Arlington Plants Arabic Congregation Arlington (TX) First Sponsors New Church God used a curious set of circumstances to establish an Arabic congregation in Texas. District Superintendent Charles Jones was introduced to a visiting pastor from Egypt at the Multicultural Ministry Conference in 1998. Jadalla Gharayyeb, chairman of the Middle East Strategy Committee, put Dr. Charles Jones and Pastor Isaac Abraham together. And in the conversation, Jad underscored the fact that 150,000 Arabic-speaking people live in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth metro area. Abraham had served as a pastor who preached the holiness message in his own country for nearly 40 years. Then about Easter time 1999, Pastor and Mrs. Abraham arrived in the United States with only the possessions they could pack in their suitcases--everything else had to be left behind. Soon after Pastor and Mrs. Abraham arrived, Pastor Geoffrey Gunter and Arlington First Church opened their facilities and their hearts to the new pastor and to the group God was going to gather. The teamwork in mission was magnificent. The district helped with original financing, and Arlington First Church provided a parsonage and offered shared facilities for doing ministry. Before the first church year was over, the Missions Committee at Arlington church led by Don and Karen Davisson voted to assume full support for the new work. Faith Promise giving nearly doubled in two years at the Arlington church, and much of the motivation for such generous giving can be traced to the new church sharing facilities and ministry with them. When asked about his impact on the church, Dr. Jones replied: "A whole new vision came to this church which was already missionary minded and had started two churches earlier in their history. I believe many other churches, even smaller churches, can do a similar thing just by opening their doors to new populations that have moved into their area." The Arabic congregation is growing; 35 or more sometimes meet for worship. Seventy-five persons recently attended a service, which shared the Jesus video in Arabic. Many of the new congregation are professional persons like physicians, dentists, and lawyers who were forced to leave their homeland because of oppression. One of the ways Pastor Abraham contacts prospects is to phone people with Arabic names in the phone book and speak with them in their native language. Even Muslims sometimes attend so they can have friendship connections with persons from their homeland; such a contact opens the door to the gospel for them and their families. GROW magazine congratulates Pastor Gunter and Arlington First Church for discovering their missionary dreams at their front door, for the generous support they provide for the new work, and for sharing facilities so a new congregation could be born. Church Begins in Family Room With a God-inspired desire to plant a church in the area where they live, Blake and Lisa Ward hold Saturday night services in their family room in Havre de Grace, Maryland. As many as 40 people sometimes crowd into their home for worship and fellowship. Like hundreds of other communities in North America, their target area--Havre de Grace--is a secularized mission field where 55 percent of the people are unchurched. Their plan to secure a more accessible meeting place likely will be accomplished by the time this issue of GROW is published. The Wards envision a young-adult-focused, contemporary, multicultural church. They plan to plant a church that is significantly helped by the hands-on efforts of their three teenage children and to use the Washington District's Center on Children daycare model. The Wards were affirmed to possess the gifts and graces for church planter leadership by the New Church Plant Assessment Seminar held at Camp Taconic, New York. Hundreds of Nazarene laypersons could do just as the Wards are doing if challenged to accept spiritual responsibility for their neighborhoods and communities. Leaders and pastors--why not sound that challenge, give that permission, and see the NewStart surprises God has planned for your laypeople. Missional Ministry in New England
Rev. Merritt Nielson, after serving many years on staff at Wollaston College Church, is planting a church in Plymouth County in the South Shore area of Boston. An additional 100,000 persons are expected to move to the area in the next 10 years. The core group is being built from a mailing to Eastern Nazarene College alumni who may feel God's call to this kind of mission. When asked to describe his vision for the new church, Nielson said: "I picked up three phrases from Dr. Paul Cunningham's prayer at the Millennial Conference that will guide us: The future is our friend. We have nothing to fear. God is already there." Paul and Nancy Willette Named New England Missionaries Three Churches Team Up to Plant Portuguese Church Leite pastors the Walpole Emmaus Church and then preaches on Sunday afternoons at Cambridge and Framingham. He believes new churches could be started immediately in many places by simply beginning weekday Bible studies in Nazarene homes of people who live 10 or 15 miles from the home church. Hispanic Planter Joins Lubbock Church Staff In response to the astonishing growth of Spanish-speaking people in their