I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Jesus Film Harvest

Partners

2

Volunteer Missions 2

Compassion 3

Alabaster 3

100 Schools in the

DRC

3

Purpose Statement 4

Upcoming Events are

listed online -

http://

www.neokdistrict.or

g/events/calendar/

Protecting our Mis-

sionaries online

4

September and February. You

might be able to volunteer for

a building trip!

Join the work! NMI needs

volunteers! Give and pray so

missionaries can stay in the

field! Learn more at

nmi.nazarene.org

and your local Church of the

Nazarene

- David Stevens

A building makes a differ-

ence!

One of the most afford-

able ways we can help

new Churches around the

world is to help them build

a building. It gives them a

public presence and stabil-

ity. In some world areas

they start with only a roof.

Your financial gifts accom-

plish the greatest effec-

tiveness through the Ala-

baster Offering.

During February and

September the volunteers

of Nazarene Missions In-

ternational promote the

Alabaster offering. All of

your donations to Alabas-

ter Offering go to build

buildings. No salaries are

paid from the funds. Often

the buildings are built by

Work & Witness teams

and volunteers from the

local congregation.

Alabaster funds have even

been used to construct

buildings in the USA.

It is so easy! Get an Alab-

ster Box from your local

Church of the Nazarene.

Put your loose change in

the box. Bring it in during

What is Alabaster?

The Alabaster Offering pro-

vides funds for property

and buildings around the

world. While we understand

the church consists of the

people of God and not a

building, buildings erected

for the purpose of ministry

help provide a sense of

permanence, functionally

enhance ministry efforts,

and convey an attitude

that the Church of the

Nazarene intends to "put

down roots." Alabaster

funds help provide land for

many Work & Witness pro-

jects, and the entire Alabas-

ter Offering goes toward the

purchase of land and con-

struction of churches,

schools, medical facilities,

and homes for missionaries

and national workers.

Read more at -

http://

nmi.nazarene.org/10080/

story.html

M A K I N G C H R I S T - L I K E D I S C I P L E S I N T H E N A T I O N S S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

Message from the DP

Alabaster Offering

Nazarene Compas-

sionate Ministries

Schools in the DRC

JFHP

Engage Magazine

S E P T E M B E R E M P H A S I S — A L A B A S T E R O F F E R I N G !

A B U I L D I N G M A K E S A D I F F E R E N C E !

N E O N M I M I S S I O N S N E W S

2017-2018 Edition NEOk NMI News September 2017

Alabaster—a gift from the heart.

Africa-Eastern District Center Built with Alabaster Fund assistance.

India

April 09, 2008

When I watched the

JESUS Film I realized

that Jesus truly came to

be crucified on the

wooden cross so that

people would be re-

deemed from their sins

and receive salva-

tion. Other religions say

that there is God, but

none of them provide

for redemption. Through

the JESUS Film I learned

that Jesus himself gave

His life and opened the

way towards redemption.

I find this wonder-

ful. Now I believe in

Jesus and have decided

to live in the way He has

shown me. I promise to

follow Jesus. I request

you to please pray for me

so that I am able to gain

more knowledge and

information about Jesus.

(name not given)

South Florida District

sponsors Jesus Film

team.

At least 75 peo-

ple accepted Jesus as

their Savior through the

efforts of a unique youth

team from the Southern

Florida District that trav-

eled to Gros-Morne,

Haiti, from August 4 to

11. The trip was the dis-

trict's project for Naza-

rene Missions Interna-

tional's 100th anniver-

sary celebration.

From “a South Asian

Country”

NORTH DISTRICT:

1. We have around 2400

churches of which 98%

have been planted

through JESUS Film

Harvest Partners minis-

try. Our next vision is to

help 1 million more

souls meet the Lord

through our JESUS Film

work by 2020!

9. As we travel around

the remote, rural areas

and talk with lots of

community people, we

find the majority of the

people are illiterate; they

do not know how to read

and write. But these

groups of people are

intelligent and remember

things after watching the

movies. The movie lan-

guage media is an excel-

lent tool for them to con-

centrate on the simple

message that they get

from the dialogues and

incidents that they watch

and hear from the JESUS

Film.

One person is saved

when you give a $3.00

gift to Jesus Film Har-

vest Partners. (JFHP)

JFHP is involved in:

- evangelism - discipleship - church development - leadership training pastoral education

Learn more at http://www.jfhp.org/

T E S T I M O N I E S F R O M J F H P

V O L U N T E E R M I S S I O N S

Page 2 N E O N M I M I S S I O N S N E W S

“When I watched the

JESUS Film I realized

that Jesus truly

came to be crucified

on the wooden cross

so that people would

be redeemed from

their sins and receive

salvation.”

Guinea (PNG) when Bob

came upon his workmen in

the maintenance yard on a

Saturday. He reminded

them that they did not have

to work on that day. “You

don’t understand,” they

said, “We are the Kudjip

Nazarene Hospital Work &

Witness Team,” and

pointed to their yellow shirts

with words home-screen-

printed on the fronts. “We

In 2011, the North Arkan-

sas District went to the

island of St. Lucia, return-

ing with good reports of

working on churches and

with the people there.

