Faith Promise Event: Theme Suggestions

• A memorable theme can make your Faith Promise event or missions conference a high point of your church,
• Faith Promise event themes can be a brief slogan or adage adapted to evoke world evangelism efforts.
• Phrases from the Bible or lyrics from a song make good Faithg Promise themes.

Need a theme idea for your church's Faith Promise convention or missionary weekend or even for the next year for your church?

Here are more than five dozen possibilities for global missions themes.

• A Symphony of Praise
• An Open Door
• Be a Winner
• Behold, the Lamb of God
• Building the Kingdom
• Caring Reaches Around the World
• Cause Something to Happen
• Celebrate Missions
• Committed Until the Whole World Knows
• Creator, Divine Healer, and Lord of Lords
• Fan the Flame
• Feed My Sheep
• Find Us Faithful
• Follow the Lord -- In Compassion for the World
• Following Jesus
• From a Tiny Seed -- To a Great Harvest
• Give The Water of Life
• Giving Is Living
• Global Vision for the Gospel
• Go Work in My Vineyard
• Harvest NOW!
• Harvest Time
• Hearts for Missions
• His Harvest Field -- Our Vision
• His Last Command -- Our First
• Hope for the Nations -- Jesus' Love
• Into His Presence -- Out to the World
• It's a Small World
• Know, Share, Give, Care
• Let the Earth Hear His Voice
• Let the Nations Rejoice
• Lift Up Christ
• Light Unto the World
• Living Water
• Love in Any Language
• Love, Finding a Way
• Love for Missions, Pass It On
• Love Lights the Way
• Make a Difference
• Make Disciples in the Nations
• Mission Legacy
• Missions ... A Bridge of Love
• Missions -- Our Mandate
• Missions -- Something to Be Happy About
• Nothing is Impossible
• Open Hearts, Open Hands
• Over the Rainbow
• Parade of Missions
• Points of Light
• Possess the Promise
• Reach Out to a Lost World
• Reach Your Arms Around the World
• Share Him
• Sharing -- His Hands Extended
• Shine for Him
• Taking the World for God
• The Rising Tide
• The World -- Our Mission
• The Power of Sharing
• The Joy of Missions
• Therefore ... Go
• Traveling the World on Our Knees
• Unto the Least of These
• World Mission Roundup
• Yes!

Note: If you have used a theme not listed here, drop me a note about it. I would like to share with others by adding it to this list.

Budget presentation as a jigsaw puzzle

Missionopoly -- Faith promise theme

The Lebanon, Oregon Church of the Nazarene did a take-off on the classic board game Monopoly for their Faith Promise theme. "Mission-opoly" was used to promote the special weekend. Here are samples of materials used during that global cross-cultural evangelism event.

Faith Promise: 1950s theme

Nazarene missions in the middle of the Twentieth Century

Email received from a local church: "I'm planning our upcoming Faith Promise with a 1950s theme. I obviously have found 50s prices and what was popular in the secular world then. However, I would like to do a comparison of where Nazarene missions "was" in the 50's versus where it is now. Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks so much in advance."

Facts to help you

I like your creativity! The 1950s theme would work for a Faith Promise Convention or a global mission weekend in almost any church. Here's what the 1950s looked like from the perspective of Nazarene global outreach:

• In 1952, there were 38,994 Nazarenes outside the USA/Canada and Great Britain. (Now, there are more than two million members of Nazarene churches outside the USA/Canada region)
• In 1952, the Church of the Nazarene was in 32 world areas. By 1959 we were in 38. (Now, we are in more than 160 world areas)
• In 1952, there were 301 career Nazarene missionaries on the field (Now, there are about 500 plus hundreds more serving as short-term volunteers)
• In the 1950s, no regular or Phase Three districts existed outside the Canada, Great Britain and the USA. Therefore, none of them were eligible to send delegates to Nazarene General Assemblies. (Now, there are more than 100 Phase 3 districts of Nazarene churches outside the USA/Canada region)
• In 1952, the name of what is now Nazarene Missions International (NMI) was changed from Women's Foreign Missionary Society to Nazarene Foreign Missionary Society. At that time, men were admitted to membership for the first time.
• The first Alabaster offering report was in 1950 when $46,600 was received. Over the years, these twice-a-year offerings have brought in about $100 million that has been used for property acquisition and building construction all around the world.
• Paul Orjala went to Haiti in 1950 (he went on to teach at Nazarene Seminary in Kansas City for a number of years). Don Owens (later Nazarene General Superintendent) went to Korea in the early 1950's. The Eckels were in Japan. Wanda (later NMI director) and Sidney Knox went to Papua New Guinea in 1955. William and Betty Sedat were in Guatemala.
• Former missionary Mary Scott became executive director of what is now NMI in 1950.
• In St. Louis in 1948, Alfredo Del Rosso from Italy became the first person from outside the USA, Canada and Great Britain to speak at a Nazarene General Assembly. He spoke again at the 1952 General Assembly in Kansas City, MO.
• The countries entered by the Church of the Nazarene in the 1950s:
  • 1950 -- Haiti, Jordan, and Lebanon
  • 1952 -- New Zealand
  • 1953 -- Panama
  • 1955 -- Papua New Guinea
  • 1956 -- Taiwan
  • 1957 -- Malawi
  • 1958 -- Brazil and West Germany
• We Nazarenes hit the ground running in Haiti. We now have about 800 churches in that one small country. Germany became the base for reaching into the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland (where European Nazarene College was begun in the 1960s).
• The idea of local churches giving 10% to missions emerged in 1949. By 1952 there were three 10% districts.
• The 1952-56 quadrennial theme for Nazarene missions was "I must work -- for the night cometh." The 1956-1960 quadrennial theme was "Up! This is the day!"
• In 1952, Helen Temple became editor of The Other Sheep, a monthly magazine for Nazarene World Missions. In addition to editing the magazine, Temple wrote scores of books of missionary stories for adults and children.
• The first mission books for children appeared in 1957.
• We began the Spanish-language radio broadcast in 1953, the first "foreign" language Nazarene broadcast. In 1956, a Nazarene radio program was launched in Japan.
• In 1954, the NMI raised $100,000 in a special denomination-wide offering to open the work in Papua New Guinea.
• In 1956, the "Star Society" program was inaugurated for those local church groups now called Nazarene Missions International or NMI. The five points of the star were:
  • Membership
  • Subscriptions to monthly Other Sheep, Nazarene missions magazine
  • Mission book readers
  • Prayer and Fasting League members
  • Successful completion of study book lessons

    -- Howard Culbertson,