Baptist Magazine v134 n4

Baptist Churches of New Zealand

baptistmag.org.nz

“Kia ora, Cuzzy, I’ve saved you a seat” Migration & mission in Acts & Aotearoa

Evangelise those most open

Training new missional leaders

THE CUTTING EDGE † THINGS WE’D LIKE YOU TO KNOW!

| A u g u s t / S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 8 | v. 1 3 4 n o . 4 |

ONLINE Recently added A MAJOR MODERN MEANS OF MISSION Christian environmentalism as a missional enterprise.

~ PHILLIP DONNELL

I WANT IT ALL, AND I WANT IT NOW The journey is more important than the destination.

We will encourage creative and diverse evangelistic expressions of church mission and community, giving God room to establish his kingdom through fresh and dynamic ways.

~ GRANT HARRIS

FROM DISILLUSIONMENT TO CONTENTMENT Letting go of false and distorted expectations of life.

~ MATTHEW THORNTON

EDITOR Linda Grigg | linda@baptistmag.org.nz GLOBAL MISSION EDITOR Greg Knowles GRAPHIC DESIGNER Rebecca McLeay PRODUCTION MANAGER Winston Hema

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ADVERTISING Marelize Bester | advertising@baptistmag.org.nz FINANCE MANAGER Winston Hema — Baptist Churches of New Zealand PO Box 12-149, Penrose, Auckland 1642, New Zealand 09 526 0338 — Printing Image Print, Auckland

E B I R C S B U S

— Front cover photography Bodie Friend — Scripture Unless otherwise specified, Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office

by Biblica, Inc.™ — Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Baptist Churches of New Zealand or the magazine’s editorial team.

— The NZ Baptist Magazine is the magazine of the Baptist Churches of New Zealand and the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society.

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WINNER OF 2017 ARPA AWARD FOR BEST DESIGN MAGAZINE

3. “Unleash”— release, refresh, make new

CONTENT 04 08 10

A word from the editor Unleash is the third of five strategic mission priorities we are exploring as themes in the Baptist magazine this year. So, in this issue, we look at some fresh ways in which Baptist churches and individuals are reaching out to their respective neighbourhoods. I hope their stories inspire you. Some may even challenge you, and that’s OK too!

I have some good news and some sad news to share with you. The latter is that Jill Hitchcock, whose role as the magazine’s Production Manager was one of many mantles she wore, has left us. Happily for Jill it means more time with her treasured family. But sadly for us it means the loss of her phenomenal institutional knowledge, wisdom and enthusiasm. You can read more about her contribution to the Baptist movement on page 21. We’ll miss you, Jill!

The good news is that we have a new website coming that will help us share your news much more easily. It will have an online form where you can submit your stories and story ideas. And it will even have a ‘Letters to the Editor’ function, which we know from our recent survey that some of you miss. (See the brief survey report on page 25.)

Blessings to you.

~Linda Grigg

13 16 18 31 33

FEATURE

“ Kia ora, Cuzzy, I’ve saved you a seat”

CULTURE

Migration & mission in Acts & Aotearoa

CHILD & FAMILY

Evangelise those most open

NEIGHBOURHOOD & JUSTICE

The cutting edge

LEADERSHIP

Training new missional leaders

OUR STORIES

DIRECTORY

GLOBAL MISSION

Things we’d like you to know!

Stories Small bites Opportunities to serve

Baptist / F E A T U R E

“ Kia ora, Cuzzy, I’ve saved you a seat” Developing a church for the unchurched

04 whā † v.134 no.4 baptistmag.org.nz

When Clendon Baptist Church called their pastor’s son to lead them on to the next thing, they were ready for change. Even so, some of the young leader’s ideas puzzled them at first.

Cliff Thompson explains how it was all part of a plan to develop a church for the unchurched

BY

November 2016, Clendon Baptist had been established in the South Auckland community of Clendon for more than 20 years. Led by Pastor Colin Thompson, the vision always was to grow, build and advance into the future. They had established a core team of people, and laid a platform of biblical teaching, discipleship and compassion for the local community. However, they now realised a shift in thinking and application was required to achieve that vision fully.

The call As a pastor’s kid, Cliff was used to serving in church.

But when his career with the Department of Corrections relocated him and his young family to the Wellington region, and thus to a new church, he experienced something outside his comfort zone—being the newcomer without a role to play.

He describes what it was like: “We walked in and sat down. The church was a decent size. People would come

and say hello. But there is something about making contact, building it into a connection and then taking it to the depths of discipleship. I got to see first‑hand what it was like to be that guy who walks in the door, who comes in cold. I was so used to serving up the front. Now I was sitting in the pew and I was like, ‘Oh, this is yuck!’”

