Engage Magazine: a global mission magazine - Issue Number 73 for Wednesday, 19 February 2014 from The Nazarene Missions International of the Global Church of the Nazarene

Engage Magazine: a global mission magazine - Issue Number 73 for Wednesday, 19 February 2014 from The Nazarene Missions International of the Global Church of the Nazarene
Check Engage each Wednesday through March 5 for our series on how the Nazarene denomination is responding to human trafficking. Our series is leading up to Freedom Sunday on March 9, when local churches globally are encouraged to devote the Sunday morning worship service to mourning the sin of modern slavery, and to spread awareness and pray for victims, traffickers and survivors. For more information, visit ncm.org/freedomsunday.
RECENT ARTICLES:
Bucharest congregation integrates trafficking survivors into the life of the church by Gina Grate Pottenger
Open Door – a shelter for trafficked young women in Romania – opened a year ago, through the leadership of Monica, a Nazarene church leader in Bucharest. The new shelter is currently home to five women in their 20s, all Romanian. The team is also assisting two others who aren’t living at the shelter. Monica would say that she’s learning as she goes along. But so far she’s already learned quite a bit.
We sat down with Monica to find out how the shelter works, what services are offered to the women, and most importantly, how the local Nazarene church is integrating these women into the life and love of the congregation.
Engage: How did you prepare the congregation to receive these women?
Monica: I’ve asked the church to pray for these girls months before we even opened the shelter. I told them the vision I had and I told them that I know that as a church we have so much to give these women. Initially they were very rejecting toward the idea of having them in the church. It wasn’t from everybody, it was from a small group of women. I challenged them but I know God was the one who turned their hearts around. Months later they came to me and said, “What can we do? How can we help?”
When they [the survivors] come to church, I’ll introduce them as, “This is my friend such and such.” And nothing else. There is a very small group of women in church that pray constantly … and [are] very trustworthy and they know these are the girls from the shelter and the main reason they know is they would pray more specifically for them and interact more specifically with them. Some may guess they’re from the shelter.
Engage: How do you invite the women to the church?
Monica: We tell them everybody here goes to church on Sunday and it’s not mandatory for them to go, but we would be more than happy to have them with us. We realize that God had prepared their hearts and minds even before they got to us because they all say the same thing: “Do you think I can come? Is it OK if I come?”
It has to be their own choice.
Engage: What kind of activities do you involve them with at the church?
Monica: When they come to prayer group on Wednesday night, this is when we split in small groups. Men have their own separate group.
Since they’re all in their early 20s we integrate them into the youth group as well. The youth group from our church has been very involved in the work at the shelter. Some are hired at the shelter, some are volunteers. The youth group are [age] 17-24. They take [the women] out to a movie or go eat together after church service on Sunday; they play games, they have a karaoke night.
[One young woman] helps pick music for youth night and sang in church at Christmas, and she wants to sing again.
Engage: What does the local church receive from integrating these women in the life of the church?
Monica: The greatest thing our church receives from them is their need to be loved and by this our church learns how to just love a broken person.  I’ve seen a lack of gossip and more sensibility. They’re much more sensitive to emotions than they used to [be] or feelings. And a lack of judgment. When this gal brought her testimony on Christmas day in church, they were all in pieces crying their eyes out.
Engage: What are some of the challenges you deal with in ministering to these women?
Monica: I told everybody to expect the unexpected. They live the life of lies, terror, manipulation. Are we surprised that they lie, or steal or break the rules?
God does discipline, but it’s still in a loving way, and so that is exactly what we’re trying with them.
They have been hardened by the punishments they got for looking the wrong direction or looking the right way or not guessing what the other person is thinking. I’m talking about physical torture, flogging. This girl, my daughter and I took her to see The Hunger Games [movie]. At some point one of the young guys [who] was up against the system is caught by the law enforcement guys and is being flogged. And just like that, she looked for a nest in me and said “Moni, I can’t look at that because that’s exactly what he was doing to me when he was flogging me.”
Engage: Your team has worked to help the women at your shelter find real jobs. What happened?
Monica: Starbucks agreed to be our partner, and they held up their side by interviewing three of our girls for jobs. When it was their first day to go to work, all three of them flipped out. We still don’t know why. We are trying to figure this out. We know they deal with feelings of failure, they say, “I’m no good, I’m a failure.” But it’s deeper than that and we’re trying to understand what’s going on.
