Quotes from Dr. Bresee

The Poor
"The first miracle after the baptism of the Holy Ghost was wroughtly upon a beggar. It means that the first service of a Holy Ghost-baptized church is to the poor; that its ministry is to those who are lowest down; that its gifts are for those who need them the most. As the Spirit was upon Jesus to preach the gospel to the poor, so His Spirit is upon His servants for the same purpose."

"We can get along without rich people, but not without preaching the gospel to the poor."

"We want pastors who will go out and find the poor that nobody else cares for."

"His heart was to throb in deepest sympathy and love for the poor of the earth."

"The evidence of the presence of Jesus in our midst is that we bear the gospel, primarily, to the poor. This must be genuine; it is more than sentiment; it cannot be stimulated nor successfully imitated."

"We are poor - yes, and I trust the Lord will keep us poor. Anybody who can make money and get rich is not fit to be a Pentecostal Nazarene. If a man is worthy of the cause, he will pour his money out."

"In reference to the poor; the Lord has told us to do good unto all men as we have opportunity, especially to those of the household of faith."

"That a people are poor and weak and despised, is no shadow to dim their hope. If they have God's gift of the Holy Spirit, there is nothing to which He calls but that they may do."

Politics
"I have said that there is a political side to the Christian life...Righteousness is as deep as hell and as high as heaven. A man's vote or a woman's political influence is for God or against Him, on the great questions which go to the bottom of things."

Missions
"Our church is preeminently a missionary church. It knows no difference between home and foreign fileds - in these days all fields are near."

Christian Service
"Instead of taking a man out of service and burden-bearing for men, the religion of Jesus makes him the servant of all, and as far as possible he bears the burden of all."

"Greatness in His kingdom is not according to worldly thought. That here, up is down, greatness is service, to be chief is to be slave. That a man cannot be great here until he ceases to have any desire to be great. Great here is a gewgaw, a throne, a bauble."

Essentials
"For the benefits which come to the individual church, we can afford to sacrifice every prejudice and preconceived notion which is not essential to heaven or holiness."

Dr. Phineas F. Bresee (1838-1915) is considered by many to be the primary architect of the formation of the International Church of the Nazarene. For many years he served as a Methodist minister but, due to his public conviction about the importance of "holiness" and "entire sanctification" to doctrine, was eased out of denominational responsibility. Subsequently, he formed the First Church of the Nazarene in downtown Los Angeles, which became a primary expression of a growing movement of Wesleyan renewal that now encompasses nearly 14,000 congregations in almost 150 nations.

Quotes from Mother Teresa

"Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God - the rest will be given."

"Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."

"Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them."

"One must really have suffered oneself to help others."

"We cannot do great things. We can only do little things with great love."

"Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus."

"Without suffering, our work would just be social work, very good and helpful, but it would not be the work of Jesus Christ, not part of the Redemption. All the desolation of the poor people, not only their material poverty, but their spiritual destitution, must be redeemed. And we must share it, for only by being one with them can we redeem them by bringing God into their lives and bringing them to God."

"It doesn't matter who it is, and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other."

"It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start."

"Give until it hurts."

"If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive."

"In the developed countries there is a poverty of intimacy of spirit, of loneliness, of lack of love. There is no greater sickness today than that one."

"It is now how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much we love we put in the giving."

"The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not a mortification, a penance. It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy."

"The poor gives as much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food; and they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them."

"The world today is hungry not only for bread but hungry for love; hungry to be wanted, to be loved."

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile."

"I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God."

"Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other - it doens't matter who it is - and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other."

"There should be less talk. A preaching point is not a meeting point."

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

"I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness."

"Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, buy they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go."

"In loving one another through our works we bring an increase of grace and a growth in divine love."

"Each of us is merely a small instrument; all of us, after accomplishing our mission, will disappear."

"We will never know how much just a simple smile will do."

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."

"Like Jesus, we belong to the whole world, living not for ourselves but for others. The joy of the Lord is our strength."

"May God give back to you in love all the love you have given and all the joy and peace you have sown around you, all over the world."

"Seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, everywhere, all the time, and seeing His hand in every happening - that is contemplation in the heart of the world."

"To me, contemplation is not be shut up in a dark place but to allow Jesus to live His passion, love, and humility in us, praying with us, being with us, sanctifying through us."

"Every act of love is a work of peace, no matter how small."

"There are many people who can do big things, but there are very few people who will do the small things."

"Love, to be real, must cost- it must hurt- it must empty us of self."

"Suffering is nothing by itself. But suffering shared with the passion of Christ is a wonderful gift, the most beautiful gift, a token of love."

Key Definitions

There are many definitions of "City." However, for BIMM's purposes, two descriptions are used:

1. "A city is an agglomerate social organism containing a population of at least 20,000 persons in a relative density that packages a critical population necessary for spawning and nurturing a variety of value-systems, lifestyles and power constellations. Cities are particularly receptive to, and instrumental in creating innovation and change. With this capacity for change is introduced various kinds of dysfunctional effects including cultural, sociological, economics, psychological and spiritual." Fletcher L. Tink in From Order to Harmony: A Hermaneutic of Renewal for Urban Mission, p.12.

2. A city can also include the concept of a "city region" as described by Jane Jacobs that includes a core city with suburbs and outlying rural and small town areas that are connected symbiotically by informational and economic linkages.