Cliff and his wife Lisa immersed themselves into their new church family, joining groups and welcoming people to their home. Eventually Cliff was invited to speak and preach there. When work took him back to Auckland, he would visit Clendon Baptist and preach there too.

“Every time I came back to Clendon, I would get so excited thinking of all the possibilities and people’s potential. I loved them intensely and wanted to see them thrive even further.

I would get frustrated because I hadn’t figured out how to help them see what God had purposed them for and what more God would do in and through them in the community.

I was praying about it a lot but at the time I didn’t see how I was a part of God’s plan for it.”

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Bodie Friend

that is now known as The Render Gathering.

Baptist / F E A T U R E

That plan was about to be revealed because, two-and-a-half years after Cliff’s move south, his dad called to say Clendon Baptist wanted Cliff and Lisa to return home and take up the leadership mantle. Cliff’s time away had given him a deep appreciation of what it is like for a person coming to church for the first time. How would they engage? What would make them feel welcome? With that in mind, before they worked out terms of call, Cliff and his father agreed to the most important condition: “If we are to come back, radical is what is required. We have to do something different.”

This was the catalyst for a weekend leaders’ retreat in which the vision was cast, discussed and prayed about.

“Let’s move!”

Clendon is largely a low socio-economic area, with a core of state housing.

People come and go, and when they leave, they take their financial, prayer and ministry support with them. It is a challenging environment in which to establish and grow the foundations of a church.

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However, Clendon Baptist’s property was freehold, and a preschool on the property enabled many possibilities and a great partnership for the future. In the year prior to Cliff’s call, the congregation had fluctuated between 50 to 60 people, who met faithfully in their original small hall. And therein lay a problem.

“In a small space like that, 50 can feel packed. Those walls confined us. They were great for many years, and without the foundations and teachings in that house we wouldn’t have the platform we have today. But we were never going to be the church in the spirit we needed to have until we got out of there,” says Cliff.

“Dating back to the church’s inception, the plan had been to build an auditorium. I said, ‘Our own giving isn’t going well, so how will we ever sustain the mortgage on that place? We live in a transient area. We can’t be fools and believe if we plonk an auditorium out there and get in debt that people will fill it up. People are not staying away because there are not enough seats. It’s because of the spirit we carry.’

“The spirit wasn’t one void of love and compassion; it had simply become a

spirit which focused internally instead of externally. There were many contributing factors, but what was important was that we recognised that God had purposed us for more and we were going to walk towards the challenge,” says Cliff.

“Let’s practice!”

Vision was cast with the Clendon congregation about what God would have them do next. They discussed how they were a loving group of people, but that Cliff didn’t think that this necessarily shone through.

“When you come onto the church property, you’d think the preschool was where the church was, not the hall, because it is bright, vibrant and colourful. And yet in this hall are these amazing people having this service. It’s a great service, but no one knows. No one is overtly reaching outside the four walls. It has become a church for the churched,” Cliff told them.

He then surprised them by asking that they not invite anyone to Sunday services before the official launch of The Render Gathering. You can imagine how that might have been received— you want to grow the church but not invite anyone?

“I said to them, ‘I want us to start rehearsing to be the church we want to be on launch day. Give us six months to be better for them, so when we invite them and they come, we are going to be ready to wrap around them, and support and love them.’”

So, every Sunday they did something a little different. They painted the stage, made a screen from a drop sheet, and replaced wooden pews with tidy‑looking second-hand chairs. Two of the bubbliest people in the congregation stood at the roadside and waved handmade signs promoting the church to passing traffic. They opened up all the doors and took church outside, making sure that when people drove past, they would see there was life there.

Funnily enough, strangers became curious at all the lively activity and started coming in off the street and filling up the hall. Cliff wasn’t about to turn people away but meanwhile the church kept on practising.

Leaps of faith Another change was to step out in faith with people and give them opportunities to serve so they could see this church was a home for them where they could contribute.

Cliff and Lisa met one-on-one with the adults, asking each how they would choose to serve God if time, money and resources were not an issue. People they had known for 15 or 20 years started telling them stuff they never knew about them—what they loved to do. While acknowledging there inevitably would be some necessary tasks, Cliff told them that he wanted them to spend 80% of their time doing what they love to do.

“Because when you love to do it, I don’t have to ring you to ask where you are. I don’t have to ask you if you’re going to buy new strings for your guitar, or why you are late to practice. You will be there. You will practice in your own time. You’ll be ready. Passion does that to someone. We want to draw passionate people to the ministry.”

