Multicultural ministry leaders receive training in Church Planting Essentials

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Shawnee, Kansas

In 1997, the Church of the Nazarene's Board of General Superintendents declared the USA/Canada Region a mission field. Since then, USA/Canada has become one of the most fertile mission areas because of the variety of people living in and coming to the region. The denomination's Multicultural Ministries office believes there are great opportunities today for the denomination's ethnic ministries to reach people in their specific culture or language like on the Day of Pentecost. 

“And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language” (Acts 2:5-6).

To help facilitate this mission, the church's Multicultural Ministries and Evangelism/New Church Development offices partnered to provide training in Church Planting Essentials from July 23 to 27 in Shawnee, Kansas, near the denomination's Global Ministry Center. 

Fifteen missional leaders, including directors, coordinators, and consultants of Strategic Readiness Teams, attended the event.

Participants, listed here with their respective areas of ministry, were: John Nells, Native American; Jack Zimmerman, Messianic Jews; Paul Doctorian, Armenian; Samuel Chung, Chinese; Pascal Permis, Haitian; Roberto Hodgson, Hispanic; Stephen Lee, Korean; Junior Sorzano, Multicultural; Chieu Pham Quang, Vietnamese; Elmer Gillett, Black Ministries; Michael Gatkek, Sudanese; Anong Nhim, Laotian; Jadalla Ghrayyeb, Middle Eastern; Sokurt Sous, Cambodian; and Darley Ramos, Portuguese. 

Prayerful sessions enhanced participants' knowledge and capabilities for church planting, and organizers provided time for attendees to connect, network, and fellowship. 

Bill Wiesman, Evangelism/New Church Development director, and Samuel Flores, South Texas Multicultural coordinator, trained participants using the Dynamic International Church Planting system materials. The training is Bible-based and principle-driven, and has been used effectively in a number of global mission areas to reach people with the gospel.

The group also took time to visit the Global Ministry Center to experience and appreciate the ministry of the global church family.
 
At the conclusion of the event, a graduation certificate was presented to each participant, recognizing them as certified Church Planting Essentials trainers. The presentation was followed by prayer and the commissioning of the trainers to return to their respective communities equipped with valuable resources in the Church of the Nazarene’s ongoing mission "To make Christlike disciples in the nations."  

For more information about Multicultural Ministries, visit their website.
--Multicultural Ministries

 

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