Thursday, November 15, 2018

Where The World Meets November 2018 from The Eurasia Region of the Global Church of the Nazarene in Buesingen Am Hochrhein, Switzerland 8238, Europe for Thursday, 15 November 2018

Where The World Meets November 2018 from The Eurasia Region of the Global Church of the Nazarene in Buesingen Am Hochrhein, Switzerland 8238, Europe for Thursday, 15 November 2018

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Called from Lisbon to Birmingham

A dream to serve cross-culturally in England becomes reality through M+Power.

Dreams of ministry in England becomes reality through M+Power

Carla Taela long nurtured a dream of ministering in England. Now that she is serving in Birmingham, the reality is different from the way she imagined it. And she sees God in it.

Originally from Portugal, Carla and her husband, Flavio, were involved with the district’s Con Café coffee shop ministry in Lisbon when they first heard about the Eurasia Region’s M+Power initiative, and about an upcoming mission training in the Netherlands.

The couple had already been considering cross-cultural service, so they flew to Dordrecht for the training. While Carla dreamed of being sent to England, Flavio was focused on the broader question of where God wanted them both to serve. They prayed an answer would become clear at the training.

Throughout the Eurasia Mission Orientation training weekend in Dordrecht, Flavio and Carla kept hearing references to the United Kingdom. Within the group was a couple from England. A skit the group was supposed to perform also theoretically took place in England. They learned there was an M+Power placement available in England.

“Three times, God showed me about the U.K., U.K., U.K.,” Flavio recalls. “I had joy and I had peace in my heart when we returned to Lisbon.”

They spoke with their district superintendent about their desire to serve the Church of the Nazarene in England as volunteers.

Two churches in Portugal, and the district as a whole, decided to partially support and send out the couple to their volunteer mission assignment.

For the past six months they have been based in Birmingham to support a local, multi-cultural Nazarene church there. The congregation includes people from India, Brazil, China and Africa. Throughout the week, they lead a Nazarene youth club. They support ministry at a Nazarene church in Oxford on Saturdays.

The couple also became involved in a Christian program in Birmingham that is teaching English to immigrants.

Although their original assignment was for six months, they’ve extended their assignment to serve for another six months.

Carla found life in England different than she expected. Cultural behaviors and attitudes surprised her, such as the more reserved and private temperaments of the British, in comparison with the more open Portuguese. They were also surprised to see the situation of addictions and homelessness in Birmingham.

“We used to work with homeless in Portugal,” Carla said. “We know that everywhere we will find the homeless. In Portugal they are older. But here they are so young. Too many young people on the street here in Birmingham. They are mostly young people, young boys and girls in the street.”

They have been adapting to the cultural differences, the language and the ways of doing ministry in England.

Where Carla has found the most joy and fulfillment is in working with youth.

“British Christians, and some of the immigrants here, told me when we came that here in England, you cannot preach too much to the youth. It has to be maybe 15 minutes, but you have to entertain them,” she said. “I was very sad in my heart.

For me, it’s the Word of God that changed my life. If the Word of God doesn’t have the power to change people, it’s not entertainment that is going to do it.”

As she began to work with the youth and teach them from the Bible, she was thrilled when some of the youth came and told her they wanted her to “preach more of the Word of God to them.” With a smile, Carla said, “For me, it was the best moment.”

“For me, it was when the parents came to me and said, ‘Thank you for coming to the U.K, because our children share with us that you and your wife are supporting them to grow spiritually,” Flavio said.

While teaching English to immigrants, Carla said, “The women there started opening their hearts to me. Now I started being with them in their homes, having a lunch with them, even though they don’t speak English very well – a word here or there. And I started learning some Pakistani language.”

Flavio has become close to some young men from Sudan through the English classes. Sometimes they text Flavio, asking if he is available to talk.

“I can share with them the gospel and this is great,” he said. “Despite the challenge of a new culture, above this whole thing we can say God is with us and we have a joy to do this.”

This article was previously published in theNovember 2018 edition of Where Worlds Meet.

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M+Power takes Dutch couple toJerusalem

Having retired, Wouter and Emmy Boor gave three months of service to support a missionary family.

After 38 years working in finance for various companies, Wouter Boor was ready for a change. His wife, Emmy, whose background was in nursing and retail, and had been studying theology for several years, was ready, too.

In spring 2017, they heard that an M+Power mission training was scheduled for the Netherlands. They had felt an interest in serving cross-culturally, so they attended the weekend orientation event.

After the training, they were invited to serve for three months in Israel, filling in as leaders at the Jerusalem Church of the Nazarene while the congregation’s pastor couple, Shahade and Annabelle Twal, returned to Europe for missionary home assignment. Home assignment is a time when Nazarene missionaries speak in churches, usually in their home culture, to raise support for and awareness of Nazarene missions.

So at the end of 2017, the Boors reduced their lifestyle and Wouter quit his job.

It was the first time for the Boors to live and work cross-culturally, although they had visited Israel on holidays before.

The Jerusalem church is primarily English speaking, which made it easier for the Dutch couple to serve as summer leaders since they are also fluent in English.

