First Church of the Nazarene

At the front end of the new calendar year I want us to be reminded of our missional objective for this church year. 

"To continually practice the missional essentials at such unprecedented levels, we have to place our faith completely in God, because we are obeying his call to send and be sent wherever, (Loudon, Farragut, Cuba, Harriman, Tellico Village) with whatever, ($, people, time, talent, training) and whenever, (Now and as His plan unfolds) Christ directs this church year."

This objective was established by our church board and adopted based on the following scriptures for this years missional strategy. 

2  These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. Luke 10:2 (NLT)   

24  I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. 25  Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. 26  Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me. John 12:24-26 (NLT) 

January begins the new calendar year and with it comes new opportunities.  Some of the opportunities will be exciting and some of them will be scary.  Many of the opportunities hold within them great promise but many hold great risk with the unknown being the key factor.  

As we begin this New Year in the life of the church, our missional strategy takes a turn toward fulfilling some of the leadership goals of planting a new church.  Our Cuba team will be going to "shop" for property for establishing a new church in the city of Santu Spiritus.   We will also be visiting the Cruces church that we helped establish property for last year.   We will be working on the Cienfuegos Church building, which is our "mother church" partner for the Cruces church.    The Cienfuegos church also has two other mission works they have started in their area.   Please pray for our trip as we go to what Acts 1:8 details as the "ends of the earth" parts of the Great Commission to make disciples. 

 For us Nazarenes, somehow it seems easier to go to the "ends of the earth" parts and invest a lot of time, resources, and money to make disciples by starting churches.   However, when you look at Acts 1:8, which is a detail of the Great Commission to Go make disciples in the nations, making disciples, or being Jesus witnesses, starts right in our very own field, not the ends of the earth. 

Acts 1:8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

  "Our very own field", our very own Jerusalem is right here in Loudon County.   We are called to be stewards of the Great Commission right in our own back yard.  January will intentionally begin the emphasis about "Going" AND "Sending" to make disciples to the nations but also right here in our own back yard.      It will be a challenging preparation time to do this, but if we are to be faithful to the call to work in the harvest fields, we must give time, resources, and money that will help establish making disciples by starting churches right in our own back yard as well as the ends of the earth.  Pray to the Lord of the Harvest...He will direct WHO, WHAT, and HOW we are to go into the harvest that is ripe, right in our own Jerusalem. 

Christ's servant and yours, Pastor David