World evangelism and conceptions of peace in the Church of the Nazarene

This paper examines the discourse of missions and world evangelism in one evangelical, Protestant denomination in the United States -- the Church of the Nazarene -- in order to understand better the ways in which evangelical Christians in the United States understand peace and peacebuilding beyond their borders, The study uses the Bible's precepts about peace and violence as the foundational subtext, then analyzes missionary publications from the denomination (i.e. children's and adult missions books, magazines, newsletters, and websites) for mentions of peace and violence. The findings show that the Church of the Nazarene employs a very depoliticized, decontextualized approach to the missions education of its members. While there is considerable emphasis on notions of internal peace, the denomination makes almost no mention of the practical matters of political unrest and upheaval plaguing much of the world today.