Statistics report: Where do our missions dollars go?

See where your world missions dollars are doing to further worldwide ministry by the Church of the Nazarene
Discover the impressive scope of the Church of the Nazarene's global missions outreach, including the number of missionaries, churches, and languages reached.
Example: An investment of $100 per month in Haiti over three years yielded impressive results, including the establishment of multiple churches, a school, and a medical clinic.

Funding the mission

"Informed givers are happy givers!" -- the late Stan Toler

Do we get enough "bang for our buck?" Look at these missionary statistics.

"Focus on self and ease without regard for those who need saving when we have more ability to contribute than most anyone in the world is negligence." -- Christi Vandervort, Nazarene Bible College student

A snapshot of a recent year

Money from Nazarene Faith Promise giving, World Evangelism Fund contributions, Approved Specials giving, and Easter and Thanksgiving (Christmas in countries other than Canada and the U.S.) offerings raised under the caption "funding the mission" support world evangelism in the following ways:

165	World areas / countries with active Nazarene ministries
600	Number of Nazarene missionaries Includes Mission Corps volunteers and tentmakers These cross-cultural missionaries come from 60 different countries
274	Nazarene missionaries' children
303	Districts worldwide
30,712	Organized churches worldwide
97	Languages in which literature is being published
30	Languages in which radio broadcasts are produced
77	Countries reached by radio broadcasts Cost of one minute of air time: $4
52	Colleges, universities and seminaries
50,000	Students in Nazarene colleges andseminaries
3	Vocational and training colleges
227	Enrollment in these 3 training schools
9,348	Children sponsored in Child Development centers In addition, nutritional assistance is given in about 80 countries
65	Nazarene medical facilities
163	Nazarene compassionate ministry centers in USA/Canada
292	Retired missionaries receiving pensions
1,119	Nazarene & Mission teams in recent year
41,000	Crisis Care Kits distributed in recent year
6,000	School Pal-Paks sent in recent year
$74	Cost per minute to operate Nazarene world missions outreach

That's an impressive list. You won't get "a bigger bang for the buck" by investing your mission funding anywhere else!

According to missions researcher David Barrett:

Three nations with over 1 million population in which evangelism is the "least fruitful" in terms of outside money spent versus verifiable results are Japan, Switzerland and Denmark.
Three nations of over 1 million population in which outside money spent on evangelism and discipleship seems to be bearing the most fruit are Mozambique, Ethiopia and Tanzania.

Here's the good news: There are Nazarene churches in all six of those countries! That's not true of some organizations. Some go mainly where they can get "the most bang for the buck."

Some world mission boards fund their global outreach by raising money for each ministry and project separately. While we raise some money for specific mission projects in the Church of the Nazarene, our overall world mission outreach is run as one strategic package. That is, we fund the core of what we do through World Evangelism Fund monies given by local churches at Easter and Thanksgiving and through Faith Promise.

Because you gave

A Smart Investment of World Missions Money

Six years had gone by since Pierre Madsen had arrived in St. Michel del'Attalaye. Fresh out of Haiti's Nazarene Bible College, Pierre had gone to that Haitian town with the dream of planting a church.

To fund this church planting project, the Haiti North Central District offered Pierre $100 per month. This monthly subsidy from the Nazarene World Evangelism Fund would last a maximum of three years. That meant that within three years, Pierre must find a way to support himself, his family, and the new congregation.

It would not be easy. As Pierre rode into St. Michel on the back of a truck, he knew that he and his wife would face some lonely days. The district superintendent had told him that, as far as he knew, Pierre and his wife would be the first Nazarenes to ever live in that valley. Pierre would not have the advantage of any longtime Nazarenes transferring their membership to the new church plant to help him. He would be starting from "scratch" with just three years of minimal financial help. Haiti's extreme poverty would make reaching total self-support in 36 months a challenge.

As Pierre and his wife went to St. Michel del'Attalaye, they were clearly taking a step of faith.

