Coffee Conversations Mission Blog

Greetings from Hotel New York in Rotterdam, Netherlands

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:30:14 +0200

Greetings from the EuNC Dutch Learning Centre! About 15 students from the Netherlands and Belgium traveled to Vlaardingen Church of the Nazarene (near Rotterdam) to take an Introduction to Theology class. EuNC decided to send Jennie (Admissions), Michelle (Dean of Students) and I (registrar) to the Netherlands for the weekend. Michelle taught a coaching group and Jennie and I had the chance to visit a learning centre, distribute books, meet the students, and take pictures. This allowed the students to connect faces with names and vice versa.
While I was there I had a chance to see Rotterdam by day and by night. Rotterdam is the second largest harbor city in all the world. While I was there, I had a hot stroopwafel from a street vendor in the city centre, sipped on a cup of hot chocolate at the the EuroMast Restaurant (a 180 meter tower), and ate pancakes and ice cream on a riverboat cruise. It was surreal! Rotterdam is the working city of Holland. It is a beautiful city. I also had the chance to worship at one of the strongest churches on the Dutch district. Vlaardingen Church of the Nazarene has over 1000 members. We went to the first service. It is a very special church that caters to many different crowds. After visiting once I would suggest that one of their spiritual gifts as a church is hospitality. This was one of the first churches I had the chance to actually see a number of people smoking cigarettes outside the doors of the church building.
On a side note we also met a former EuNC student who received a 1 year spiritual formation certificate who is attending medical school. Her name is Gemmeke and she was our guide around the city. The four of us shared a pink dessert which was served with a round of hot drinks at Hotel New York. This was the spot that many people from Holland would say their last good byes to their family leaving for America. As you can tell by the picture it was the storefront of the Holland-America line. I kept thinking this was like a scene out of Titanic. The very place I am sitting has hundreds of years of history of sweet, tearful farewells. If I every made a chick flick, this would be one of my first scenes in a movie. Guten abend from Holland...Heather

Worship Musings from a Benedictine Monastery

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0200

Worship is a very simple and yet complicated practice. Over the last few weeks I have learned more about the churches and communities that consider their services to be more formal and more liturgical. The critique of these services having only vertical focus (God-centered and not people centered) is one to pay attention too. In fact when I visited Beuron, Germany with the Benedictine monks, I made the comment that the monks have service at least five times per day. It appeared that if other people joined them from the community was of no consequence. I further commented that they were so focused on the vertical worship that they did not have a horizontal focus. I have learned what may be some of these causes.
I questioned my observation as accurate as these communities have been around for hundreds if not thousands of years. If these spiritual communities were not about people, I think they would have had a difficult time to survive. My research concluded that some of these communities are so vertically focused because they understand their charge as praying and interceding for the world. In fact there is one monastery community in the mountains between Russia and the rest of Europe who understand their entire role of life to pray for the unity between Russia and the rest of Europe. Without their prayers, people say that the monastery community believes the world will follow a part. With their prayers then, they keep the fragile thread of life hymned together (yes..I am using the pun intentionally).
From the Benedictine monks I learned that hospitality is less about being personal and friendly and more about making space for others to meet God. The intentionality of a liturgical service leaves more than enough room for creativity within the worship service. As I prepared a worship sequence for a class this week, I realized then how difficult it was to put something together that is coherent and adaptable to the greater mass of people.
These past two weeks I have gained a greater appreciation for liturgical and formal worship as it relates to planning, preparing, practicing, and embodying worship with our lives.

On the plane...

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:27:25 +0200

Currently, I am patiently waiting for 5:45 am to come! I am sitting in the middle, back section of a United Airlines plane traveling from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. This 8 hour flight has provided me opportunity to think over the last few weeks of my life. I am awestruck by the grace God lavished on me.

As I prayed about serving as the interim registrar at EuNC, I realized there was a laundry list of impossibilities facing me. In order to say yes to Mission Corps, I needed to sell my car, quit my job at Holiness Today, resign as student body president at Nazarene Theological Seminary, maneuver my seminary classes to graduate next May, move from Kansas City to Oklahoma, and raise $8000.00. I had to do all of these things well, otherwise my yes to Mission Corps would have turned into disaster. Luckily as I find this call of the church challenging, I find that my ability to test God in working out these details great! Good news is God has come through in big ways. He has used many of you to help me with saying goodbye to dear friends and family in Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa. He has provided me with a new computer in order to communicate with you as I travel. God is so good.

As I close a few chapters (not books) in my life, I find myself thankful for the different communities God has blessed me with: The Naz--a Church of the Nazarene in Peculiar and Harrisonville, MO (my local church in Kansas City); Tulsa Regency Park Church of the Nazarene (my local church in Oklahoma); Nazarene Theological Seminary and the NTS Student Leadership Team; Southern Nazarene University SOTAM department; EDUF Foundation; Nazarene Headquarters; my extended family; Heirforce friends, the Northeast Oklahoma District Church of the Nazarene; KC Urban Youth Center; and my dear friends on Seminary row. I look forward to keeping in touch with you all as I discover new friends in Busingen, Germany and the rest of Euraisa (Europe and Asia).

As I continue to sit on the plane, I continue to pray in thanksgiving for all the wonderful people in my life. Blessings to you!

Drinking Starbucks coffee on the United Airlines Flight 944.
Auf Wedersehn!

Where I Go From Here... Preparing for EuNC!

