Recently the Board of General Superintendents of the Church of the Nazarene made a subtle, but significant, change to the name of our missions sending arm of the denomination. What was “Global Mission” will now be known as “Global Missions.” As of September 5, 2018, this shift has been made, all materials have been changed, and new logos have been introduced.
Some might wonder if adding an “s” to the name is just semantics. However, that small adjustment is designed to help differentiate between the overall mission of the entire Church and the specific missions entity of the Church. As Christians (and Nazarenes) everywhere, we are sent in mission, and that mission is global in nature:
—“…That my salvation would reach to the ends of the earth…” (Is. 49:6)
—“Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Mt. 28:19)
—“For God so loved the world…” (Jn. 3:16)
—“And you will be my witnesses…to the uttermost parts of the earth…” (Acts 1:8)
Missions typically refers to the emphasis within the greater church that focuses on the mobilization and support of missionaries to other cultures. Thus, Global Missions is a more appropriate title for the missionary sending branch of the denomination. Again, mission is not relegated to a specific program or sub-ministry of the Church. It is for all of us, everywhere, at all times.
This change affects our ministry in Mesoamerica perhaps more so than other ministries. After all, the name of our ministry has been World Mission, and now Global Mission, for 18 years. Nevertheless we are adopting these changes with open arms and will now be known as Global Missions Mesoamerica as well. The purpose remains the same: Discover, Develop, and Deploy missionaries from our region to the world.
If you have any questions please leave a comment in the section below. And let’s pray that God would guide us as a Church in His mission in the coming days.
By: Scott Armstrong
Download here the new Logos