Engage: Would you share the story of one of the young women at your shelter?
Monica: So far most of them -- the vast majority -- come from broken families; probably a higher number from rural areas, but broken dysfunctional families with at least one parent out of the picture.
We’ve had a case of a girl, she was a runaway, moved to another town, living on her own. She had a group of friends and they were all going out. She noticed night after night this guy watching her, not saying anything. Suddenly he approached her one night and said, “I’ve been looking at you. You’re so pretty. I got up the guts to come talk to you.” She opened up, they became good friends, they even kissed. He would call her every morning and say, “Did you eat breakfast?” By bedtime, he called and said, “Are you OK? Honey, sleep well. Don’t forget I love you.” For eight months, he bought her little trinkets.
Suddenly he offers her a job prospect as a babysitter. He even brings in a woman who told the girl she lives in the U.K., she has two little kids, here’s a picture. The girl trusts everybody 100 percent. This guy wasn’t even 18. He tells her, go with my friend [to the U.K.] and I’ll turn 18 in a few days, I’ll come after you.
She takes off with this other guy, they get to a hotel and they rent a room. She asks, “Why only one room? I’m expecting to see my boyfriend.” The guy says, “Are you serious? I just bought you for 5,000 Euros. You’re mine. He just sold you to me. He didn’t tell you this?” The entire universe collapsed within seconds. Then he says, “By the way, you start working tonight. Your first client comes in an hour.”
Engage: How can Christians get involved in this fight against slavery?
Monica: In order for us to find out about these cases, we need to build relationships with these people. As part of the church we can’t be spectators. We cannot be just observers. Contact people, make relationships, get involved.
~~~~~~~
A love story by Amy Crofford
Jonas was sent to Brazil from Mozambique to gain university degrees in the area of theology. While in Brazil he attended the Campinas church. He was welcomed by everyone. Soon he was working with the evangelism team.
One time, Jonas went on an evangelism campaign in the north of Brazil. The team members were drawn from different churches. Tais was there for the district where her father was a pastor. She was just a girl on the team like the others, yet something about her attracted him. She showed compassion and responded to the poor children in a loving way. Something about her stayed with him.
The campaign ended, yet after the trip he could not get her out of his mind. He prayed that if his thoughts about her were not from God that God would remove them from his mind. After six months, he was still thinking about her. He searched for her at the Campinas church, but she was not there. His prayer changed to say, “God if this is your will, let me find her again.” He prayed this prayer for six months.
He went on another evangelism campaign, but this time to the south of the country. He got on the bus and sat down. He saw her father coming toward the bus to drop her off. He went to the front of the bus and told the other guys there to pray with him because he had to talk to Tais during this trip.
She got on the bus and sat alone in the seat behind him. He got up his courage to ask if he could sit with her – in order to see the television better. She said yes. They talked about this and they talked about that for several hours. Then he proposed.
She said she would need to pray about it. She suggested three months before she gave an answer. He responded that he had already prayed a year and surely it would not take that long. He asked for an answer in a week. After the trip, they kept in touch by e-mail. When three months were up, he asked for the answer and she said yes. He asked if they could meet somewhere. She suggested they meet at a shopping mall.
He knew that he would now need to ask her parents, but since he had never met them, he wanted her to arrange some way they could meet. Since she was the missionary president at church, she asked her father if she could have a Mozambican come as the missionary speaker on Mission Sunday. He agreed to have Jonas come.
Jonas says it was probably the best sermon he ever preached. Her father was enthusiastic and said that he should come more often. Jonas smiled and said he could count on it.
Tais then told her parents that a young man would be coming to talk to them about marrying her. They asked who it could be. She told them it was Jonas.
They were shocked. Her father said to hold on a minute. When Jonas asked, he was told that they would need to pray about it. Once again, Jonas thought a week would be long enough, but the parents needed more time. After a month, Jonas asked them, but they were still praying. After three months, they talked with Tais about the difficulties that would arise. She was still sure about her choice. They told Tais to have Jonas come to talk with them.
