Global Church

 

"Their world has become small, and they have become big. Sometimes they need to be somewhere that reminds them that the world is very big, and they are a small part of it."

One of our denominational youth leaders shared this during the first night of our district assembly last week. I thought about how true it is. Not just for the teens in my home and the classrooms I serve in, but for me. Technology and social media mean I can know what's going on "tomorrow" in Australia, while simultaneously assuming that what I have to say, or post is absolutely essential and needed by everyone. And maybe that's why being part of this global denomination has become even more important to me as my own congregation has become intentionally more intimate and cozier (aka small enough to fit in my living room). Because when I show up at these events like camps and district assembly I am reminded that I am a small part of something much bigger. 

I love that when we say that we are a global church we truly mean it. This isn't new and progressive, it's something that's been woven into our roots from the very beginning. 

What does this look like?

On the first night of our yearly district meeting, District Assembly, we always hear from some of our missionaries who are here on home assignment for a few months. One of our missionary teams was a husband and wife serving in Argentina. He spoke in English, and she translated in Spanish. I tracked a little better in than I would have expected. I had practiced this when my Nazarene congregation ten years ago had a service which was always given in both English and Spanish. And I know it can be hard for some to focus, but I can honestly say I love it. During the message the missionary couple talked about the students they had been ministering to in Columbia who felt a call to missions around the world. I smiled remembering how a silly younger me was surprised to find out that many of our missionaries were not from the U.S.A. It's weird how those ideas that the Americans are the senders and other countries are always the receivers are just hardwired into us. Even if we weren't aware of our own assumptions. It's a slow death sometimes. 

We closed the service praying over our District's mission team headed to the New Scent Center in Kenya Africa. Among these short-term missionaries is my friend Kenny and his mom from El Salvador. 

The next day we all arrived ready for business. A lot of what happens there is that we are, as described in Nazarene Journal, a representative form of church governance that combines congregational, Episcopal and Presbyterian models. At the local level the elected church board and hired pastor have certain responsibilities and authority and all members are invited to vote on certain items such as who will represent them on the board, whether to hire a pastor recommended by their board, and how to handle large purchases and sales of buildings. Then from there our board and pastors answer to an elected District Advisory Board and District Superintendent. A district is typically one or more states. Our Arizona District includes Nevada and a tiny piece of California. Districts are divided into regions. There are elected General Superintendents from throughout the world that serve together at the "top." The closest thing I could compare them to is probably the Supreme Court. Or maybe the Cardinals in the Catholic Church.  Each General Superintendent is assigned a certain number of districts. They preside over our District Assemblies and ordination services, giving the final approval before ordaining an Elder (pastor), lead General Assembly every four years, make decisions and respond to crisis and questions. They are typically gifted at preaching and shepherding.

For the second year in a row our District Assembly was opened by General Superintendent Dr. Christian Sarmiento, who was born in Columbia, and planted churches and served in ministry throughout South America and the Carribean. We are also, globally, led and directed by General Superintendents born in Guatemala, Mozambique, and Germany (a daughter of missionary parents). 

Besides voting on several items, we heard highlights from the churches on our district from our District Superintendent. I had noticed various unfamiliar faces and women wearing head coverings that looked like pictures I'd seen from Africa. As our District Superintendent began telling us the story of being contacted by an immigrant pastor from Congo, his voice cracked, overwhelmed by emotion. One year ago, this independent congregation was looking to join the Church of the Nazarene. They had friends in the Midwest who had done the same. Our DS was certain the Manual with it's complicated bi-laws and extensive code of Christian conduct might discourage them. But it didn't. And that day, their congregation was called to the front where we officially established this Congolese Church of the Nazarene on the Arizona District. They were already our brothers and sisters in Christ, but they're now also part of our Nazarene District.

During the break I went and met up with my Spanish-speaking pastor friend, Patricia. We originally met doing our makeup together at women's retreat, and we regularly encourage and pray for one another.

I also met up with Maria. Maria and I met originally in a clergy coaching group on Zoom. She had left the AZ District to serve at a church in Maui and was returning to AZ for the week to be officially ordained with our district. English is Maria's second language, and she is serving in ways that utilize both languages. Read this paragraph again. She worked in Maui. She speaks two languages. She was being ordained in Arizona. We met on Zoom. This is what a Global Church does.

Following District Assembly, I joined a webinar put out by our denomination's resource for continuing education for pastors. It was about empathetic listening. And they started the webinar off by letting us know how to access the translations in Korean and Spanish.

Outside my own "little" bubble I'm noticing words like diversity, equity, and inclusion becoming fighting words. They're like a grenade when inserted into a conversation. 

But, without even using the words, I see a rich history of how my denomination has been working to build better systems to override some of our unconscious biases. I'm seeing how the Kingdom of God has no borders, and how God seems to hear our prayers just as well in Spanish and Korean as he does in English. And the irony of it all is that in the true definition of the word, most would still consider our denomination very "conservative." Who thinks of a group of people who as a whole abstain from drinking, and barely started being allowed to go to movie theaters and dance the Electric Slide at weddings woke? Yet here we are trying our best to include, diversify and even the playing field since 1909.

This doesn't mean we (the Church of the Nazarene or the Church in general) have arrived. Far from it. When we get together in North America, I still see very little pigmentation. In fact, when I traveled to North Carolina for a church conference, I remember whispering to one of my friends that I'd never seen so many white men over 50 in one place. (Sorry...we really do love you brothers. There was just A LOT). Whether intentionally or not, many of our choices in planning these big events pose challenges to people of color in leadership. For example, many of the pastors of our Spanish-speaking congregations in North America are BI vocational and pastoring small congregations, so taking weekdays off to attend is just not an option.  And some of this is much less subtle or accidental. I confess that some of the most racist ideas I've heard circulate outside of a junior high classroom have come from inside "the Church." Within what we refer to as a "big tent" the way we individually think, vote, and behave varies greatly.

But instead of just seeing what needs improvement I also see those little glimpses of Heaven, like when my brothers and sisters here from the continent of Africa were welcomed into our district, or when Dr. Sarmiento offered his blessing over our ordination candidates. I'm reminded that this is who we were meant to be and who we can be when we're at our best. It's woven deep down into our DNA since way before the foundation of the Church of the Nazarene. It's been in the blueprints since the beginning of time. We saw it in the group of scholars from Persia who followed a star to Bethlehem. And on Pentecost when the Good News was heard "each in their own tongue." And I'm given enough hope to keep moving forward and believing that one day we will truly be living "as it is in Heaven."