The Render Gathering The church found new premises in a college six kilometres away. Fast forward to a year later and the church now numbers around 200, comprising mostly young families, youth and young adults. There is a smattering of older folk too, who often have come along because of their adult children or grandchildren.

Children's ministry is one of Render’s priorities on a Sunday. They believe that if you win the kids, you win the mums, and if you win the mums, the dads will follow.

“Then you have got the whole family giving their heart to Jesus and coming along, experiencing life transformation.

So, we put a lot of effort, time, resources and money into kids’ ministry. It should be like a carnival down there every Sunday,” says Cliff.

Another programme run on a Sunday is about giving people a pathway into belonging to a ministry and serving fairly quickly, so they feel they are contributing.

“It’s like bringing a person around home and you are washing the dishes.

You throw them a tea-towel and say, ‘Jump in.’ It just brings them in,” says Cliff.

Church services are built around monthly themes, with generally the last Sunday in the month being a special celebration. A recent theme was ‘The Force’ which culminated in a Star Wars ‘cinema experience’ complete with costumes, a red carpet, and popcorn during the service. Although the atmosphere is upbeat and deliberately fun, the message does not return void. On the Star Wars Sunday, for example, four people responded to the gospel invitation.

On weekdays there are more than

20 ‘Hangouts’—small groups based around personal interests. Options change each term. The potential range is almost unlimited as long as the activity is legal and won’t lead people into sin, and there is a passionate person to lead it. Current Hangouts range from quilting to daddy-daughter dates, early morning devotions, video production and games nights. All groups acknowledge their connection with The Render Gathering and begin their sessions with prayer. As well as providing fellowship for Render’s members, it can be a non-threatening activity to invite non-churched friends along to. Once they get to know a few people there, the step to coming to church is not so intimidating.

“To render means to give and help become, hence our mission tagline: ‘Helping you become’. Our purpose in life is to assist people to become better followers, sons and daughters of Jesus Christ—because when you do that, you become a better parent, a better employee, a better dreamer. That really is the vision and it has to seep out of us into everything we do,” says Cliff.

Story: Cliff Thompson, with Linda Grigg Cliff Thompson is married to Lisa.

They reside in South Auckland with their five children. Cliff worked with the New Zealand Department of Corrections for 10 years, in front line, management and senior advisory roles.

v.134 no.4 † whitu 07

Chalermphon/lightstock.com

Baptist / C U L T U R E

Migration

& mission I N

A C T S

&

A O T E A R O A

The ongoing story of God’s mission

Aotearoa New Zealand is undergoing profound demographic change. This means, as New Zealand Baptists, we are in a changed—and changing—mission context. How are we to live, witness and serve amidst this bewildering movement of people and peoples?

George Wieland takes us to the Book of Acts for some clues.

O

ur nation’s changing demographics are particularly noticeable in the hyper-diverse city of Auckland, almost half of whose inhabitants were born in other countries.

However it is experienced nationwide, whether it be seasonal workers in rural areas, skilled trades people brought in to participate in the Christchurch rebuild, or international students in Invercargill.

The Book of Acts is a superb and timely resource for precisely that challenge. From beginning to end it involves journeys and people in motion. Whether those people are purposely fulfilling mission roles, travelling for quite different reasons or indeed bent on opposing the new faith, time and again people on the move turn out to be significant in the story of mission. Here are some of them.

Foreign-born residents (Acts 2:5-6) “Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem” (2:5).

If it seems that there are people “from every nation under heaven” or at least from multiple places of origin in our

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own context, it is encouraging to note that the church’s Spirit-empowered witness to the risen Jesus began among immigrants. The Pentecost account highlights the significance of migrants and their transnational networks as the witness to the risen Jesus was unleashed on the world. From Aotearoa, as from Jerusalem, the good news is travelling to many nations.

International students (Acts 7:58; 22:3) Although he lived in a prominent university city, the eager young man and his family knew that for the best education in his field of study he would have to journey from Tarsus to Jerusalem and enrol with Gamaliel. Unknown to him, this relocation had put him in the place where he was to encounter the Jesus movement. He was appalled by this new sect and set about opposing it violently (8:1-3; 9:1-2), until he was stopped in his tracks by the exalted Jesus himself, and reoriented towards spreading the faith he had tried to destroy.