When Jonas arrived, her father gave him a 30-minute speech about the possible problems and cultural differences. Jonas only wanted to hear the decision. Finally, her father said they had prayed and talked with Tais and they would give their blessing to the marriage. Their only wish was that the marriage would not take place until Tais finished her university degree in primary education. She had two years left in classes. Jonas agreed that they would wait as long as necessary.
He began to come to the church more regularly and to work with her father in ministry as a youth pastor.
When Tais finshed her degree, they were married. They lived in Brazil for two years while Jonas finished his doctorate in theology before they came to Mozambique.
Jonas is now the academic dean of the Seminario Nazareno em Mozambique.
Tais is fulfilling her missionary call to Africa that she received as an 8-year old when she said “Yes” to God.
~~~~~~~
Nazarene grassroots momentum building around abolition movement by Gina Grate Pottenger
You know that saying, “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing”?
Considering the biblical analogy of the Church to the human body, that might adequately describe where the Nazarene denomination has been until now in the area of human trafficking, or global slavery.
While scattered local churches have begun individual ministries in the area of modern slavery, the general church may not be aware of them. That’s why a handful of people with a concern on the issue are beginning to talk about developing a denomination-wide approach to joining the growing abolition movement around the world.
It’s hard to pinpoint where and how things have started for the Church of the Nazarene. But several involved point to the social justice conference held at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee, in September 2013 as the moment when a kind of grassroots momentum around abolition began to build.
The social justice conference was interdenominational, but about 30 Nazarenes in attendance with an urgent concern about modern slavery met one day to talk about how the denomination could get involved in redemptive work in an organized and cohesive way.
The group included Carla Sunberg, past president of Wesleyan Holiness Women Clergy and now the president of Nazarene Theological Seminary; Jamie Gates, director for Point Loma Nazarene University’s Center for Justice and Reconciliation; and Rondy Smith, an associate pastor of the Hermitage Church of the Nazarene in Tennessee, who is developing a shelter for survivors of sexual slavery, among many others.
Some had already met at General Assembly 2013 last June to begin learning about individual congregations and people who were taking action in their local communities or through other organizations.
The group asked themselves what would happen if they “linked arms” and began working together, and as a result, a denominational response “was more formally birthed at the social justice conference.”
So far, this informal coalition of Nazarene leaders is partnering with the Wesleyan Holiness Consortium’s already existing Freedom Network in an effort to catalyze the work.
“Nazarenes are sitting at the leadership table of the growth of the Wesleyan Holiness Freedom Network,” Gates said. “But there are plenty of Christian groups who have been at this a while.”
The Salvation Army, Free Methodists, Wesleyans and others who are a part of the Wesleyan Holiness Consortium (a network of denominations that share Wesleyan-Holiness theology) have plunged into the abolition movement in recent years, and have been developing solid strategies and best practices, as well as strong awareness campaigns with various materials that can be utilized by local congregations.
Partnership is critical when tackling something as sprawling and monstrous as global slavery.
“First of all this is a massive problem and for any one of us to try and tackle it on our own seems a little crazy,” Sunberg said. “When we come to the table, every one of us brings our own unique abilities. We were all are born out of this same holiness movement and therefore desire to be engaged. We’re discovering we can be a much stronger voice into these issues when we’re united.“
As the group met, concrete actions began to materialize, beginning with the writing of a theological statement white paper, which is now posted as a downloadable item on the Wesleyan Holiness Freedom Network’s website. It states how Wesleyan-Holiness theology and tradition makes it an ideal movement to help drive modern abolition efforts.
The group’s second point of action is to urge local churches to participate in Freedom Sunday on March 9. Driven by the Free Methodist denomination for the past five years, Freedom Sunday is an emphasis on the first Sunday of Lent, time set aside to mourn slavery and oppression and to build awareness about human trafficking. Half of the Free Methodist churches in the U.S. participated in Freedom Sunday last year, according to Kevin Austin, who organizes Freedom Sunday each year.
Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) established a web page at ncm.org/freedomsunday with resources for Nazarene churches that want to participate in Freedom Sunday. The site includes a bulletin insert, Scripture readings, a sermon outline and other materials. There are also ideas and materials available on the Free Methodists’ Set Free Movement website at setfreemovement.org.