Likewise, a definition of "ministry" used by BIMM is the following:

I. It is the active engagement of Christians as co-regents in the life of the city, for the purpose of identifying, introducing, exhibiting and celebrating the Kingdom of God in all manner of spirit-enhancing forms. These forms include those of specific evangelistic intent, both individual and corporate:

a. Those of remedial intent: that is, providing care for the needy, restoring the damaged, reconciling the divided, recycling the discarded; in short, the mission of Jesus as expressed in Luke 4:18-19 and of Christians in Matthew 25:35-39.

b. Those of creative intent: that is, the building of community both as ecclesia and alternative communities, the embellishment of life in all dimensions.

c. Those of confrontational intent: that is, recognizing the evil forces at work and countering them with spiritual engagement.

"Compassionate Ministries," is not exclusive to the definition of ministry given above. All ministry is compassionate or ought to be. However, because the Church has often defaulted in the practical application of "A" above, consigning these ministries to parachurch organizations or to the government, there has recently been a growing commitment of people called specifically to exercise their "lay" gifts to improve the quality of life of those less fortunate than themselves. This calling is not inferior to, nor in contrast with "evangelism." Indeed it should be seen as "compassion-evangelism", a need so evident in the urban environment.

Compassionate Ministries is in no way exclusive of the proclamation of "justice" and "righteousness". Indeed compassionate ministries will inevitably be informed by, and will exercise principles of justice, both incarnationally and prophetically.

"Compassion" then is the feeling of empathy, the articulating of the cry, and the "resurrection" of those who both aid and suffer.

Multicongregational Insights

Fletcher Tink has written an unpublished manuscript on multicongregational church development, entitled, “And See ALL The People.” Over the next few months we will be excerpting sections of it, to inform, inspire and caution. Fletcher has served a succession of staff positions in four churches with a total of 17 congregations in Boston, Los Angeles and Washington. We encourage responses and ideas based upon field experience, yours or that which you have observed.
“How Do We Do It? Possible Multi-Congregational Models to Consider”

A church can explore several models of cross-cultural ministry. Let’s look at eight possibilities.

1. The Adoption Model
In this model a “host” church adopts a “guest” congregation into their facility. The host makes space available, pays most, if not all, of the increased financial load and often subsidizes the financial support of the emerging congregation’s pastor. The financial responsibilities are gradually shifted to the emerging congregation as they can assume it.

2. The Joint Ownership Model
In a joint ownership model, several congregations share the management of a single church facility. Each congregation is represented on a “super-board” on the basis of a consensual formula representing individual congregational strengths (such as membership and finance). They make joint decisions concerning facility usage, shared programs, financial allotments, and senior pastor selection. The individual congregations maintain their own boards, financial records, pastoral selections, and congregational duties.

3.The District Plant Model
In this model, a district sponsors a cross-cultural church plant in an existing church. The district assumes the financial and supervisory responsibilities for the new congregation
This model may be maintained even after the new congregation matures and assumes its own responsibilities. Then, the two or more congregations continue to worship at the facility owned by the host group, each separately as fully organized churches.

The churches need to keep open lines of communication for scheduling, facility care and operations, financial accountability, and fraternity to avoid an “us/them” mentality.

4.The Transitional Model
In the transitional church, the “host” congregation declines due to the exodus of culturally compatible neighbors. The emerging “guest” group initiates a new work, intending to replace the former congregation. The transition is difficult when the old congregation is reluctant to relinquish control of the church building to the new group. Also, both congregations face great financial stress during this transition. District leaders must often assist monetarily during the interim.

5. The Bilingual Pastor Model
Congregations who realized that the cultural components of their community has radically changed and who experience the departure of many members from the church vicinity may want to consider the model developed by the Bixby-North Church of the Nazarene in Long Beach, California. Demographic studies revealed a 70 percent Hispanic population within a three-mile radius of the church. Further investigation showed that a growing proportion of the Hispanic populations spoke English.

This congregation, unable to afford a second-language pastor and not wanting to leave, called a bilingual pastor, who conducts two separate services. The English service is multicultural, including English-speaking Hispanics who respond well to a Latino pastor and the associated Spanish language congregation.

The strength of this model lies in the unique character of bilingual leadership. This example also retains the financial support of the “host” group and offers many ministries to the community that would otherwise not be possible.

6. The District Ownership Model
One major conflict in cross-cultural ministry centers around facility usage. Customs collide, financial burdens are unmet, and excessive management and care fall into the hands of a diminishing few who own the building.

In a community where the church district sees potential for multiple-language congregations, the district purchases or leases the facility and then allocates space, usage, and financial responsibility to selected groups. These groups use the facility as scheduling will allow.

The district administrators become the facility managers. Ownership is never held by one group.

7. The Convergence Model
As second or third generations of a cultural group integrate into their brave new world, their children and grandchildren experience English as their first language. They also increasingly adapt the customs of their adopted land.

Many of these people want to preserve some cultural heritage, but they want English worship experiences, sometimes with a contemporary flavoring. This puts them in conflict with their elders who insist on using the mother tongue and familiar forms of worship.

An English-speaking pastor, derived from second or third generation immigrant stock, can often successfully conduct attractive services for both languages and styles. This model differs from the bicultural pastor model in that the ministries are subsets of a single church and not organized into separate congregations.

8. The Merged Model
The Church on the Way, a Foursquare Gospel Church if Van Nuys, California, pastured by Rev. Jack Hayford, believes that church should worship together as one. Consequently, this diverse group of people all attend the English language services under one pastor. They then have separate Bible studies, activities, and ministries in various languages. This perhaps can only work where there are critical masses within the subgroups of a mega-church.