My Hopes (and Recommendations) for General Assembly 2023
I love the Church of the Nazarene.
Over a half century ago, my grandparents were loved into the Kingdom of the God through next door neighbors and a local Nazarene church in Southwest Ohio (USA). My grandfather, John Height, was shown the tangible love of Jesus at one of the lowest points of his life by his neighbor, Norm Sharp. Norm hired my grandfather, who had recently become unemployed, to paint Norm’s house.
Norm’s one condition? That they would paint the house together.
And over the hours spent together painting and talking, Norm (one of the most evangelistic, Jesus-loving people I’ve ever known) was used by God to help lead John Height into a saving relationship with Jesus. Shortly thereafter, the Heights joined the Sharps at their local Nazarene church.
Oh, and it came out later that the house didn’t need to be painted! Norm simply was looking for an excuse to both demonstrate and declare the love of Jesus to a broken man.
And that changed the trajectory of my family forever. My father, Jay Height, was raised in Vandalia Church of the Nazarene (Ohio, USA). The Church of the Nazarene raised my father (or at least they gave it their best effort!) and the Nazarene Church discipled my parents and nurtured both of their calls into urban ministry.
The Nazarene Church is the family that I was born into. Raised and discipled in. Called into ministry and sanctified in. She is a beautiful and messy denomination that has allowed me and Reetu, my wife, to serve in compassionate ministry, pastoral ministry, and as international missionaries around the world and across the USA.
And in the weeks ahead, the Church of the Nazarene will host our international General Assembly in downtown Indianapolis with around 20,000 participants coming together to celebrate the work of God in our GLOCAL (Global + Local) church family and prayerfully engage in important work for our denomination.
If I’m being honest, I am anticipating our time together with a great deal of hope - along with a dash of concern. The world is brimming with brokenness, fear, distrust, and stress. And my church family is not immune to these societal strains and tensions. We are a people of grace and redemption, and yet our core DNA markers require an ongoing pursuit of holiness and Christ-likeness in each of our lives.
Simply: My hope for our Nazarene General Assembly is for revival through our collective unity & diversity as we come together as one beautiful, international family of Jesus-followers. We truly need each other.
“Nous Sommes Ensemble.”
I heard this phrase for the first time several years ago during a conversation along a dusty side road that weaved its way between a mosque and a corner store in downtown Dakar (Senegal, West Africa). My family had recently moved to the country of Senegal as employees with the Church of the Nazarene and we were learning to navigate the hustle and bustle of life that swarmed around our apartment building. And, like any cross-cultural experience, we failed every 6 times out of 7 as we stumbled our way through learning a new culture in a new city and new country.
Lucky for us, our family was blessed with several friends who helped guide us through our cultural (and linguistic) education.
One such person was the property manager for our apartment building. He is one of those people who does whatever he can to help others without expecting anything in return. He was truly a God-send.
During one of the first days in our new apartment, I was presented with the problem of figuring out how to go purchase a laundry soap bar for hand washing our clothes. Embracing our education system of trial and error, along with the Google Translate app on my phone, I headed to the corner store a block away from our apartment to find some laundry bars.
I failed. Terribly.
After about 10 minutes of Google Translate fails, ad lib sign language, and the best attempts of the store workers to guess what I was pantomiming, I gave up and started to walk back home. As I was formulating in my head how to break the news to Reetu that we weren’t going to be washing clothes in the foreseeable future, I ran into our property manager and, in the course of our conversation, explained to him my laundry-based dilemma.
He instantly insisted on returning to the shop with me. Once there, he requested the correct item within seconds and then spent several minutes teaching me how to request it in French and where to find it in the shop the next time I might need it.
As we walked back to the apartment, I thanked him profusely for helping me out with such a frustrating yet trivial issue.
His response?
“It’s no problem my brother. Nous sommes ensemble. That means: we are together.”
The concept behind this phrase is that our stories and our lives are intertwined. We do not journey through life alone. What affects you, affects me. And so your victories are my victories, and my sorrows are your sorrows. And this man’s actions were an extension of his cultural wisdom that we go through the highs and lows of life together. You help me. I help you. We help others. It is not out of the ordinary. It is barely a choice. It is a habit. When you see others as family, you help them quickly and without regard to positive or negative consequences.
If I could translate this transformational phrase into my own Midwestern USA English, it would be:
“I’ve got your back. You’re not alone.”
Nous sommes ensemble.
We are together.
#WeAreNazarene
We are not alone. We are together. Nous sommes ensemble.
Togetherness. That is my prayer for this Nazarene General Assembly.
And, hear me well here, not a togetherness that is produced through erasing diversity in pursuit of uniformity. A togetherness that celebrates our glocal diversity and the Spirit-forged unity that is only possible through the divine work of our Triune God.
As Dr. Dany Gomis and Dr. Carla Sunberg stated so beautifully in their book, Color: God’s Intention for Diversity:
The vision of the bride was but a foreshadowing of the messianic era when the church would be birthed. The church - the bride of Christ - is to be ushered into the presence of the Bridegroom. Prepared for that day, the church will be adorned in beautiful many-colored robes, woven together with threads of gold, with design far outshine any human embroidery. The tapestry of these robes will come from the diversity of her people who are not mixed together to become uniform, but who are woven together by golden threads of faith and doctrine, creating a pattern so stunning that the world is left in awe.
At our best, the Church of the Nazarene is a diverse, global denomination which is “woven together by golden threads of faith and doctrine” that leaves the world in awe of the work of God in and through our local churches. We are engaged in the global mission of God on the local level of our churches and in the lives of individual Christians - what I call Glocal Christianity.
This General Assembly we will host workshops, provide trainings, fellowship and worship together, and prayerfully consider resolutions to our church polity as well as electing two General Superintendents, our global leaders in the Church of the Nazarene.
I can’t think of a more important time for us to lean into our togetherness as people of our Triune God.
So I invite you to join me in prayer for:
Those who the Holy Spirit is preparing to serve as General Superintendents.
Those who are serving as delegates representing local churches and districts around the world in important decision-making in NYI, NDI, NMI, and our General Assembly.
Safe and smooth travels for those Nazarenes traveling from across the world to Indianapolis.
Our leaders and countless volunteers who have spent years faithfully preparing for this time together.
Jesus Christ to be glorified and honored in our worship, our trainings, our conversations, and our decisions.
Finally, let us join in prayer as a global church family for TOGETHERNESS in the days and weeks ahead. May our Triune God bind us together in the beautiful, unified tapestry of our diverse denomination.
Friends, we are together. We are better in community. We need each other.
In the words of my Senegalese friend, “Nous Sommes Ensemble.”
What are your hopes and prayers for this General Assembly? Comment below and share with others in the coming weeks.
Also, keep scrolling for GA resources and some Indy recommendations from me as an Indianapolis native.
Here is a rundown of General Assembly resources:
This link has information about parking and transportation offerings in Indianapolis. And here is travel info in multiple international languages.
The Convention Center has floor plans here and a virtual tour function here (pair this with the GA schedule above to map out your time at General Assembly).
Accessibility information for the Convention Center can be found here.
Jeremy’s Indy Recommendations:
Here’s a COMPREHENSIVE list of coffee spots in Indianapolis.
My personal recommendations for coffee are:
And some top food places within (reasonable) walking distance of the Convention Center:
Nada
Cafe Patachou
Yolk - City Way
First Watch
The Eagle
Axum Ethiopian Restaurant
Bru Burger
And just about any food truck!
If you have extra time before or after General Assembly consider: scheduling a visit to Shepherd Community Center (NCMC) and checking out one of these Indy attractions (especially the duckpin bowling!).