As a result of these ongoing discussions, NCM International asked Laura Hahn, its marketing associate, to represent the organization in future meetings on abolition, and Nell Sweeden, NCM's education coordinator, to research the issue and how NCM International is positioned to become engaged. Jay Height, coordinator for NCM USA/Canada, appointed Gates to resource NCM in North America in developing a direction in anti-trafficking work.
Last month, the denomination’s Research Center headed up a major survey to local pastors across the U.S. and Canada to find out which churches are involved in anti-trafficking ministries and determine the type of work they are doing. The results of the survey will be revealed at the ANSR conference March 20 to 22, which is being held in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. The theme of this year’s conference is “Beauty for Ashes: Action Research for Mobilizing the Church against Human Trafficking” – the denomination’s first official major gathering around abolition as an issue. ANSR is an annual conference for people involved in sociology and research in the Church of the Nazarene, but the conference attracts numerous pastors, district superintendents and lay leaders in the denomination.
Meanwhile, the initial group of Nazarenes that gathered last fall agreed to meet again at the Justice Conference in Los Angeles on February 20 to develop and refine further plans.
“This will be a place to bounce around ideas, a clearing house of best practices,” Gates said.
From there, awareness in the Church at large, and getting everyone on the same page, seems to be a logical next step, said Rondy Smith.
“Our next objective is to educate the church and call the church to action,” she said. “When I think about how ignorant I was about these issues just three years ago… Most of the church is still ignorant to these issues. We’ve got to educate the church in awareness of this issue and what it is and then inspire and challenge the church to rise up and be involved. We are the answer these people are looking for.”
Gates said the key is to proceed with caution. Churches that try to act too swiftly, without full understanding, can do more harm than good.
“There’s a steep learning curve. We should take our time to learn deeply what the issues are, where the church has a role, in what ways the church should or should not get involved, building relationships and partnerships with law enforcement to nonprofits …. There’s a lot of work to be done before churches just jump in,” he said. “This is one of the areas where helping can hurt if you’re not wise. We’ve gotta grow into this but grow with wisdom. We’ve got quite a bit of wisdom to draw on.”
~~~~~~~
Creciente impulso nazareno en cuanto al movimiento abolicionista by Gina Grate Pottenger
Quizás usted esté familiarizado con el siguiente dicho: “La mano derecha no sabe lo que hace la mano izquierda".
Considerando la analogía bíblica de la iglesia en relación con el cuerpo humano, ésta describe adecuadamente la situación de la denominación nazarena hasta el día de hoy en lo referente al área del tráfico de seres humanos, también conocido como esclavitud mundial.
Mientras que diferentes iglesias locales han iniciado en manera esporádica diferentes ministerios individuales dentro del área de la esclavitud moderna, la iglesia en general no tiene conocimiento acerca de ellos. Debido a esto, un pequeño grupo de individuos preocupados por la situación se están dedicando hablar acerca del desarrollo de una concientización a nivel denominacional con el objetivo de unirse al creciente movimiento de abolición alrededor del mundo.
Es difícil decir con exactitud dónde y cómo comenzó todo dentro de la Iglesia del Nazareno. Pero muchos de los involucrados señalan a la conferencia de justicia social realizada en la universidad nazarena Trevecca en Nashville, Tennessee, en setiembre de 2013 como el momento en el cual se comenzó a generar un impulso a nivel fundamental en cuanto al tema de la abolición.
La conferencia de justicia social fue un evento interdenominacional, pero unos 30 nazarenos que concurrieron y que tenían una preocupación urgente acerca de la esclavitud moderna se reunieron un día para hablar acerca de cómo la denominación se podría involucrar en la tarea de redención de manera organizada y cohesiva.
El grupo incluía entre otras personas a Carla Sunberg, quien supo ser presidenta del Clero Femenino de Santidad Wesleyana y actualmente cumple como presidenta del Seminario Teológico Nazareno; Jamie Gates, director del Centro de Justicia y Reconciliación de la Universidad Nazarena Point Loma; y Rondy Smith, pastora asociada de la Iglesia del Nazareno de Hermitage en Tennessee, quien está desarrollando un refugio para sobrevivientes de la esclavitud sexual.
Algunos de ellos ya se habían encontrado en la Asamblea General de 2013 en junio para comenzar a aprender acerca de congregaciones individuales así como personas que estaban tomando acción dentro de sus comunidades locales o mediante otras organizaciones.