Six years passed, and one day, I saw Pierre on the campus of Haiti's Nazarene Bible College. He had come to the capital city to complete the paperwork to apply for a government license for his church's elementary school. I recognized him and walked over to where he was talking with some students.

"How's it going, Pierre?" I asked.

"Oh," he said rather matter-of-factly, "OK."

He paused. Then, a smile lit up his face. "Well," he said, "actually, it's going really well! Our elementary school is about to get a government license. Exciting as that is, it is only part of what the Holy Spirit has been doing."

"Not long ago," he said, "a registered nurse found the Lord through our church. With her help, we've started a small dispensary. So we're saving souls and also healing bodies. Then," he said as he grinned, "the biggest news of all is that the Lord has enabled us to start five e other churches in the surrounding mountains. God has so used us to transform lives and situations in that valley that people have begun to call it 'Nazarene Valley.'"

"What a bargain!" I thought as Pierre finished his story. Six churches, a school, and a dispensary -- all this for a three-year investment of just $100 per month. That particular World Evangelism Fund investment is paying impressive dividends.

Because you gave!

This story originally appeared in what is now called Holiness Today

Christian literature in almost 100 languages

The Church of the Nazarene has active ministries in about 165 world areas. To provide materials for evangelistic outreach, discipleship, and other ministries in all of those places, Nazarenes publish literature in more than 90 different languages. Some of the publications are translations from other languages; some are original writings. Here are most of those languages in which the World Evangelism Fund and other sources are financing printed materials for Nazarene global evangelism and discipleship ministries:

Aboriginal
Afrikaans
Albanian
Amharic
Arabic
Aymaya
Bangla
Bemba
Bengali
Bulgarian
Burmese
Cantonese
Cebuano
Chamaro
Chichewa
Chinese
Chokwe
Chukese
Danish
Dutch
Effik
English
Fijian
French
German
Greek
Haitian Creole
Herero
Hindi
Hungarian
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
K'ekchi
Kannada
Khmer
Kikuyu
Kinyarwanda
Korean
Kwangari
Lahu
Llocano
Llonggo
Lomwe
Luganda
Luo
Luvalc
Luyia
Makua
Malagasy
Malayan
Mandarin
Marathi
Mbukushu
Ndebele
Nuer
Oriya
Palauan
Pedi
Pocomchi
Portuguese
Punjabi
Quiché
Rabinal-Achi
Romanian
Russian
Samoan
Sena
Setswana
Shangaan
Shona
Siswati
Somali
Sotho
Spanish
Swahili
Tagalog
Taki Taki
Tamil
Telugu
Thai
Tok Pisin
Tonga
Tsonga
Tswana
Tumbuka
Twi
Urdu
Venda
Vietnamese
Wahgi
Waray
Xhosa
Zulu

World Evangelism Fund inserts for Sunday bulletins (worship folders)

Need missions bulletin board ideas?

Let these spark your creativity.

Our local church uses legal-size paper (8 1/2 by 14 inches) for Sunday morning worship bulletins or folders. Those sheets are folded to make three panels 8 1/2 by 4 5/8 inches.

Using materials from the Global Nazarene Missions International office, I created a series of missions informational inserts to fit into those bulletins. Click on the graphic to download the full-sized PDF file of that insert. These could also be used as missions posters or even as starting points for missions bulletin boards.

Click on any of the images to open a full-sized PDF of that insert.

World Evangelism Fund

The World Evangelism Fund undergirds the global missions outreach and discipleship ministries of the Church of the Nazarene. When we speak of Funding the Mission -- "making Christlike disciples in the nations" -- the World Evangelism Fund is the primary instrument or resource. Other offerings, such as Alabaster, Missionary Medical Fund, World Mission Broadcast, Links and Nazarene Missions Team (formerly Work & Witness) project funds, are the icing on the cake.

-- Howard Culbertson,