NMI Global Mission Conference review

Friday, September 11, 2009

Orlando, Florida

Highlights

Nazarene Missions International (NMI), working in collaboration with Nazarene Youth International (NYI), Sunday School and Discipleship Ministries International (SDMI), and the International Higher Education Council (IHEC), expanded their 21st General NMI Convention into a Global Mission Conference on June 24-28 in Orlando, Florida.

Featured speakers included Global Mission Director Louie E. Bustle, NMI President Eunice Brubaker, and Global NMI Director Daniel Ketchum, who concluded the event with a specially themed message on Book-of-Acts holiness movements. Following his message, nearly 1,000 persons responded, affirming a closing covenant. The conference highlighted prayer initiatives, World Mission regional features, themed global tracks, and mission workshops.


Delegates

One thousand and ten (1,010) delegates from World Mission regions participated as follows:

• 67 from Africa
• 54 from Asia-Pacific
• 62 from Caribbean
• 35 from Eurasia
• 58 from Mexico/Central America
• 46 from South America

Of note:

• 50% said it was their first global NMI Convention
• 50% of the delegates were under age 50
• Nearly 100% said they were making disciples and being discipled

People

Jennifer Brown was elected as the first global NMI president from a country other than the U.S., marking history for NMI. Brown, a resident of Jamaica, has served as a local and district NMI president and as a member of the Global NMI Council. (Story: New NMI president brings global perspective)


Recognition

• Pending final approval by the Board of General Superintendents, the outgoing General NMI Council agreed to new recognition levels for the World Evangelism Fund, beginning with 2010 district assemblies as follows:
• World Evangelism Church: WEF giving at least 5.5% of current income,     no     deductions (guidelines to be provided by global treasury services)
• World Evangelism Church of Excellence: WEF giving at least 5.7% of current     income or USD 1,500 (whichever is less; for new world areas)

New Global Council

For a list of those joining Brown, Ketchum, and Bustle on the new Global NMI Council, see the following story: Regions elect General NMI Council

Regional NMI coordinators include:

• Samantha Chambo (Africa)
• Pauline Sheppard (Asia Pacific)
• Mary Alice Smee (Caribbean)
• Heidi Bowes (Eurasia)
• Ana Maria Crocker de Diaz (Mexico/Central America)
• Liliana Radi (South America)

   
Quadrennial Theme

While the quadrennial theme is the statement of mission for the Church of the Nazarene, "To Make Christlike Disciples in the Nations," the four annual sub-themes for NMI are:

• Year One: To Make Christlike Disciples in Our Jerusalem (family and local church)                                  
• Year Two: To Make Christlike Disciples in Our Judea (neighborhood, city, and county/province)                                      
• Year Three: To Make Christlike Disciples in Our Samaria (cross-culturally, state, and nation)                                   
• Year Four: To Make Christlike Disciples in the Nations (globally)

   
Prayer Initiatives

The NMI convention was preceded with a million hours of prayer around the world. In Orlando, many Nazarenes prayed for conventions and the assembly in a variety of ways:

• Two global prayer rooms
• A global symphony of prayer open to all
• Circle prayer times throughout the NMI gathering
• A prayer zone around the NMI delegation
• A three-session global track on prayer
• A special prayer feature on three mornings
• An informal prayer walk in and/or around the convention center.
• An intercessory prayer team prayed for each person immediately prior to his or her going to the platform during the global mission conference.

   

Worship Experiences

The following worship teams/individuals reflected different cultures and languages:

• House of Prayer (Cali, Colombia)
• Africa Nazarene University (Nairobi, Kenya)
• George Williamson (Scotland)

For the first time, the March of the Nations included a 155 flag processional during the Wednesday opening General Assembly worship service, as well as a flag recessional "sent out to the nations" during the Sunday evening General Assembly closing worship service.
   

Actions

Resolutions passed by the 21st general NMI convention include:

• Replace "general" with "global" for all leadership roles, the convention, and throughout the NMI constitution, expressing the scope of representation for all nations and generations.
• Simplify the purpose of Nazarene Missions International to "mobilize the church in mission through praying, discipling, educating, and giving" and to change the wording throughout the constitution to reflect this description.
• Eliminate the term "auxiliary" in reference to NMI. NMI is a core team ministry of the Church of the Nazarene. This action agreed with a general assembly resolution to remove the term "auxiliary" from the Manual.
• Change the term "NMI program coordinator" to "regional NMI coordinator."
• Add a provision for the global NMI council to approve official locations and implementation of practical arrangements with respect to the time and place of the global NMI convention. This will grant global flexibility for gathering in future years.

--NMI
 

 

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