Daniel and Margarita Pesado are global missionaries from Argentina because churches around the world have invested in missions through World Evangelism Fund.
The infrastructure of churches, districts and leaders developed through ongoing WEF giving enables church to respond in crises, such as Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake.
In an impoverished community built on a landfill in the Philippines, a nearby church - whose existence was made possible through WEF - planted a daughter church.
Because WEF has been invested in Mexico and Central America for decades, today these churches are producing missionaries, seen here training for cross-cultural ministry.
In September 2009, the Sierra Centro District in Riobamba, Ecuador, celebrated the official organization of the 162nd Nazarene church in that nation--a result of global giving to WEF.
Over the years, investment in church growth in Rwanda through WEF led to a Youth in Mission team's visit in 2008. During their evangelistic crusade, many accepted Christ.
In Poland, missionaries and district oversight funded through WEF have made possible innovative coffee shop ministry that is attracting people to Christ in a nonthreatening setting.
If even one event in history had happened differently, Daniel and Margarita Pesado -- global missionaries hailing from Argentina -- may not be have become missionaries at all. What would have happened…
…if Daniel’s grandparents had not moved to Argentina from Italy in the 1900s to farm?
…if Frank and Lula Ferguson had said no to God’s call to be missionaries in Argentina in 1914?
… if the fledgling Church of the Nazarene that year had not sacrificially funded the opening of the church in that nation?
… if Daniel’s mother, 16-year-old Eva, had not responded to the Holy Spirit’s voice to accept Christ during one of the Fergusons’s services?
… if Eva’s suitor, Oscar, had not given his life to Christ before they married and later gave birth to Daniel Pesado?
Yet, these individuals and churches did say “yes” to God. As a result, in the late 1970s Daniel and Margarita Pesado accepted Christ in the Church of the Nazarene. They said “yes” to a missionary call that has carried them to eight nations across three continents.
The story doesn’t stop there. The Pesados’ son, Ignacio, and his wife, Litzy, have taken up the mission torch by serving as missionaries in Barcelona, Spain. In working with other young people in Spain, some of whom have answered a call to preach. Several have gone to European Nazarene College in Büsingen, Germany, for theological education and leadership training. In turn, they will spread across Europe, carrying the light of Christ to still more people.
In the Pesados, the missionary loop has come full circle since 1914.
How does it work?
Every Nazarene in 1914—and since— who has contributed to what is now called the World Evangelism Fund is part of this story. The World Evangelism Fund (WEF) is the denomination’s financial lynchpin for deploying missionaries and supporting church growth throughout 155 nations around the world. Nazarenes have invested a total of $1.5 billion (USD) in world evangelism since the denomination was founded in 1908.
The World Evangelism Fund is gathered when a local church calculates 5.5 percent of its annual income and gives this amount for the mission globally. In this and many other forms of involvement, each church joins with God in His mission to redeem the world.
Before 2010, the fund was gathered differently. Churches were assigned apportionments based on previous-year expenses.
“Under the old system, it was based on a complicated formula to determine what the church’s obligation was. It was difficult to understand,” said Mark Patrick, treasurer for the North Florida District and member of the Budget Allocation Committee appointed by General Assembly in 2005 to study a new plan for giving to the WEF.
The plan was unveiled in early January, along with the Web site www.FundingtheMission.org, which will assist churches with accurately calculating their part in WEF. (Read more.)
“The intention was to go to an income-based plan rather than an expense-based plan,” he said. “This is much more like a tithe of a gross income.”
The new 5.5-percent plan was designed to strengthen World Evangelism Fund giving in face of the growing trend toward designated giving. This trend is a very healthy because it reflects a desire for a personal connection to mission by donating to a specific project, person or ministry.
At the same time denominational leaders applaud this trend, it is necessary for everyone to know the vital role the World Evangelism Fund plays. It is the WEF-provided delivery system of the church that makes it possible for designated gifts to have their greatest possible impact on their selected ministries.