The story of Saul opens up the missional potential represented by the tens of thousands of international

students that Aotearoa receives every year. Some arrive with absolutely no prior knowledge of Jesus or Christian faith. They are often intrigued to encounter people for whom this faith is evidently so important. Many meet Jesus here, and find their lives reoriented to a direction of faith and service very different to anything they had anticipated when they decided to come here for study.

Spiritual seekers (Acts 8:26-40) The visit to Jerusalem of a senior foreign official might be expected to be a matter of state business. Perhaps it was, but what Acts notes is that “he had come to Jerusalem to worship” (8:27). As he returned home, the Ethiopian carried a biblical scroll whose content he was anxious to understand (8:28-34). Philip obeyed God’s prompting to go to a particular place on the road, and then to get alongside that traveller. He found himself in conversation with someone in whom God was already at work, and faith and commitment, expressed in baptism, soon followed (8:36-38).

In a baptismal service that I attended a woman stood up to tell her story.

She was in the city as a member of a business delegation from overseas.

Seeking meaning and truth, she had acquired a Bible and, through reading it, had come to believe in Jesus. She had also discovered that her new faith should be expressed in baptism but she did not know how that might be accomplished in her home environment, where it was difficult to express Christian faith openly. She had therefore seized the opportunity to join the delegation to New Zealand because she knew it to be a “Christian country” where she could find a church and be baptised.

The episode of the Ethiopian eunuch encourages us to be alert to the possibility that the visitors we come across may actually be here on a quest for truth, and to be attentive to the promptings of God to accompany them as God works in their lives.

FROM AOTEAROA, AS FROM JERUSALEM, THE GOOD NEWS IS T R AV E L L I N G T O M A N Y N AT I O N S .

Refugees (Acts 11:19) The narrative of Acts shifts from Jerusalem to Antioch, capital of the Roman province of Syria. The new church there was the first to include both Jews and people from outside the Jewish community, the result of bold, boundary-crossing witness (11:20-21).

Its leaders themselves represented considerable diversity: Barnabas, a wealthy Cypriot Jew; Simeon Niger, presumably black and probably of African origin; Lucius of Cyrene, in North Africa; Manaen, evidently a member of a social and political elite judging by his close association with the court of Herod Antipas; and Saul, who had been brought up in Tarsus, round the coast from Antioch in the Roman province of Asia Minor (13:1).

This church was the first to organise an international relief effort (11:27-30) and it was from here that Barnabas and Saul were sent out in mission (13:1-3).

Remarkably, those who founded this astonishing church were refugees, “those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen” (11:19-20). The arrival in Aotearoa of refugees who have learned to depend on God when they have lost everything, and to live and witness faithfully in the face of hostility, is a great gift to our churches and our nation, bringing an injection of fresh life and joy.

People on business (Acts 16:14-15; 18:1-4) Lydia, a woman running the sales operation of her family business in the Roman colony of Philippi, was the first to respond there to the good news about Jesus. Immediately her home became the hub of a new faith community (16:14-15, 40). Priscilla and Aquila, a mobile Jewish couple, were

making a living at their tent-making trade in Corinth. Their home-workshop became Paul’s base for mission in that city, and they went on to establish a missional household in Ephesus, preparing the way for Paul’s extended stay (18:18, 24-28).

Read Acts and look for people on the move who get caught up in the story of God’s mission. And look for ways in which the same God is continuing the same mission in and through people on the move into, in and from Aotearoa today.

Story: Dr George Wieland George is Director of Mission Research and Training, Te Kareti Iriiri o Carey.

He, his wife Jo and their family came to New Zealand from Scotland in 1999 after mission in Brazil, a pioneer pastorate in the North of England, further study in Aberdeen, and church and community ministry in Edinburgh. George was Lecturer in New Testament at Carey before taking on the role of Director of Mission Research and Training in 2012.

A few months ago George and Jo moved to Papamoa where they share a home with their daughter Lindsey, son-in-law Rich and three grandchildren. George is currently experiencing migration and mission again, travelling weekly between Tauranga Moana and Tāmaki Makaurau.

Some of the material in this article appears in a different form in George’s chapter, “Reading Acts Missionally in a City of Migrants,” in Nguyen vanThanh and John Prior (eds.), God’s People on the Move: Biblical Perspectives on Migration and Mission (Pickwick, 2014).

v.134 no.4 † iwa 09

Baptist / C H I L D & F A M I L Y

most

EVANGELISE THOSE

open Unleashing the gospel to the young

In every church Russell Watts has pastored, God has given a different strategy for evangelism. However, in his current position as Senior Pastor at Whangarei Central Baptist Church, he believes the child/youth-focused vision they are pursuing has application in all churches. Here he tells us a bit about their

IF

I were to ask you what people group in the world is most open to the gospel, what would you say? Maybe the poor, or Africans, or those in crisis? The answer is in fact ‘children’, more specifically young people between the ages of four and 14.