area, Lubbock First Church and the West Texas District have partnered to implement a plan to start strong Hispanic churches. Rev. Eugene Chavez has been added to Lubbock First Church pastoral staff and at the same time been name district director for Spanish ministries. The plan is to plant a strong Hispanic church in Lubbock which will serve as a model church to become a center for training, outreach, and evangelism for additional Hispanic works. Then other churches will be started in small Texas towns where the Hispanic population has sometimes increased to more than 50 percent of the total population. The Churches of the Nazarene in many of those places have been experiencing serious decline because of aging church members or because of population shifts. Where only a building remains, the facility will be used to plant Hispanic churches. Where viable Anglo churches exist, the congregations will be challenged to share their facilities. In either instance, new Hispanic churches can be started with almost no building expense. An important key to this church planting plan is to be sure buildings are not sold in towns where Nazarene population declines but kept for the new wave of immigrants who are moving to those towns. When asked about how he planned to plant the first Hispanic church, Pastor Chavez said: "Contrary to Hispanic work in some other settings, I am learning that many Hispanics are established here and know English well. Because of family ties and traditions, Hispanics often want to be together in church, but the older generation wants Spanish-speaking services and the younger wants English. So we will need to give attention to a bilingual ministry. I plan to start in five or six homes. We will even dedicate these houses so they become a light to the community. In each place, we will have a one-hour service--sing, pray, preach, and enjoy fellowship. After three or four months, we will have our first combined service that will bring these groups together as a nucleus for the new church. I believe when these groups come together for the first time and invite friends and family, we can have 150 to 200 people in the first service. Long range, we plan to replicate that model across the district. The lead church will become a strong center of evangelism and training for leaders." When asked about the missional basis for church planting, Chavez said: "Missions means finding God's leading and reinventing yourself to fit the needs of a particular setting. It means keeping your mind and spirit open to the directives of God, doing the things He is leading you to do. Growth is something God gives in response to our obedient service for Him. It is God who works through us to make the church healthy and strong." Pastor John Donnerberg of Lubbock First Church summarized the approach: "Since the facilities are already there and the people are there, we need to see what the harvest response will be." Washington Plans to Use Daycares to Plant Churches Crying, hurting children in every segment of contemporary society call the church to become pro-active. That pressing need, coupled with his own years of ministry to children, is what fuels Pastor Don Allison's passion these days. His goal is to serve children and start churches at the same time. The strategy is that happy children served well by a church's daycare center can become the key element that turns a family toward God and the church. And for children who have no family, such a Christ-exalting daycare center provides a sense of belonging. Allison's present vision turned into an implementing strategy at the 1998 District Assembly when District Superintendent Kenneth Mills shared his heart burden to build 25 new churches in the D.C. Beltway by 2025--one per year. Allison, just finishing a 40-day fast where he sought the Lord's direction for the future of Baltimore Parkville church--a congregation he has served for 26 years--began to see how his congregation could be involved in starting 10 of those churches by using daycare centers. Lest anyone think Allison is a dreaming visionary, he and his wife, Iris, have founded and led the Parkville church's daycare center for 17 years; it has grown to a present attendance of 200. Iris Allison, a former daycare license inspector for New Hampshire, runs a tight ship; and the children, parents, and church members appreciate the quality of learning she provides. The Parkville church, the second oldest Nazarene congregation in Baltimore, has embraced Pastor Allison's vision, as has the Washington District. According to District Superintendent Kenneth Mills, the Washington District responded by forming the Center on Children Corporation to start and manage daycare facilities. The intent is to use such ministries to serve children, reach parents, fund facilities for dual use of church and daycare, and impact communities. The first daycare is being developed in the church plant using the beautiful old facilities of a former Lutheran church at the corner of Patterson Park and Orleans in Baltimore. Funds for purchase and renovation of this facility have come from Alabaster funds, two area churches, and the Center for Children. Rev. Hayden Bourne is the pastor of the new church called Martin Luther King Church which is featured elsewhere in this issue of GROW. |