Working hand-in-hand
In the Church of the Nazarene, the question is not whether there is a greater need for the World Evangelism Fund or designated giving projects. They are interdependent and work together.
For instance JESUS Film Harvest Partners, which funds equipment and teams through designated gifts, is administered by missionaries, as well as district, field and regional personnel, most of whom are supported through the World Evangelism Fund, said Bernie Slingerland, evangelism coordinator for the Mexico and Central America (MAC) Region, one of seven regions into which Nazarene churches are distributed for administration and expansion.
“It (the World Evangelism Fund) really has allowed the JESUS film to have tracks to be run on,” Slingerland said. “This happens when the World Evangelism Fund provides a global structure--a denomination. On the other side, JESUS Film Harvest Partners helps the Church of the Nazarene by raising funds for JESUS Film teams, equipment, discipleship materials, special projects, leadership development (in past years) and more. The ministry also syncs JESUS Film teams with donors. In the end, WEF and JFHP work together.”
Since the partnership began, JESUS Film Harvest Partners has reported more than 54 million people have seen the JESUS film, nearly 10 million people have indicated a decision to accept Christ, and over 3 million people have taken part in discipleship. Additionally, more than 21,000 preaching points have been started, and 14,000 new pastors have begun training.
The JESUS film evangelism tool itself, in the MAC Region, is fully integrated into the holistic ministries and projects developing throughout the region. Many of these ministries are funded, at least in part or indirectly, by the WEF, he added.
Making missions personal
In many cases, when Nazarenes are personally involved in a designated giving project, they are ignited with greater passion for missions. This, in turn, leads to greater giving to World Evangelism Fund, pointed out Teresa Hodge, Nazarene Mission International (NMI) president of the East Tennessee District, USA.
“I feel like this main structure has to be there for these other things to exist, and yet these other things like JESUS Film and Work & Witness really influence the churches to bring World Evangelism Fund,” Hodge said. “It’s ineffective unless missionaries are in place for these other things to work.”
Hodge’s district, which has historically given 96 percent of its budgeted World Evangelism Fund each year, has been intimately involved with JESUS Film and Work & Witness -- a program through which teams of people from a church or district travel inside or outside of the country to assist in a mission project.
Through these hands-on opportunities, many people on the East Tennessee District have personal experience in cross-cultural ministry. This has strengthened the local churches’ and district’s commitment to giving to the World Evangelism Fund as well as designated giving projects, such as Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM), she said.
On Sunday, January 17, 13 churches in East Tennessee with attendance below 100 reported taking offerings totaling $17,000 for NCM’s Haiti Relief fund, in the wake of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti’s capitol.
“I wanted to emphasize to them … about the fact we have churches there and … if it had not been for World Evangelism Fund sending missionaries that went and established that infrastructure of churches, we wouldn’t be able to give with confidence to something like NCM Haiti fund and know it would be administered in a correct and organized way,” Hodge said.
Giving to WEF
Many lay people may not give much thought to how churches determine the amount the congregation will give to the World Evangelism Fund. Details of the new 5.5-percent giving plan may not mean much to the average person in the pew.
Yet, the stories and the faces of real people around the world, such as Daniel and Margarita Pesado, whose lives have been transformed by the Gospel through the generosity and obedience of God’s people, still move Nazarenes to more sacrificial giving to God’s mission.
“We thank God for the churches around the world who give passionately for the World Evangelism Fund as the vital lifeline of our global mission,” Nazarene Missions International Director Daniel Ketchum said. “WEF is to the global church as tithe is to the local church. A church’s tithe supports essential basics for that local church, without which it could not fulfill its various ministries. In 155 nations, the WEF supports the total infrastructure or essentials of the global church, which then provides the context for all ministries supported by designated giving. The new 5.5 percent plan is achievable by churches around the world. In fact, many already give much more and will continue to give much more. Thanks be to God!”