Around a third of the people I have led into a life-long relationship with Jesus have been in this age group. Some statistics suggest that up to 85% of

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Paul Conner/lightstock.com

strategy to raise world‑changing Christians.

We a re m i s s i n g the ‘ m a i n thing’ the church is called to do— evangelism. those coming to Christ today in the world are aged within that range.

In the West, psychologists have convinced us that people cannot make life-long decisions until they are around 25 years of age. God has a different view. Of the people I have led to Christ at a young age, very few have drifted away from the Lord or the church. However, a greater number of 30- and 40-somethings have gone back to their previous ways of living.

I vividly recall reading some research work Nigel Cottle did for the Baptist Union about a decade ago, reflecting shocking statistics around young people exiting the church at about 18 years of age.1 Today I suggest things are worse, with around 75% of our church youth leaving at this age and up to a third of those returning to church after they have made major life decisions once they start a family.

We say we are running good youth and children’s programmes and yet Karen Warner (National Team Leader, Baptist Children & Family Ministries) recounted the real statistics in her article before the Hui last year.2 In the last 10 years we have 13% fewer adults in church, 22% fewer teens and 26% fewer children. Please don’t tell me that our Baptist movement is healthy or that we are doing well. It’s not true. The most important thing to our Father in heaven is that lost people come into a saving relationship with Jesus.

Our population is growing in New Zealand but the church is in steady decline.

Our ministries, including our youth ministries, are not healthy. Our community ministries on a whole are not producing salvations. We are missing the ‘main thing’ the church is called to do—evangelism. Meanwhile we are overlooking these little ones as maybe too young to be Christians or a part of the body of Christ. But God does not see things that way.

But God...

Ten years ago, when our excellent Children & Family Ministries were resourcing parents through concepts like ‘Think Orange’, I felt that we were partly on track. We had maybe half of the picture for the future that we needed.

What we have failed to focus on, and now God is inviting us to see, is that children are the most fertile mission field in every country now. Evangelism focused towards children bears lasting fruit and children are often the best evangelists in our churches, unless you tell them that evangelism scares us adults.

I am convinced that if we focus on church kids, we’ll lose around 75%. But if we focus our evangelistic efforts on

reaching pre-Christian children we will reach thousands for Christ who are currently lost. In the process we will retain most of the already found.

For years I have led adults to the Lord and have had to spend long periods of time helping them get healed of past trauma and mistakes. We have deconstructed unhealthy concepts of God and reconstructed them around the Word.

We have spent time healing relationships and sorting out the consequences of big life mistakes.

How much better would it be to focus on reaching people while they are young, helping them to hear his voice and to fully trust his Word so they can grow up confident in a biblical world view?

Whangarei Central’s strategy Before arriving in a new pastorate in Whangarei last year, God had already been redirecting my heart and what he wanted to do in the church here in relation to children.

Though the church I came to was mostly senior in age, the Holy Spirit clearly directed me and the team to focus on two things: raising world-changing Christians and blessing northern churches.

As a church we will welcome anyone and reach out to anyone, but we are becoming very deliberate in making evangelism to our four- to 14-year-olds the priority. We are changing every aspect about our building, signage, services, social activities, etc. to fit around that vision. We are forming a faith development strategy where we will pick up children, both churched and unchurched, at the age of four, and invest into them deliberately and track/mentor them intentionally until they are 25 years of age.

We want to see children involved in virtually every area of ministry in the church, including all-age worship teams, door greeters, pray-ers, evangelists and leaders. We aim to take multiple risks of faith so they get every opportunity to really know the Lord and his power and calling on each of their lives. We want to give them opportunities in community ministries, overseas mission and leadership development.

We aim to surround every church or unchurched young person with at least five meaningful relationships outside of their own family. We want their parents, churched and unchurched, to find us as their best supporters.

Changing our patterns Karen Warner has given me many books, links and resources that have helped us shape our future ministry at Central Baptist in Whangarei. One of the best has been George Barna’s book Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions.3 Here are four quotes from this book. ... by the age of 13, your spiritual identity is largely set in place (34). ... many churches do not adequately or appropriately

v.134 no.4 † tekau mā tahi 11

Baptist / C H I L D & F A M I L Y

then you must invest in those people while they are young (42).

support ministry to children because kids are seen as the “bait” that enables the church to land the real treasure—i.e., adults—rather than as a valuable, if unrefined, treasure in themselves (41).

