine. With only about 8 months of having church services this past week they saw 150 people -- including themselves -- in their youth service. They are seeing great involvement from the leaders that they have been raising in their church too. It’s amazing to see what God can and will do through his obedient sons and daughters.
Lenilde offers his advice to those who are thinking about joining in missions with Extreme Nazarene:
“The challenge [to working as a missionary with Extreme] is to have an open mind to the different cultures that are around us and to adapt, be willing to work in a team, respect and value the work of everyone on the team, have a teachable spirit (meaning that you be guidable and teachable), have complete dependence on God and lastly be willing to live in mutual submission to honor the leadership that you are given.”
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Tomando la dirección
Dentro del Ministerio Nazareno Extremo plantamos iglesias en equipos. Tenemos cinco pares de plantadores de iglesia 40/40, quienes actúan en el frente del campo misionero, por ejemplo yendo de puerta a puerta compartiendo acerca de Cristo, dirigiendo y llevando a cabo eventos, consolidando contactos, etc. Tenemos una red de coordinadores, quienes actúan como apoyo emocional, espiritual, paternal y cultural para los misioneros 40/40. Y luego tenemos a la pareja pastoral, la cual actúa como la fuerza directiva de los equipos, proveyendo su perspectiva y experiencia en cuanto a cómo llevar a cabo el ministerio dentro de la iglesia.
El Pastor Lenilde su esposa, Consuelo, son la pareja pastoral en la iglesia plantada Ambato, Ecuador. Aunque se encuentra trabajando en Ecuador, él está lejos de su casa. “Yo nací en Quispe, un pequeño pueblo en la zona amazónica de Perú. Viví allí hasta los 17 años,” cuenta. Es hermoso pensar que Dios lo estaba preparando durante todos esos años mientras que crecía en Quispe. Él creció en un hogar cristiano donde sus padres sirvieron como ejemplos de vida muy importantes en el desarrollo de su relación con Cristo. Cuando tenía 13 años, él oficialmente le entregó su vida a Cristo. Pero aun antes de eso, Dios ya le había estado mostrando cuál sería el propósito de su vida.
“Cuando yo todavía era niño, hubo un pastor que me inspiró mediante su compromiso en el servicio a Dios y eso fue lo que me hizo querer ser como él, pero por supuesto cuando tenía 5 o 6 años yo no tenía entendimiento de significaba tener el llamado de Dios hacia un ministerio específico. El llamado creció con el correr del tiempo, de modo que al llegar a mi adolescencia el llamado se volvió más fuerte, ya que yo mismo podía ver la necesidad dentro de mi propia iglesia. No había mucha gente que pudiera asistir en el ministerio, de modo que cuando yo tenía 15 me pidieron que dirigiera la clase de escuela dominical para adultos. Me pareció una locura, pero impactó mi vida y resultó ser un punto pivotal en mi aceptación del llamado de Dios a la vida ministerial.”
La claridad de este llamado lo llevó a estudiar en el extranjero, fuera de Perú, dirigiéndose al Seminario Nazareno de Quito, Ecuador. Él tuvo su primer experiencia pastoral inmediatamente después de terminar el seminario, cuando él y sus compañeros de clase fueron enviados a diferentes áreas por parte del seminario para realizar las prácticas requeridas para completar sus grados. Lenilde fue enviado a las áridas altitudes Arequipa, Perú en 2002. Él trabajó a la par del superintendente del área, hablando en las diferentes iglesias y eventualmente comenzó a pastorear una de ellas. Según él, esa primera iglesia ayudó a confirmar el llamado que Dios había puesto en su vida.
Uno de nuestros compañeros de tarea, Elvin Díaz, resulta ser uno de los amigos más cercanos de Lenilde. Elvin había mencionado el trabajo del Ministerio Nazareno Extremo a Lenilde en algunas ocasiones pero nunca le resultó muy impactante debido a que él ya era pastor de una iglesia en Ecuador. Pero hace poco más de un año, Lenilde y su esposa, Consuelo, se enteraron de que el ministerio estaría realizando proyectos de plantación de iglesias en Ecuador. “El proyecto realmente nos llamó la atención, de modo que mi esposa y yo comenzamos a orar para recibir señales de parte de Dios. Fuimos contactados por nuestro director de área (Dwight Rich) para posponer nuestro involucramiento en la plantación de la iglesia de Ambato junto con un maravilloso equipo de misioneros nacionales, así como también norteamericanos.”
Ellos se unieron a la tarea poco tiempo después. Lenilde, su esposa Consuelo y sus dos hijos, Eslie Jemima (de 6 años) y Bruno Caleb (de 4 años) han estado trabajando con el equipo de misioneros en Ambato, Ecuador durante casi un año a la fecha. Su fruto es indudablemente divino. Con sólamente unos 8 meses de servicios en la iglesia, esta semana pasada recibieron a 150 personas (ellos incluidos), durante su servicio para jóvenes. Están viendo un gran involucramiento por parte de los líderes que ellos mismos han preparado en su propia iglesia. Es sorprendente ver lo que Dios puede hacer y hará a través de sus hijos e hijas cuando le obedecen.
Lenilde ofrece su consejo a quienes consideran involucrarse en la tarea de misiones junto al Ministerio Nazareno Extremo: “El desafío del trabajo misionero junto al ministerio extremo es el tener una mente abierta en cuanto a las diferentes culturas en las que uno se sumerge y el adaptarse, el estar dispuesto a trabajar en equipo, el respetar y valorar el trabajo de cada uno de los miembros del equipo, el tener un espíritu de aprendizaje (en el sentido de que uno pueda recibir dirección e instrucción), el tener completa dependencia en Dios, y finalmente estar dispuesto a vivir en sometimiento mutuo para honrar el liderazgo que te es brindado.”
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