Work & Witness is one of

the best ideas in the whole

church, and we have seen

it from both sides. Yes, it

does work. Makes us think

of a time in Papua New

have built three churches

around here, and we are

going to do the next one

now.” All this without any

“white skin” (to use a PNG

term) knowing or directing,

Bob noted, mentally awed.

“We have seen how teams

come here to PNG to

work,” they said, “and now

we want to have our own,

too.” (story from http://

nmi.nazarene.org/Stories/

Nazarene Compassionate

Ministry

Before we can tell peo-

ple about Jesus, some-

times we need to help

them have the basics of

living. NCM works to

feed and clothe those who

are less fortunate, respond

to disasters, and provide

other necessities such as

fresh, clean water.

Read more at:

http://www.ncm.org/

summer-2017.html

Schools have always been one of

the ways Nazarene Missions has

reached lost people for Christ. Be-

cause of our education programs

from pre-school through University

level Nazarenes are making a dif-

ference all over the world. (See

the story of Schools in the DRC at -

http://www.engagemagazine.com/

content/nazarene-churches-establish-

more-100-schools-drc )

Nazarene churches establish more

than 100 schools in DRC

C O M P A S S I O N —

S C H O O L S — A M I S S I O N T O C H I L D R E N

Montenegro_Colombia Arabic Church—

Chicago

A L A B A S T E R O F F E R I N G I N S E P T E M B E R

Africa Guinea Bissau Edu-

cational Center

Page 3 N E O K N M I N E W S S E P T E M B E R

2 0 1 7

Some of the

building projects

assisted by

Alabaster

Offering.

A classroom in one of

the Nazarene Schools in

the DRC.

“Sometimes, living com-

passion is as simple as

telling a child she is val-

ued.”

P.O. Box 153

Vinita, OK 74301

Phone: 918-323-5051

E-mail:

david.thestevens@gmail.com

What is Nazarene Missions International?

"NMI is the organizational representative of missions for

the Church of the Nazarene on the regional, district, and

local levels."

"NMI is the promotional, educational, program, and fund

-raising arm of missions."

“NMI is the organization that "provides the structure and

spiritual dynamic for mobilizing the church in mission."

Our Purpose:

“To mobilize the church in mission through praying, giving,

educating, engaging all ages including children and

youth.” (learn more—http://nmi.nazarene.org/AboutNMI/

Topic.html )

N E O K N M I

IMPLEMENT THE ROLE of

a digital watchdog. This is

another important role

your church can provide.

This involves monitoring

the internet, websites,

social media, blogs and

any other searchable elec-

tronic forum for anything

posted about your mission-

aries.

The final area may seem

to fall outside the

“security” world, but that’s

actually not the case. This

area is member care and

pastoring of the mission-

ary on the field. Research

and real-world experience

all demonstrate that mis-

sionaries who are battling

spiritual, emotional or

psychological issues be-

come less and less effec-

tive in their Great Commis-

sion ministry the longer

these issues go unre-

solved. Experiencing them

in an overseas setting, a

foreign culture, and far

away from their support

systems typically escalates

the problems. Many mis-

WORK WITH YOUR MIS-

SIONARY to develop a list

of “don’t use” terms and

phrases and a glossary of

terms and language that is

acceptable. It isn’t enough

just to prevent use of

terms like “missionary”

and “evangelize”.

CREATE SYSTEMS IN

YOUR CHURCH to ensure

that the “don’t use” terms

never appear on a web-

site, blog post, recorded

sermon, social media, or

anywhere on your part of

the cyber battlefield

TEACH YOUR CONGREGA-

TION how to communicate

with their missionaries.

Some churches provide

written guidelines... but

isn’t this topic a great op-

portunity for a message on

the commitment that we

should all have to see the

Great Commission ful-

filled?

SEEK OUT YOUR PART-

NERS to set up and work

with them to create protec-

tive barriers.

sions sending agencies

have member care sup-

port, but a number don’t. A

complicating factor is that

sometimes missionaries

are unwilling to discuss

these types of issues with

a representative of their

organization, fearing ca-

reer consequences. These

issues together can spiral

into a situation where the

health of the missionary is

in jeopardy, judgment may

be impaired, and that is

always a safety and secu-

rity problem.

For details see the Engage

Magazine article: http://

www.engagemagazine.co

m/content/what-churches-

should-know-protecting-

their-missionaries

Videos about many of

these subjects can be

found in the Nazarene

Media Library,

P R O T E C T I N G O U R M I S S I O N A R I E S O N L I N E

Join us on FaceBook

September 2017 Page 4

For many missionaries, one of the

greatest sources of danger is the in-

formation that families, friends, and

yes, churches, post online about

them.

Engage Magazine is your source for

inspirational stories from the Global

Mission Department.