The research reinforces one simple but profound truth over and over again: If you want to have a lasting influence upon the world, you must invest in people’s lives; and if you want to maximize that investment,

UNLEASH THE GOSPEL TO THE YOUNG THEN UNLEASH THEM IN THE CHURCH.

Having devoted more than two decades of my life and all of my professional skills to studying and working with ministries of all types, I am now convinced that the greatest hope for the local church lies in raising godly children (49).

I have been in pastoral ministry for a long time. I have had the profound pleasure of seeing so many people come into the kingdom. Right now I believe God is opening our eyes to see the obvious, and inviting us to change our patterns of church and evangelism that are largely failing.

Right now there is a harvest field of souls in your neighbourhood and mine. They won’t tithe for some time, they have lots of energy and make life messy, but if you and I reach out to them and invest in them, the church of the future will be growing and dynamic. Unleash the gospel to the

young then unleash them in the church and you will see—how awesome our God is!

Story: Russell Watts Russell has held various roles as a Baptist pastor for around 27 years in different parts of the country. He has a real love for the Lord and for people, and he expects God to grow (numerically) any healthy local church.

1. Nigel Cottle, Young Adults in New Zealand Baptist Churches Research Report, 2009.

2. Karen Warner, “Children, church & mission,” Baptist (October/November 2017): 20-22.

3. George Barna, Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2003).

“Fostering a child is so important.

You can see the difference you’re making.”

Nonnie and Tomo started fostering children for what they could give, not what they would gain. But six years later, they’ve gained something they never expected: a daughter.

ADVERTORIAL

Do you want to make a difference in a child’s life?

Do you have a sincere desire to help a child have a better life? Can you give a child or young person a welcoming and loving home?

In their 40s, with no children of their own, the couple had no burning ambition to be foster carers – until Nonnie attended a foster care information evening on a whim. When she came home she told husband Tomo, “We’ll go for it.”

If you answered ‘yes’, we’d love to hear from you! Iosis is an Auckland-based Christian social services organisation that works with children, young people and families in vulnerable situations.

They had intended to be respite carers only, and to look after pre-teens and teenagers. However, about four months into fostering they got a call from Iosis that would change their lives forever.

Nonnie and Tomo

Four nights caring for a five-year-old girl turned into weeks, then months and years. Now they have a daughter because recently they’ve been appointed Gemma’s* ‘home for life’.

During their time as Iosis foster carers, the couple has had 20 or more children stay with them, mostly for respite care, and they plan to foster more in the future.

“Fostering isn’t easy, but it’s incredibly worthwhile,” says Nonnie. “When Gemma was about six years old, she said to me, “You can’t make it alright, but you can make it better. And that’s what we’re here to do – to teach the children to have good relationships and make their lives better. Even if you’re only in their life for a short term, you’re so important.”

“The people who foster children do it for the love of the kids and wanting to make a difference”, says Nonnie. “Gemma is not the same child who came through our door. I’m proud of the fact that, together, we have been able to support Gemma to become a very confident child. That’s what you wish for. And that’s why we’re still doing it.”

Name changed to protect identities.

*

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Right now, we’re looking for individuals or families willing to foster a child or young person. It doesn’t matter where you live in Auckland, or what your background, ethnicity or culture – as long as you can offer them a safe, stable and nurturing environment. In return, we can offer reimbursement, 24/7 support, on-going training, and connection with fellow Iosis foster carers.

Being a foster carer might be the most challenging role you’ll ever take on. But it could be the most rewarding too!

If you’re interested in becoming a foster parent, contact Sophia Misipati at Iosis, by calling 09 281 3716 or emailing enquiries@iosis.org.nz.

Baptist / N E I G H B O U R H O O D & J U S T I C E

-The-

cutting edge Using skills and creativity in mission

Twenty-year-old Jackson Roach is the youth leader at Long Bay Baptist Church.

Earlier this year he opened a barber shop at the church. Jackson tells us about his barbering journey and how he is using his skills as a way to engage people in faith conversations, and to raise funds for causes close to his heart.

J

ackson left school halfway through Year 13. At the time he struggled a lot with his self-worth.

He watched countless hairstyling and cutting tutorials online to learn how to improve his appearance. When a couple of his friends shared some of the ‘cool stuff’ they were learning at a hairdressing course, Jackson decided to sign up too. It helped that he loved football and idolised the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham who had fancy haircuts!

