Letter From the General Superintendents March 12,2021
Dear Pastors and Leaders,
We continue to receive reports of the good Kingdom work that you are doing around the world; we rejoice and give thanks to God for all of you. It is evident that you have not allowed this pandemic to keep you from being engaged in the mission of making Christlike disciples in the nations.
A little over a week ago, we completed the annual meeting of the General Board. This was the first virtual General Board meeting in the history of the Church of the Nazarene. It was a blessed time as we were able to witness the positive ways that God is at work through the church. There are a number of highlights that we would like to share with you.
The annual report of the Board of General Superintendents includes a review of this past year, with a special emphasis on our new discipleship initiative, A Journey of Grace, highlighting the vital role of prevenient grace. We invite you to watch a video of the report here: https://vimeo.com/508614145 Written copies of the report may be found in five languages.
As mentioned above, the Journey of Grace discipleship model was officially launched for the church. When we consider Nazarene discipleship as A Journey of Grace, we must begin by recognizing that discipleship is a journey. Discipleship is not a set of Bible studies that “when you finish these studies, you have graduated from discipleship.” No, discipleship is a lifetime journey that begins at birth and continues through all of life! Bible studies, crisis moments, and fellow journeyers all contribute to our journey, but they are NOT the journey. Rather, the discipleship journey is better defined as humankind connecting with the story of God and being transformed by God’s amazing grace. We encourage you to check out the new website (https://nazarene.org/journey) and take note of all the free materials that are being made available. Scroll down to the resources section to see what has been prepared. An introductory video has also been released: (https://medialibrary.nazarene.org/hapi/v1/contents/permalinks/Cc3i6GJj/view) David Busic has written the book, Way, Truth, Life: Discipleship as a Journey of Grace as a resource for the global church. The book, along with supporting videos, was released in nine languages with more to come. You can click here for more information: (https://nazarene.org/way-truth-life) The book is available for sale now at The Foundry and Kindle. A companion book has been co-authored by Gustavo Crocker, Belong: Retracing the Way of God’s Embracing Love. This book is also available at The Foundry: (https://www.thefoundrypublishing.com/belong-9780834140332.html)
We also celebrated the Church of the Nazarene entering the country of Luxembourg. This is an encouraging story of God’s leading to make connections through the ministry in Cape Verde, planting a new work in a new land. Who would have imagined that a work such as this could begin in a new country during times of quarantine and closed borders? We rejoice in seeing the hand of God at work!
The missionary commissioning service was a powerful time of praise and worship. We celebrated 16 retiring missionaries representing a combined 414 years of service and newly commissioned 24 missionaries from 11 different countries. The entire worship service can be viewed here: (https://vimeo.com/516260667/a532e522c4) The message preached by Dr. Busic is a reminder of the intricate relationship of our calling to be sent into the world as Christ’s ambassadors and to embody the message of holiness. You can read the full article with details of the ministries of our newly commissioned missionaries (https://www.nazarene.org/article/2021-nazarene-missionaries-commissioned)
This week marks one year since the world shut down as a result of the virus. Upon reflection, it has been good to see how God has continued to lead and guide the church during this crisis. Despite the many challenges we have faced, we also praise God for the open doors of opportunity. To God be the glory!
Grace and Peace,
Board of General Superintendents
Filimão M. Chambo, Eugénio R. Duarte, David W. Graves, David A. Busic, Gustavo A. Crocker, Carla D. Sunberg
(as sent from the Board of General Superintendents’ March 12, 2021 message to pastors)
Published: 03/15/2021
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