to serve

CCO – Nicaragua, 2017

From November 24-26, 2017 the Nicaragua North District held a Cross Cultural Orientation, with 48 participants from 4 countries in Central America: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. In addition, 12 volunteer missionaries were serving in the CCO. During this time, the youth were able to listen to testimonies of what God is doing in other nations, and also what He is doing in the lives of the missionaries who have decided to be obedient to God’s voice. Many of the participants confirmed their calling and others found out how to keep serving in missions.

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Participants’ testimonies:

Kevin.jpg“Thank you, Global Mission for such an amazing job. This past weekend was exceptional and, without a doubt, God spoke to me and made my heart uncomfortable to leave my comfort zone. Learning about the missionary work that we do as a church trilled me, but knowing about all the need that is still taking place in our world touched my heart. The fact of knowing that there is still so much to do challenges me to be involved in different ways: giving, going, praying and fasting. I want to be Jesus’ hands and feet here on earth, I want to have a missional heart as He does, in which He gave everything through love to those most in need. This CCO helped me to change my perspective of missions, it inspired me to be a part of them and to have a willing heart to be able to serve and without fear say: Here I am, send me.”

– Kevin Rodríguez. El Salvador.

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COM nicaragua 8.jpg“The CCO is a space where the youth can discover and understand God’s calling to their lives concerning missions. It’s a huge blessing to begin to prepare yourself, to have a prelude of how all of our missionary brothers and sisters live, and to listen to their experiences, to be able to see how God is glorified in their lives, and also to learn how to do missions from our own home. I thank God for the opportunity of being able to participate in the CCO and confirm my calling to missions. The more a missionary is willing to let the Holy Spirit to guide him, the more He will bless his work.”

– Edgar Revelo. El Salvador.

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“I’ve been serving as a pastor for the Church of the Nazarene, and I have never understood missions until the day I attended the CCO. Before this I used to give only 10 cordobas for missions, now I’m going to give as much as I can.”

– Pastor Modesto Leal. Nicaragua.

Fily.jpg“It was an intense experience. The trainers had the necessary experience to communicate the message to the youth of our region who have the enthusiasm to serve our God. I’m thankful for the opportunity that the youth have to be involved in the churches. The CCO opens your eyes and heart to understand the calling that we receive from our Heavenly Father, in many ways. One of the sermons impacted me greatly. It was shared by Luz Jimenez. It made me reconsider, react and take up again the calling to missions with greater spiritual and physical strength. The CCO makes unique connections between the youth of our beloved Church of the Nazarene, and also brings us together as brothers and sisters. The CCO makes us share the tools that we are using to fulfill Jesus’ commandment for His Church. The CCO leaves a print in the heart that it will never be forgotten.”

– Filiberto Yat. Guatemala.

 

 

Lessons From a Tightrope And a Wheelbarrow

By Scott Armstrong

“Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised (Romans 4:20-21).”

(Read Romans 4:13-25)

I have heard the story of a famous tightrope walker who decided to cross Niagara Falls on a rope he had tied from one bank to another. He publicized the huge event and thousands came to watch this impressive feat. Balancing himself high above the raging waters, he inched his way across while the hushed crowd watched in awe.

After he reached the other side, the crowd roared in approval. They had never seen anything like this amazing display of courage and skill. However, the acrobat was not finished.  He put on a blindfold and made his way slowly across again.  Successful, and hearing the crowd’s thunderous applause, the man made his way across another time, except this third time he was wearing the blindfold and pushing a wheelbarrow bit by bit over the thin rope.  The ovation this time was the loudest he had ever heard.

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Now this tightrope walker had never fallen during a public exhibition, and so he shouted down to the throng of onlookers, “Do you believe I can cross this tightrope blindfolded with this wheelbarrow once more?”

“Yes!!  We believe you can do it!!” the audience shouted back.

“If you really believe,” the man on the high wire replied, “then which one of you will get in the wheelbarrow?”

Romans 4:13-25 tells us that Abraham lived a life of faith.  He didn’t just talk the talk; he walked the walk.  He believed against all odds that he would have a kid at the ripe old age of 100, and it happened. He believed in the God who could raise the dead to life, so he nearly sacrificed his own son before God rescued him and commended Abraham for his faith. This is earth-shaking, mind-boggling stuff.  But Abraham remained “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (v.21).

When was the last time you truly stepped out on faith? We serve a God who “gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (v.17).  Will you trust him today in spite of the circumstances around you? Is it time to stop only saying you believe in him and time to get in the wheelbarrow and live it?

Are We More Invested In Bringing People to Church? Or to Jesus?

By Karl Vaters

Church attendance should be a tool to help people draw closer to Jesus. Not the other way around.

I have a confession to make.

As a pastor, I have too much invested in getting people to attend church.

My salary depends on it.

My reputation depends on it.

My sense of self-worth depends on it.

All to a much larger degree than I’m comfortable with.

And I’m not alone.

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Come to Church? Or Come to Jesus?

The way most church systems are structured, many pastors have a greater stake in getting people to come to church than getting them to come to Jesus.

In fact, sometimes it’s detrimental to our bottom-line to have people draw too close to Jesus.

When people are more committed to the church than to Jesus, they will

  • Attend regularly and quietly
  • Spend all their volunteer hours at the church
  • Give all their charitable donations to the church
  • Be happy with the status quo

When people are more committed to Jesus than our churches, they might

  • Volunteer for some of their ministry outside the church walls
  • Find other places that are worthy of some of their charitable donations
  • Leave when God calls them into full-time ministry
  • Challenge the status quo
  • Make us feel threatened by reducing the clergy/laity dividing line

But we have to do it anyway.

We have to point people to Jesus more than to the church.

 Church Is a Tool, Not a Goal

Overcoming our tendency to emphasize church more than we emphasize Jesus won’t be easy. And I’m not in a position to point any fingers. I’m as much a part of the problem as anyone.

But I have a longing. For more. For better. For deeper.

I want to live, preach and disciple people in such a way that they’re committed to Jesus, not just their church.

Of course, church is valuable. It matters that we participate in a local body of believers through worship, fellowship, discipleship and ministry. If it didn’t matter, I’d leave the pastorate today.

We’re not commanded to bring people to church. We’re commanded to disciple them into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

But we’re not commanded to bring people to church. We’re commanded to disciple them into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Church attendance is not the goal. It’s a tool to help us reach the goal.

As a pastor, I have to remind myself of that on a regular basis.

A Matter of Pastoral Integrity

I don’t want to pastor a group of nice, polite church attenders, or waste my time entertaining bored believers.

I want to participate in the gathering, training, and releasing of an army of Jesus-worshiping, people-loving, barrier-breaking world-changers.

Sometimes it feels like my salary depends on the former. My integrity depends on the latter.

I also want my bills paid. But making pastoral decisions that have more to do with holding on to our salary packages than making disciples has made much of the western church anemic.

The church I pastor is no exception to that. At least not as much of an exception as it should be. That’s not their fault as much as it is mine.

Jesus promised that if we serve his kingdom first, “all these things” will be taken care of.

Let’s trust him to do that and turn the church loose.

This article was originally posted at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/karl-vaters/2016/january/invested-in-bringing-people-to-church-or-jesus.html?start=2