TL;DR:
The Church of the Nazarene's Care & Connection emphasis makes individualized support and encouragement possible for the denomination's global missionaries.
The Church of the Nazarene has a central funding system that supports around 500 missionaries serving around the globe. While these missionaries do not need to raise their individual support, each missionary or missionary family is assigned to district NMI organizations. Those organizations, in turn, connect them with local churches through a program formerly called LINKS. LINKS was an acronym for Loving, Interested Nazarenes Knowing and Sharing. Because that acronym works only in English, the increasingly multilingual Nazarene family now calls the emphasis Care & Connection. The program offers everyone opportunities to encourage and support missionaries in personal ways.
Note: If you do not know your assigned Care & Connection missionaries or need their contact information, get in touch with your district Nazarene Missions International president.
Find out when your adopted missionaries are scheduled for home assignment and deputation services. If they will soon be on home assignment, take advantage of the opportunity. Try to schedule them at your church and at other churches on your district that have also adopted them. Give them the royal treatment. Plan a family-style dinner and a time of celebration. If your LINKS missionary family can visit only on a weeknight, contact neighboring churches and plan a large multichurch reception.
Plan ahead. Discover your adopted missionaries' needs. Find out what they would like to take back to the mission field. Ask them about their special interests and hobbies. Be a Care & Connection promoter. See these suggestions for when your church hosts a missionary speaker.
Are your Care & Connection missionaries expecting a baby, moving to a new location, celebrating a 25th or 50th anniversary, attending an MK's wedding, or retiring? You can have a wonderful time helping them celebrate. Send cards or flowers, make phone calls, or host a shower. Think of your Care & Connection missionaries as your church's pen pals.
What a special privilege you have! Let these veterans know they are appreciated and not forgotten. Write and introduce yourself, your church, and your community. Send photos of your church, your pastor, and interesting happenings in your area. Team them up with senior adults in your church as pen pals. When you send cards and letters, consider including stamps they can use. Ask about their interests and hobbies, including their music and reading preferences. Invite them to share stories, by mail or a digital recording, about the mission fields where they served. Send small gifts such as:
Anything you do will be appreciated, especially by older missionaries who are widowed or unable to get around much. Older missionaries will love hearing from the children in your church. Encourage your children or teens to adopt your retired missionaries as honorary grandparents and remember them on special occasions.
Do your Care & Connection missionaries have children? Supporting missionary kids can be both rewarding and fun. Many teens would enjoy hearing from a church youth group. Birthday-party supplies arriving in the mail could brighten any young person's special day.
Need a selection of ideas? Try these:
Of course, money is also a welcome gift. If you are a Nazarene church, send monetary gifts through the General Treasurer so your church can receive 10% credit and the funds can be delivered securely rather than mailed as cash.
Church children's groups could also do a boxed-up birthday party for MKs in their church's Care & Connection missionary families. Have your children bring in small gifts that can be easily mailed: crayons, markers, pens, pencils, books, candy bars, gum, fruit drinks, balloons, stickers, stamp sets, and notepads. If you are preparing a birthday-party box, include cake and frosting mix, candles, napkins, and prizes. Prepare the box well in advance so that it will arrive on time. Homemade birthday cards will add a special touch.
Other things Care & Connection missionary kids might enjoy include:
What an opportunity for all-church fun and involvement! Shower them with homespun care and love:
Most of all, tell them you care by sending lots of cards and notes. Plan a "treat month" for your college MK. If it can be worked out, you might even invite them to your church for a weekend. If the school they're attending is close to you but far away from family members where they will spend summer and Christmas vacations, offer to host them for those brief breaks when they would not be going to a relative's home. In short, treat your college-age Care & Connection MK as you would want your child to be treated.
Before mailing food, toiletries, or other goods, ask the missionary what would be useful and check current postal, customs, dietary, and local restrictions.
Missionaries are like you: they love to know they are loved! Learn their desires and interests. Show them that you care.
In 1921—only about two years after what is now NMI was born—a "box work" program was begun. Box work encouraged local churches to send missionaries more than cash. Churches packed personal and ministry supplies in boxes and mailed them overseas.
Two years later—in 1923—the General Budget (now the World Evangelism Fund) came into being. At that point, box work became a way to provide a personal touch for individual missionaries supported through a central budget.
That "box work" program later developed into LINKS and, eventually, Care & Connection. It provides personal contact between local churches and missionaries serving around the world.
Howard Culbertson, hculbert@snu.edu
The Care & Connection emphasis connects Nazarene churches with their missionaries serving around the world. Through prayer, communication, and practical support, Care & Connection aims to develop relationships between missionaries and local Nazarene congregations. Churches participating in the Care & Connection emphasis provide encouragement, financial assistance, care packages, prayer, and other forms of support for missionaries as they fulfill their calling to cross-cultural ministry. Care & Connection supports missionary efforts worldwide by fostering a sense of connection and partnership.
