Educating—a Four-Step Process

Nazarene Missions International recognizes that people learn in different ways, so it is important to provide
mission education in a variety of methods. Missionaries have testified that their mission passion began when
reading an NMI missions book, hearing a missionary speak, participating in a mission trip, or attending a
mission lesson or retreat. The more opportunities for learning your church receives, the more likely those in
attendance will begin to see the world through God’s eyes.
There are four methods we encourage churches to integrate into their culture to allow people to learn
about missions:

• Make NMI missions books/CDs/e-Books available to the congregation.

• Participate in mission service projects and/or hands-on missions activities.
• Schedule one or more services with a mission speaker and/or provide interaction with a missions
speaker.
• Use multimedia mission resources and/or missions publications and communications.

Options for each of these are many, as you can see below. Choose at least one from each group to cover
the variety of learning styles in your congregation.

NMI Mission Books, CDs, and e-Books

NMI books provide in-depth coverage of a missionary’s life, the growth of the church in a particular
world area, or how the Church of the Nazarene faces the issues you hear about in the news. Find inventive
ways to get these great mission stories into the hands, headphones, or
e-Readers of your congregation.

• Start a book club in someone’s home to discuss the latest mission

books.
• Encourage students to read mission books for “extra reading”
beyond prescribed books for school.
• During vacation and breaks, encourage families and youth groups
to read/listen to the books and CDs.
• Offer incentives for people who read all six books.
• Encourage children with advanced reading skills to read the adult/
youth books.
• Combine resources with other Nazarene churches in your area if
your church is on a tight budget; swap books and curricula.
Mission Services/Activities
Most people learn better when knowledge is accompanied with hands-on experience. Consider the following
service opportunities:

• Offer seminars to the community about AIDS, health care, drug awareness and prevention, disaster
response, child abuse prevention and awareness, etc.
• Donate Vacation Bible School supplies to a multicultural church, and help them host it.
• Sponsor a refugee family.
• Provide computers to a community center and offer training.
• Open or assist with a soup kitchen, food pantry, or rescue mission.
• Begin clothing drives or food drives for local compassionate ministry centers.
• Host community events at your church.
• Assist in community blood drives.
• Host a job fair for refugees and new immigrants.
• Develop parenting workshops for teen and/or single parents.
• Open a tutorial center.
• Offer free ESL (English—or other language—as a Second Language) classes.
• Offer Bible studies and classes in a language other than your church’s first
language.
• Participate in prison ministries.
• Adopt a section of a highway or an area in the community to clean up.
• Serve in shelters for people suffering from domestic violence, crisis pregnancy
centers, men’s shelters, homeless shelters, etc.
• Fill and send Crisis Care Kits or School Pal-Paks throughout the year.
• Join in disaster relief.
• Have the church facility approved as an authorized Red Cross Shelter or distri-
bution center for natural disasters.
• Volunteer for hospice care.
• Participate in a nursing home ministry.
• Provide transportation to doctors’ appointments, church, or other places for those who cannot drive, or
offer to do grocery shopping for the homebound.

Mission Speakers (Home Assignment/Deputation)

Who can better tell your church the global story of God’s mission than global missionaries? Hearing a
mission speaker personalizes mission investments of praying, discipling, giving, and educating.

• Host a missionary at least once a year.

• Check with your district to learn of missionaries on tour in your area.
• Be creative in planning events and fellowship opportunities for your missionaries.
• Create events for the different age/interest groups of the church to interact with the missionary, especially
children and youth.
• Encourage your congregation to attend district/zone events to hear mission speakers.
Multimedia Missions Resources/Missions Publications/Communications
There are many resources to provide learning opportunities in this category. By your relating mission experi-
ences to your congregation in an engaging manner, mission passion will increase.

• Provide mission education by using the adult, youth, and children’s mission education curricula.
• Make use of the International Mission Education Journal (IMEJ) if English is not your congregation’s first
language or if you have groups in or near your church that do not speak English. It may be downloaded
free from the NMI Web site; just click on the appropriate language at the bottom of the home page. Dis-
trict/regional leaders have access to all versions of IMEJ, including English.
• Make use of the Global Mission DVD, sent to churches three times a year, and other mission videos.
• Download video, audio, and graphics files for the Church of the Nazarene free from the Nazarene Media
Library. Signing up for an account is free, as are downloads.
• Make use of other non-English resources available on the NMI Web site.
• Subscribe to Engage magazine, a Global Mission Web-based magazine
featuring stories of changed lives, and encourage your congregation to sub-
scribe and read it regularly. For more information or to subscribe free, go to
the Engage Magazine Web site.
• Make regular use of Mission Connection, a free monthly resource exchange for NMI leaders. You prob-
ably subscribe; however, encourage your council and other mission leaders to subscribe. To subscribe,
click here. Make sure people know to reply to the confirmation e-mail, as this action completes the sub-
scription process.
• Use other mission publications (Nazarene Compassionate Ministries magazine, mission articles in Holi-
ness Today, etc.)
• Distribute/display mission communications (LINKS and missionary newsletters, regional newsletters,
etc.)
• The NMI Web site is an excellent resource for NMI leaders, as well as the person in the pew. Visit the
Web site at www.nazarenemissions.org.
• Visit other mission Web sites:
○○ JESUS Film Harvest Partners: www.JFHP.org
○○ Nazarene Compassionate Ministries: www.ncm.org
○○ Global Mission: globalmission.nazarene.org