El grupo se preguntó a sí mismo qué ocurriría si ellos "unieran sus brazos" y comenzaran a trabajar juntos, y como resultado se dio una respuesta denominacional "más formal, la cual nació de la conferencia de justicia social”.
Hasta el momento, esta coalición informal de líderes nazarenos está trabajando en asociación con la Red de Libertad existente dentro del Consorcio de Santidad Wesleyana, en un esfuerzo por catalizar la tarea.
“Hay nazarenos sentados en la mesa de liderazgo dentro del crecimiento de la Red de Libertad de Santidad Wesleyana,” dijo Gates. “Pero existen muchos grupos cristianos que se han estado dedicando a esto durante algún tiempo”.
El Ejército de Salvación, los Metodistas Libres, los Wesleyanos y otros grupos que son parte del Consorcio de Santidad Wesleyana (una red de denominaciones que comparten la teología de Santidad Wesleyana) se han sumergido en el movimiento de abolición durante años recientes, y han estado desarrollando estrategias y procedimientos sólidos, así como llevando a cabo intensas campañas de concientización, implementando varios materiales que pueden ser utilizados por congregaciones locales.
Las asociaciones son fundamentales cuando se afronta algo tan extenso y monstruoso como lo es la esclavitud mundial.
"Antes que nada, éste es un problema inmenso, y el intentar enfrentarlo en manera individual sería insensato", dijo Sunberg. "Cuando nos unimos, cada uno de nosotros ofrece sus habilidades únicas. Todos nacimos del mismo movimiento de santidad, y por lo tanto deseamos involucrarnos. Estamos descubriendo que podemos tener una voz mucho más fuerte en cuanto a estos asuntos cuando nos unimos. "
Al reunirse el grupo, se comenzaron a materializar acciones concretas, comenzando por escribir un documento de declaración teológica, el cual ha sido publicado y está disponible para su descarga en el sitio web de la Red de Libertad de Santidad Wesleyana. Éste declara cómo la teología y la tradición de Santidad Wesleyana son componentes ideales para un movimiento que dirija los esfuerzos modernos de abolición.
El segundo punto de acción del grupo es el urgir a las iglesias locales a participar en el Domingo de Libertad el 9 de marzo. Dirigido por la denominación de metodistas libres durante los últimos cinco años, el Domingo de Libertad hace hincapié sobre el primer domingo de la cuaresma, y es un tiempo apartado para lamentar la esclavitud y la opresión, así como para crear una concientización general acerca del tráfico de seres humanos. La mitad de las iglesias metodistas libres en los Estados Unidos participaron del Domingo de Libertad el año pasado según Kevin Austin, quien está a cargo de organizar el Domingo de Libertad todos los años.
El Ministerio Nazareno de Compasión (MNC) creó un sitio web que se puede encontrar en  ncm.org/freedomsunday el cual incluye recursos para las iglesias nazarenas que quieran participar en el Domingo de Libertad. El sitio incluye un inserto para boletines, sugerencias en cuanto al orden del servicio de adoración, una guía para sermones y otros materiales. También se pueden encontrar ideas y materiales en el sitio web del Movimiento Liberación, de Metodistas Libres, en setfreemovement.org.
Como resultado de estas discusiones en progreso, el MNC Internacional le pidió a Laura Hahn, su asistente de mercadeo, que representara a la organización en futuras reuniones pertinentes a la abolición, y a Nell Sweeden, coordinadora de educación, a investigar el asunto así como en qué maneras el MNC Internacional puede involucrarse. Jay Height, coordinador para el MNC Estados Unidos/Canadá, designó a Gates para asistir al MNC en Norteamérica en el desarrollo de la tarea en contra del tráfico.
