23 October 2024

Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eurasia, Mesoamerica, South America, USA/Canada Regions

Nazarene Missions Teams

Many who will read this will be familiar with Work & Witness, but you may not be aware of its rich history or some of the ways in which it has changed to adapt to the way we do missions. In 1972, Dr. Paul Gamertsfelder was charged by Nazarene World Missionary Society (NWMS) to find a way to get men involved in missions. He was a member of the Global NWMS (now NMI) council. In January 1974, the first official “Men in Missions” team was organized and sent to Panama. What began as “Men in Missions,” later renamed “Work and Witness,” changed the way in which many participated in significant missions projects through the Church of the Nazarene globally. To mark the 50 years of this missions work and better showcase the wider involvement of Nazarenes in projects around the world, the name was changed to Nazarene Missions Teams. This name captures all types of projects in which teams can participate, such as Work & Witness, emergency response, evangelism, medical missions, sports, education, compassion, and technology projects. Nazarene Missions Teams is a beautiful way to continue the legacy of the last 50 years and move into a space where more people can use their gifts and talents to serve people and places, joining the Lord and others in fulfilling his mission.

In the last 50 years, 18,524 teams have been sent out on Work & Witness projects.

229,185 individuals have served the church around the world through Work & Witness.

Why did the name change from Work & Witness to Nazarene Missions Teams?

“One of the reasons we changed our name from Work & Witness to Nazarene Missions Teams is that that name implied for many that the team that went were the ones doing the work and they were also the ones doing the witnessing. In reality, the teams going are joining the work that is currently being done; they are joining in the evangelistic efforts already being carried out locally.” — Stephen Sickel, coordinator for partnerships, teams, and projects for Nazarene Global Missions.

From the beginning, it was generally true that the U.S. would send teams to the other regions. However, in the last few years, many other countries have been sending more and more teams all around the world to join God in missions there. In the past year, churches have sent 23 teams from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Germany, South Korea, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Singapore, and Thailand to serve with other congregations seeking to establish stronger work or meet local needs in distant places.

Sickel explains: “The name change also was needed due to stricter traveling restrictions. If you say that you are going to do work, that changes the type of visa that is required. If you say that you will be witnessing, in some countries that is not allowed.”

In addition to the new name, the Nazarene Missions Teams registration process has had significant upgrades. This new system will allow the team leader a state-of-the-art experience in collecting and accessing their team’s information. In this digital age, it is important to provide quick and easy tools for team leaders to use in gathering the right information for their teams to participate in the missions trip. Step by step training videos showing how to navigate all of the new features of the system are available in the resources section on the Nazarene Missions Teams website.

Could You Serve?

Is God calling you to participate and support this kind of work?
For more information, see the Nazarene Missions Teams website.

There you can find projects, resources for leading a team, trip insurance information, upcoming events, videos, and Nazarene Missions Teams logos for your church to use to customize your missions information.

NMI Central is available in a curated PDF archive.
To read previous editions, click here.