Emmy led the services, including worship. She also swam at a nearby pool two days a week so she could get acquainted with Arabic-speaking women from the neighborhood. Wouter did painting at the church, and also drew on his financial background to help with bookkeeping. They both preached the gospel two times, which they said was a valuable experience. They visited a local prayer center where they would pray with other Christians. And they took time to visit other Nazarene churches to meet their brothers and sisters.

“We like to see that we are a part of the whole Church of the Nazarene worldwide,” Wouter said.

Being involved with Nazarene missions reinforced their understanding of what missionaries do, which can sometimes be a broad range of tasks and activities.

“If you look here at the small church, they have to do everything from changing the light bulbs to preaching and paying the bills. It’s a really all-around thing you need to do as a missionary. It’s not a one-person job,” Wouter said, adding they recognized how important it is that the Twals encourage members of the congregation to be involved in the work of the church throughout the week.

One of Emmy’s favorite moments was when the worship team was leading the singing during the weekly service, and a whole group of English students who were studying in the neighborhood wandered in and filled up the sanctuary.

“It was a very good feeling to see that the church was full of people. You feel glad that you have so many people. Still more people! Oh, where are they coming from? You are surprised that God brings people together.”

Wouter said one of his most memorable experiences was a cultural one: when getting a haircut, the hairdresser put a lighter next to his ears to burn away some of the hair.

“That is not done in Europe,” he said, laughing. “You have to say, ‘OK, do it,’ and hope that he understands when you say it needs to be a little bit shorter. He did a good job by the way.”

Because Wouter and Emmy had always had separate jobs, working together was a new experience they enjoyed.

“Instead of just living together, you start working together,” Wouter said. “That’s a different set of things. We also were able to manage that — what’s happening and talk it out. These are also the good things that help our marriage and ourselves for the future.”

The couple is open to another M+Power assignment, perhaps again filling in for missionaries who are gone for home assignment. Wouter said that their combination of skills and experiences would allow them to provide support in a number of areas, from organizing, finance, office work, leading worship and preaching.

“We said to each other, ‘Maybe there are more missionaries that want to go on home assignment and then we can take over a few weeks of their work,” Emmy said.

This has previously been published in theNovember 2018 edition of Where Worlds Meet.

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120 recommit to Christ at district camp meeting

A district in India revitalizes a nearly forgotten practice of camp meeting, creating opportunities for discipleship and equipping of believers.

During the early years of Nazarene mission work in India, camp meetings used to be one of the prominent features of spiritual renewal, and a major attraction for Nazarenes.

Eastern Maharashtra District, led by District Superintendent Rev. D. J. Bhalerao, is home to 56 local Nazarene congregations and their 24 pastors. Rev. Bhalerao, felt a serious need of reviving camp meetings on the district to bring greater spiritual renewal. Realizing there was not a budget available for a camp meeting, he and the district advisory board took a step of faith to plan a camp meeting, and began raising funds. Many generous people donated to make the event possible.

They planned for about 60 people to attend, but 175 people participated –120 of whom recommitted their lives to the Lord during the event.

Rev. Bhalerao said, “People are spiritually very hungry and it is our responsibility to spiritually feed them.”

The field strategy coordinator for India, Rev. Sunil Dandge preached around the scripture of 2 Chronicles 7:14, leading listeners to a deeper understanding of God and personal spiritual responsibility.

“In recent years, this is the first of its kind truth-seeker conference and camp meeting,” said Dandge. “It was well organized and did total justice with the purpose of meeting the spiritual hunger of truth seekers as well as believers.”

Rev. Vijay Rajulwala, Rev. S. T. Nandeshwar, Rev. P. L. Manothe, Rev. Vijay Bhalerao, Rev. Vidyasagar Gaikwad respectively conducted workshops on personal responsibility for salvation, doctrine of salvation, sin as an inherited problem, and individual’s identity, vision and mission of Nazarene Youth International (NYI), and entire sanctification.

Spiritual practices established by pioneer missionaries about a hundred years ago are still proving to be powerful tools of spiritual renewal.

Along with the camp, the district organized an NYI and NMI district camp. Scripture memorization and Bible quiz activities were conducted especially for Nazarene Missions International (NMI) by Pastor Mrs. Vandana Kinkar. Young people and women participated with enthusiasm.

Rev. Vijay Rajulwala, chief guest for the camp said, “When Nazarene leaders lead with vision and faith in God, the succeed anywhere on the back of the earth. This camp is an excellent example of the same, and I wish that every district on the India Field will revive the district camp tradition.”

Written by Rev. Rajiv Yangad and previously published in the November 2018 edition of Where Worlds Meet.

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The Eurasia Region Church of the Nazarene is one of six regions in the Church of the Nazarene global denomination. The Eurasia Region is home to about 8,000 churches in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. Learn more about us at www.eurasiaregion.org.

Founded in 1908, the global Church of the Nazarene denomination is the largest in the classical Wesleyan-Holiness tradition, with 2.3 million members, in 29,000 churches, sharing Christ’s love with their communities in 162 world areas.

Learn more at www.nazarene.org.