El mes pasado, el Centro de Desarrollo de la denominación llevó a cabo una gran encuesta entre pastores locales a través de los Estados Unidos y Canadá para identificar a las iglesias que se encuentran involucradas en ministerios en contra del tráfico y para determinar el tipo de trabajo que se encuentran realizando. Los resultados de la encuesta serán dados a conocer durante la conferencia de la Asociación de Sociólogos e Investigadores Nazarenos, la cual se realizará desde el 20 al 22 de marzo en Kansas City, Missouri, Estados Unidos. El tema de la conferencia de este año es “Belleza por Cenizas: Investigación de Acción para Movilizar a la Iglesia en contra del Tráfico Humano” – ésta será la primer reunión oficial de larga escala de la denominación centrándose alrededor del tema de la abolición. La conferencia de la Asociación de Sociólogos e Investigadores Nazarenos es una conferencia anual para individuos involucrados en los campos de sociología e investigación dentro de la Iglesia del Nazareno, pero ésta atrae a numerosos pastores, superintendentes de distrito, y líderes laicos dentro de la denominación.
Mientras tanto, el grupo original de nazarenos que se reunió el otoño pasado se puso de acuerdo en reunirse una vez más durante la Conferencia de Justicia en Los Ángeles el 20 de febrero para planificar aún más.
“Ésta será una ocasión para intercambiar ideas, nos permitirá identificar las mejores prácticas”, dijo Gates.
"A partir de allí nuestro enfoque será el de concientizar a la iglesia en su totalidad, así como traer a todos a una misma visión; ése sería el siguiente paso lógico a tomar", dijo Rondy Smith.
"Nuestro siguiente objetivo es el de educar a la iglesia y animarla a tomar acción," dijo ella. "Cuando pienso acerca de lo ignorante que yo era acerca de estos asuntos tan sólo tres años atrás... La mayoría de la iglesia todavía es ignorante acerca de estos temas. Tenemos que educar a la iglesia en cuanto a este problema, de qué se trata el mismo, y luego inspirar y desafiar a la iglesia a tomar acción e involucrarse. Nosotros somos la respuesta que estas personas están esperando.”
Gates dijo que la clave está en proceder con precaución. Las iglesias que intentan actuar de manera apresurada, sin un entendimiento completo de la situación, pueden causar más daño que ayuda.
“El proceso de aprendizaje es intenso. Debemos tomar nuestro tiempo para aprender en profundidad acerca de los problemas, dónde es que la iglesia cumple un papel, en qué maneras la iglesia debería y no debería involucrarse, establecer relaciones y asociaciones con los representantes de la ley y organizaciones sin fines de lucro... Hay mucho trabajo por realizarse antes de que las iglesias puedan sumarse," dijo Gates. “Ésta es una de las áreas en las cuales el ayudar puede causar daño si no se actúa con sabiduría. Tenemos que crecer en este campo, pero tenemos que crecer con sabiduría. Tenemos mucho que aprender.”--Traducido por Ed Brussa.
~~~~~~~
NCM forming direction in anti-trafficking movement by Gina Grate Pottenger
While Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) has a long history in serving as the conduit for much of the Nazarene denomination’s broader social justice work around the world, recently it has been turning greater attention to the growing abolition movement and trying to discern how it can play a role.
Marketing associate Laura Hahn will represent NCM at a February 20 meeting of Nazarenes and representatives from other holiness denominations who are part of the Wesleyan Holiness Consortium's Freedom Network. The plan is to collaborate and develop strategic partnerships and next steps for the Nazarene denomination’s response to human trafficking.
“NCM is still sort of in the exploratory stage and developing stage in working in anti-trafficking,” Hahn said.
NCM's interest was sparked by the prodding of local churches that are passionate about abolition and have asked NCM to get involved, she added.
In the first stage of assessment, NCM leaders have surmised that the majority of its direct work will start in the area of prevention, something it is already very strong in.
“As NCM works through local churches,  I think we’ll primarily focus on prevention and restoration or rehabilitation,” Hahn said.
By providing education, vocational training and meals to about 12,000 at-risk children in child development centers around the world, NCM is already well-positioned for dealing with one of the root causes of the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children – poverty.
It also offers a self-help program in which rural, impoverished women and girls save money together to provide loans to one another for starting small business enterprises. As the women’s businesses grow, they pay back the loans, raise their own families out of poverty, then assist other women in need.
In addition, NCM runs seed projects, in which seeds are given to small scale farmers, who plant them and then reap fresh seeds from the harvested crops, eat some of the vegetables and sell the rest for an income. The seed project is intended to create self-sustaining families and communities who won’t need to leave their farms for long hours in low-paying jobs in factories or other people’s fields.