As Jackson met the Youth Guarantee programme criteria (he hadn’t finished level 3 NCEA and was aged between 16 and 19 years old), he was eligible for nine months’ study for free, a saving of almost $10,000. After completing the entry level hairdressing course, the next step was to do level four. However, it was not to be.

“My tutor realised my heart was more in the guys’ stuff, so he encouraged me to do barbering instead. So, at the end of that year, I applied for that course,” says Jackson.

“I was lucky in that I had a couple of teachers who took me under their wing and gave me a lot of their time.

I entered, and was placed, in some competitions. Then I was given the opportunity to work in a barber shop while I was studying, so that counted as some of my study time.”

Fresh Cuts for Freedom Towards the end of his study, Jackson travelled to South Asia with a group from his church. They spent a couple of weeks at Freeset, assisting as possible. Freeset is a freedom business producing ethically made

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Baptist / N E I G H B O U R H O O D & J U S T I C E

It’s been cool to see people realise that Jesus doesn’t work just in this building. clothing and bags. It provides safe work for women who otherwise might be forced into prostitution by trafficking and poverty. Jackson says when he was over there, God spoke to him about helping Freeset from a distance.

“Before I left I had organised with Easter Camp back home that I was going to have a haircutting stall in their ‘village’. All of the profit was to go to Freeset. The others working in the stall were people I had studied with. We raised $5,500 over a couple of days. It was $10 a haircut, but some people donated more because of where the money was going.”

Jackson had always dreamed about running his own shop, where he would be free to talk to customers about Freeset, his faith, and a bit about his past. About the middle of 2017 he asked his previous youth pastor what he thought the church would say if Jackson rented out a room and did haircuts there.

“He encouraged me to ask. The next day, James, the Senior Pastor, came up to me and said, ‘I’ve been thinking about this for a while. How would you feel if we opened a barber shop here?’ I thought, ‘OK, this is something that is Spirit-led, not just me wanting to do cool stuff,’” says Jackson.

“We applied for a grant from the Baptist Foundation to renovate a room in the church and to buy equipment.

They saw it as a great mission opportunity. In the past, I had been doing haircuts at home in the bathroom or in a basement downstairs. It was pretty rugged but people would still come along. There were guys who ended up getting baptised and there were others who were real keen to get involved in our community. I wouldn’t say the hair industry is the most selfless; if anything, it is the opposite.

But seemingly God was shaping it to a format he really desired it to be.

“In March 2018 we officially opened the men’s hair salon, which we call ‘Fresh Cuts for Freedom’. It’s a way for me to continue doing what I love, this whole creative side of myself.

“Through cutting hair, two of my clients ended up allowing me to ‘do life’ with them and gave me the honour of baptising them. One of them is now an intern at a Baptist church in Wellington while doing part-time study at Carey Baptist College.

“A few months back I had a client ask me about Jesus and what my faith looks like, as it seemed different to what he had heard about Christianity from his non-believing parents. He wants to be involved with overseas mission in some way.”

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It is not just faith conversations that the barber shop is making possible. Jackson says 10% of the salon’s earnings are donated to different organisations—half to Freeset and half going back to the Baptist Foundation to help fund other churches’ projects.

“I won’t have a Lamborghini by the age of 25!” says Jackson. “But essentially the money is the least of my worries at the moment. I could raise my prices but that’s not the point. It’s more the purpose behind it and the culture I want to set.”

The in-between place Jackson is a youth worker for the church and a 1st XI football coach at the local college. Like many secondary schools, it has had some tragic accidents and has had to deal with the fall-out from underage sex, drinking and drug use.

Quite a few of the college boys come into Fresh Cuts for Freedom to get their hair cut. Jackson describes it as an in‑between place where people can come to the church for a haircut and can continue, or create, a relationship with him.

“It’s been cool to see people realise that Jesus doesn’t work just in this building, and it doesn’t have to be on a Sunday, and it’s not all about Easter Camp. Even while I am sharing my story as I’m cutting these guys’ hair, or listening to their stories, they are seeing characteristics of who Christ is, without me necessarily mentioning Jesus’ name,” says Jackson.

The broken places Growing up, Jackson had always considered his family as one of the poorer ones around. He was jealous of his friends who had flash lunches, gadgets and clothes, and who did expensive activities. He thought he had it quite

WE ARE CALLED TO LOOK LIKE C H R I S T, N O T CHRISTIANS. hard in comparison to most of the people he knew. But when he went to South Asia, he discovered that he was comparatively amongst the richest of the rich.