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 01:23:19 +0200

As you may know, I have been in school for nine years. I am currently preparing for ministry at Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City. I have one year left to complete my Master of Divinity degree. God is connecting my passion for the world, my training, and my skill set to tithe a year of my education to the preparation of others in ministry around the world. On May 29, 2008, Mission Corp, the volunteer missions’ arm of the Church of the Nazarene called me and asked if I would be willing to pray about a need they had. After listening, praying, and consulting with pastors, friends and family, by faith I discerned this was the Lord’s direction and said yes.

Beginning July 15, 2008, I am moving to Büsingen, Germany to serve for one year as the interim registrar at European Nazarene College. The college serves over 14 countries preparing people to serve in ministry all over Europe and Asia. This means in the next five weeks I am selling most of my possessions, moving from Kansas City to Oklahoma, quitting my job at Holiness Today, and preparing to move to Germany.  I believe that the community of my family and friends are vital to my success. I ask that you would keep me in your prayers to help me touch lives from all around the world. Please pray that I would be prepared for the assignment and that God will provide for all of my needs. Also pray that God would be with those whom I will be serving, and that I would be used to further God's Kingdom among them.  In addition, to serve in this unpaid, volunteer position for approximately 12 months, I will need to raise at least $8,000 over the course of my time there. The cost includes all travel, living, and food expenses.

You may make a one time contribution or a recurring contribution via check or at the following website: http://web.nazarene.org/goto/heather.bryant.

If you choose to assist me financially all donations are tax deductible. You may send all checks to Global Treasury Services, 6401 The Paseo, Kansas City, MO 64131. Checks should be made out to: General Treasurer, Church of the Nazarene. Please include "Heather Bryant/Mission Corp/Eurasia Regional Office” on the memo line of your check in order for the funds to go where I am serving.

The best way to stay updated on my mission in Germany is to visit my upcoming website http://web.mac.com/hmbryant and by clicking on my latest blog links. I will also send out email updates, so please email hmbryant@mac.com if you would like to be included in my mailing list.  Thank you for your prayers and support. I am grateful for the opportunity God has given me to serve in Germany.
 God's Blessings,

Heather Bryant in Kansas City, MO

From Tulsa, OK to SNU to NTS to Africa to Great Britain to Germany? How it all began...

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:08:18 +0200

Growing up under the arid, blue skies of Oklahoma, I was lucky enough to find the love of God through a group of Jesus loving Nazarenes. Even at a very young age, I knew God was with me and would work through me. By the time I was to graduate high school, God was working in my life. I was called to make a difference in the world! In fact, we all are called to make a difference in the world!

As I entered college at Southern Nazarene University, I knew I was set a part by the love Jesus had for me, and I was to contribute to the kingdom. During college I had the chance to figure out what type of difference I was going to make. I had intern for a U.S. Senator in Washington, D.C., completed a few classes at Georgetown University, and traveled to Quito, Ecuador. It was my journey in Quito where I met Nazarenes from all over the world who were making a real difference for Christ. I realized I had too small a view of the world and I still had much learning to do. In college God worked in me and expanded my vision to see that difference making does not come through power or an almighty dollar, but through love, struggle, integrity, purity, and presence.

Instead of entering law school, I enrolled in Seminary. God has called me to connect the world, the church, and his love. While in Seminary, God taught me the value of displacement. I consider this a spiritual discipline. Displacement is that which moves you and forces you out of your comfort zone in order to see more clearly. Displacement allowed me to shed off layers of learned fear and replace it with God’s never failing love. I lived in places I thought were unsafe and scary; I volunteered in places where I would have never traveled alone; and I journeyed halfway across the world to places that needed a little EGR (extra grace required). I unlearned bad habits and relearned how to delight in God’s perfect provision.

Beginning in July 2007, I traveled with an EDUF foundation to visit 8 schools in Africa that were affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene. I met fascinating people and saints of the church. This trip was a fact finding tour for the EDUF, but in fact, through listening and praying with these new friends, I learned much about how a holy life and how holy lives together change the world. Holiness, or in simple terms, love changes the world as it is lived and practiced. Love is the answer to the human condition. It is through the love of these Nazarene strangers that I began learning that the strength of the Church of the Nazarene relies much on God’s love expressed visibly through these Nazarenes in Africa. This trip inspired me to study international higher education in the Church of the Nazarene. After six months of study, I gained much respect for the global church. By January, I wanted to know more and see more. I traveled with Professor Fletcher Tink to Great Britain where I discovered and learned about urban ministry, evangelism, and the life and ministry of John and Charles Wesley. This trip was once again a life changer. The churches I found in Great Britain were alive, dynamic, healthy and holy. Like Africa, the Nazarenes in Great Britain inspired a sense of faith that knew no boundaries, a message of love that lingered in the motions of everyday, and a commitment to the Triune God that witnessed and pointed to a kingdom reality that changed their corner of the world.

Since January, God has given me the desire for the global church, collaborative education, and connecting Christ’s love with the world. It is funny how God prepares us for a call out of the blue. I would have never thought it would be possible to say yes to an opportunity to help young ministers prepare for ministry. I look forward to the opportunity to say yes to following the Christ who prepares a way for me, for Nazarenes, and for the world.

As I serve a year at European Nazarene College, may the Lord grant me his wisdom, health, and a pastoral heart in order to be used as he wishes.

Grace and peace to you,
Heather in Kansas City, MO