When people have work and can earn money through legitimate means, they are less vulnerable to being exploited, trapped or deceived by people who enslave the poor.
As a result of churches asking how they can combat trafficking through NCM, the organization has also set up a global anti-trafficking fund and several donors have already contributed. NCM is reviewing about three to four proposals submitted by Nazarene ministries in different world areas to receive grants for their anti-trafficking work.Image
While NCM continues to form a direction and plan for greater efforts in anti-trafficking, Hahn says that people with a passion for the cause can always start in prayer.
“A lot of times we forget about prayer as involvement,” she said. “We think about it as something that’s kind of on the side, but I think that’s a huge thing we need to do, even though it doesn’t feel like an action item; but continued prayer is movement.”
To learn more about NCM and anti-trafficking, visit ncm.org/trafficking.
~~~~~~~
Healing after Typhoon Haiyan, one church at a time by Dave Hane
We were huddled in a shelter that served as the temporary parsonage with co-pastor Mrs. Ofilanda.  Just outside the door was a bare concrete slab where the Salcedo Church of the Nazarene had once stood.   The splintered wood and twisted roofing from the destroyed church was piled on another concrete slab where the parsonage had once stood.  Both had been destroyed in the mid-morning hours of November 8 as the 195 mph winds and 7 – 10 foot storm surges of Super Typhoon Haiyan obliterated coastal villages in the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines.  Over 6,200 people perished, but the Ofilanda family was spared.  
At the height of the storm, they managed to evacuate their parsonage minutes before it collapsed, and again left the church through a side door minutes before it was obliterated.  They rode out the reminder of the storm in the associate pastor’s home next to the church.
“I can’t believe you came,” Mrs. Ofilanda said upon our arrival. Although Salcedo was near to the part of the coast where Haiyan had made landfall, it was a smaller municipality and had not received the attention that other villages had received.   
We were there with a small international team made up of participants from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan and the Philippines. It had been two months since the typhoon, but due to the magnitude of the destruction, rebuilding had not yet begun. The Nazarene congregation still did not have a meeting place, and the pastor’s family was living in a tent and a temporary lean-to built up against the neighbor’s house. Building supplies were scarce and expensive. 
The good news was that the a portable pole and tarp building from JESUS Film Harvest Partners, The Ark, had been delivered to the site a couple of weeks earlier. But the bad news was that after two weeks, it had still not yet been assembled. Was it missing components? Was the instruction manual there? Was the assembly too complicated? The fact we had a structural engineer, a math teacher, and an athletic trainer on our small team did not bolster our confidence. As the regional JESUS Film coordinator, I had seen pictures of an Ark, but I had never assembled one. Would we be able to figure out the assembly in the three to four hours we would have on the site?  
To make matters worse, expectations were high. The pastor knew we were coming and assumed we knew what we were doing….   
So we prayed earnestly for two things:
That just as God gave Bezalel and Oholiab wisdom to construct the Ark of the Covenant, that we would have wisdom to assemble this much needed place of worship.
That the wind would die down and it would stop raining.
Fifteen minutes into our visit, it became evident that the rain was not stopping. But with my teenage son setting the example, we ignored the wind and rain and began unzipping bags and pulling out poles. Amazingly enough, within a few minutes, the rain stopped!  We had a couple of confusing junctures in the assembly process where we misinterpreted the instructions, but over all, it went very smoothly and was not that complicated. Several men from the church heard what was happening and joined in to help. Exactly one hour and 46 minutes after starting, the Ark was assembled!
Some wondered if the Ark would withstand the strong winds, but after anchoring it with additional ropes, it was secure. We decided if it blew into the neighboring community, it must be a sign that God wanted the church planted there as well!
We had a closing prayer with the Ofilandas, especially praying for Rev. Salvador Ofilanda who is in poor health. We left Salcedo with grateful appreciation for God’s guidance throughout the day.
Today, the Ark serves as the main meeting place for the Salcedo Church. It is being used several times a week for church services, children’s outreaches and other gatherings. Plans are being made to rebuild both the parsonage and a permanent church building.
For more information on how you can be a part of the rebuilding efforts in areas devestated by Tyhoon Haiyan, go to: http://www.asiapacific nazarene.org.
~~~~~~~