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Indianapolis District Nazarene Missions International

From the Field

LoveWorks

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LoveWorks team plants seeds in Australia and New Zealand

by Asia-Pacific Region Church of the Nazarene
10 Aug 2023

Australia and New Zealand Churches of the Nazarene partnered to host a team of eight students and two faculty/staff members from the LoveWorks program at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) for three weeks in May 2023. LoveWorks teams are short-term missions teams sent from PLNU to support long-term ministries and local churches worldwide.

LoveWorks teams represent an opportunity for the global Church of the Nazarene to be built up in unity and maturity (Ephesians 4:12-13). One PLNU student, Hannah Young, said, “I quickly felt welcomed, included, and loved.”

“I am forever changed by the sweet people that my team and I were able to meet and how Jesus worked through us,” said Ruthie Jochimsen, a member of the LoveWorks team. “We focused on the importance of planting seeds. On short-term missions, we may not see the fruits of our labor, but we need to continue in prayer and trust that God will continue to grow the seeds planted.”

Place of Peace and Carina Church of the Nazarene hosted the team for one week in Australia, and eight churches and congregations in New Zealand (All Nations and their Marathi Fellowship, Seabrook, Māngere, North Shore, Immanuel Outreach Ministry, Onehunga, and Crossroads Church of the Nazarene) hosted the team for two weeks.

The churches and LoveWorks team focused on partnering to plant seeds in the lives of people in each community. In Australia, the team led a gathering for the North and West District youth at Carina and joined with Place of Peace on a community yard-work project. They also participated in the churches’ weekly worship services and produced a media project for the district.

In New Zealand, the team led worship, game nights, Youth Group, Kid’s Club, and volunteered at a local primary school. At Seabrook, they helped with property maintenance; at Crossroads, they built a prayer labyrinth.
The relationships the team built have already extended beyond the borders of Australia and New Zealand. Pastor Livingston Po Ching of Carina Church of the Nazarene and his family visited the team in California in June on their way back to Australia from General Assembly.

“What a blessing it was to see precious relationships keep growing across the world,” Young said.

The churches in Australia and New Zealand as well as the LoveWorks team were blessed by each other’s services.

“Where we sought to serve, we were also served,” Young said. “Where we sought to love, we were also loved. Where we sought to be a blessing, we were blessed. The experience was a beautiful expression of what our church seeks to be.”

 

–Church of the Nazarene Asia-Pacific

Kid’s Kaleidoscope

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Kid’s Kaleidoscope is a new addition to the NMI Central publication on the first week of each month. It coordinations with the word area focus for that week. NMI is committed to engage children and youth, providing missions information and activities, designed to awaken and nurture a spirit of missions in the hearts of children. Use the following link to access the activity pages for July in several languages! Past issues (in English) can be found under the “Resources” tab. Scroll down to the Children’s Missions section!

Files – Nextcloud (nazarene.org)

Abandonment

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One of my challenges in caring for the patients here in PNG is to try and understand a little of where they are coming from, what challenges they have, what their cultural beliefs are, etc in order to better care for them.  Through the years, I have learned that where a person comes from can have a big impact on their ability to followup regularly.  Cost of transportation, road blocks, fights along the way can all be barriers to those traveling long distances, so trying to get them to seek care closer to home is sometimes necessary.  Knowing that most people get their water from the river, which is also used by some as a toilet, leads me to talk to patients about boiling water before drinking it, especially if they are having repeated bouts of diarrhea.  I know that one of the ways that people get out of fights or when they are feeling stressed, is to faint and pretend to be unconscious.  When they come to the ER, there is something more important that being given a clean bill of health and sent home, there is a reason they needed to come to the hospital, a reason they needed to escape whatever what going on at home or at school and so sleeping in the hospital for a night, having a chaplain come and talk and pray with them is sometimes the best medicine.   I have learned many things about life in PNG and about the challenges to…
Source: Abandonment from Erin Meier – Asia Pacific