December 19, 2008

Dear Pastor,

Greetings to you in the majestic name of the Christ of Christmas! It is the prayer of your Board of General Superintendents that this Advent celebration will bring a new anticipation of all that God seeks to do in your own life and that of your people.

I want to update you on the recent communications from our Board regarding the global financial crisis. As you are aware, our entire world is affected by the recent turn of events, and the church is not immune to those effects.

The Global Ministry Center is functioning with its normal engagement with the church around the world. The mission continues unabated, and we are continuing to see exciting results:

In recent days we have received word that the Church of the Nazarene received over
155,000 new Nazarenes into membership in the year just closed. We now exceed 1.8 million members.

For the second year in a row, the six World Mission regions have experienced over
100,000 net gains in membership.

The USA church took in nearly 39,000 members last assembly year, second only to
Africa which received almost 62,000 members. For a decade the USA church has
taken in more than 30,000 new Nazarenes annually.

We have seen global increases in attendance in both morning worship and in Sunday School and Discipleship ministries.

Our pace in the planting of new churches continues at an astounding rate.

In some areas of our work, the denomination is averaging over 5 churches a day in
church starts. That is breathtaking! New church evangelism is the focus of our most
exciting ministries around the globe.

By the way, in case you were not aware, we moved into the new Global Ministry Center in
Lenexa, Kansas USA in September 2008. This is a beautiful and functional setting. We are
finding that multiple new levels of collaboration and creative cooperation are occurring. The
miracles God provided in the construction and financing of the GMC are a source of great
encouragement.

The construction of the GMC actually came in slightly under budget.

With wisdom we did not realize at the time, we signed a maximum price guaranteed
contract for construction, and were provided financing through a bond issue which has
provided an astoundingly low rate of interest. Over $7.5 million has been pledged toward
the construction of the GMC, and over $1.7 million of those pledges has been paid. One gift
of $250,000 arrived just a few weeks ago, with a note attached that said, “God is good!”

In addition, we completed the sale of the former Ministries Building at 6401 The Paseo in
Kansas City, Missouri USA, and have potential buyers investigating the purchase of the
remainder of the campus. We are encouraged.

It is still our intent that no World Evangelism Funds will be necessary to meet the expenses
of the construction and financing of the GMC. In spite of the financial crisis, that goal
remains our commitment.

As we near the end of the calendar year, I want to encourage you to continue to pray for us
as we walk through the adjustments made necessary by the global financial crisis. The GMC is working to reduce the expenditures in the current year by at least 10%. We will be
finalizing our plans to accomplish that by the General Board in February 2009.

At present, the rate of payment of the World Evangelism Fund is falling behind projections.
We are aware of the financial pressure on our people, and are praying for God to honor and
bless our generous Nazarenes. A generous payment to the World Evangelism Fund from
your church, even in difficult times, will be deeply appreciated.

In previous crises in our one-hundred years, Nazarenes have come through in spite of
financial pressures. We are praying that will be the case again. Will you challenge your
people to remember the Mission: To Make Christlike Disciples in the Nations!

I urge you to invite everyone to help us keep the World Evangelism Fund, the lifeline for
our global mission, a high priority.

On behalf of my colleagues on the Board of General Superintendents, thank you for the
Godly leadership you provide. We cherish and value your partnership in the Gospel.

We welcome your feedback. Please write us at bgs@nazarene.org.

Merry Christmas!
The Board of General Superintendents