Making Christlike Disciples in the Nations

General Superintendent Jesse C. Middendorf has written a letter to Nazarenes around the world in anticipation of the General Assembly and Conventions in Orlando, Florida, June 24 - July 3.

"Making Christlike Disciples in the Nations" is the theme of the 27th General Assembly and Conventions of the Church of the Nazarene. Gathering in Orlando from around the world, delegates and visitors to the General Assembly will celebrate the accomplishments of the past four years. We have been "Making Christlike Disciples in the Nations."

In the four years since our last global gathering, God has helped the Church of the Nazarene to make some of the most astounding gains in our entire history. We have seen thousands of churches planted. Hundreds of thousands of people have joined our fellowship as new believers. New pastors, evangelists, missionaries, and teachers have entered the work of the Church of the Nazarene on every inhabited continent and on the scattered islands of the seas.

We gather to celebrate and report. We join our voices in praise, and we lift our hands in adoration and worship as we hear the stories and see the faces of new Christians flooding into the kingdom of God.

We have been "Making Christlike Disciples in the Nations." That is why we are coming together in Orlando. It is a time of accountability. It is a time of remembrance. It is a time for evaluation and examination.

We have been doing this work through God's enabling power!

But the work is not yet finished, and it will not be finished until He comes! So, from Orlando we will scatter to the four winds. We will move as one people into our second century, praising God for what has been done, and committing ourselves to the task ahead of us. We will go out "To Make Christlike Disciples in the Nations!"

Jesse C. Middendorf
April 30, 2009