“The living conditions over there were so horrific in places that I'm not sure if I even have the right to ever say that I had it somewhat difficult growing up. A cardboard box to fit a family of five under, barely any food and having to use water from the overflowing sewerage system in the streets to bathe themselves—this was the ‘normal’ life that the majority of those in the slums were living in, from what I saw,” says Jackson.

“I knew the world consisted of poverty but being face to face with it is a completely different type of knowledge, one which I think our whole country of New Zealand should be exposed to. Too often we forget how lucky and blessed we are to be able to call this place our home.

“I strongly believe God desires us all to have a heart full of love for one another, and that his heart breaks for the fact that a lot of us lack real compassion for people born into the most broken places on the planet.

Love for others is all throughout Scripture as a command of Jesus.

Baptist Foundation—

funding for community ministries

We just need to stop trying to convince ourselves that it doesn't apply to us or that we can’t help.

“My prayer for our people is that the Spirit of God continues to inspire and teach us on the act of surrendering.

To lay down all parts of our life to him, and to trust that his will is far more satisfying than anything we could come up with.

“Right now I feel that God desires me to be placed in Long Bay, and I’m excited to see more of the reasons of why that is. What is undeniable is that it’s all in God’s timing when I make a permanent move to be present in an area of poverty. It’ll be hard and uncomfortable in many ways, but that’s what Jesus did and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. We are called to look like Christ, not Christians.”

A senior pastor’s perspective Long Bay Baptist’s Senior Pastor, James McBurney, says they are always looking at ways to engage their community with the gospel of Jesus.

The barber shop initiative looked like a creative way to do just that.

“I am a big fan of Jackson. He has a humble way about him and is very relational. He has grown and continues to grow in Jesus, and it is a joy to be part of that journey. Jackson has always been wonderfully evangelistic and so linking his skills together we were able to give him an outlet for this.

People do not tend to leave midway through a haircut!” says James.

“Through football coaching at our local high school, Jackson has good contacts and opportunities for more than a single conversation. He has the support of the church family too, so he knows he is not doing this alone.”

The Baptist Foundation exists to fund new and developing Baptist community work in the Northern Association region. Applications are called for twice a year, closing at the end of March and September. Grants

Story: Jackson Kaya Steele Roach, with Linda Grigg Jackson seeks to serve Jesus and have his life portray who Christ is and what he’s about. Whilst coaching a college 1st XI football team, leading Long Bay Baptist’s Youth Ministry and running his own hair salon, he is gifted with daily opportunities to build relationships with the local community and to share about what Freeset is and does.

Take outs...

1. Jackson’s creativity and skills are tools in God’s hands to reconcile people to himself and to set people free. What God-given abilities, talents and resources are you using, or long to use, to fulfil your purpose?

2. Is there a young person in your circle of influence in whom you see potential? What can you do to help them develop their ability and to encourage them in their journey of faith?

can be for operational and staff costs as well as minor capital costs for outward-facing activities.

For more information or an application form please send an email to foundation@baptist.org.nz.

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Baptist / L E A D E R S H I P

missional leaders Seeking to see the kingdom come

Jesus’ main task for the three years of his ministry was training leaders for a new movement, and training leaders remains a crucial task for all churches today. It is one to which many are giving considerable resources and prayer. Alan Jamieson of South West Baptist Church tells us why training new missional leaders is so important.

G

od is doing new things again and that’s exciting. One of those new things includes forms of church variably called ‘intentional community’, ‘missional community’, ‘local community’ ‘redemptive communities’ and ‘presence-based church’. These names reflect a church of people who are intimately involved in their local neighbourhood. They are connecting with other Christians and those from other perspectives in their local communities, and seeking to see the kingdom come in these people’s lives and their shared communities.

When God raises new things, new ways of training leaders are needed. Preparing leaders for these ways of being church calls for unique skills. It needs leaders who connect well with their local community, listen to opportunities and needs from a local’s perspective, lead through collaboration, and yet know that conflict resolution will be their primary skill.

These leaders are humble, because in community life they have been humiliated through facing their weaknesses, brokenness and sin as others have pointed it out to them.

Instead of denying, justifying or ignoring their ‘stuff’, these emerging leaders have genuinely changed—through

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prayer, hard work, honest conversations, counselling and supervision—and their community can tell you about it.

Of course, these leaders need biblical depth, ingrained depth in prayer practices and a depth of courage. No one comes through the wringer of community leadership without lots of support, encouragement and intentional input. In this context, leadership development is critical.

Training opportunities Training leaders is becoming one of South West Baptist Church’s key tasks as we seek to become a presence‑based church. We are partnering with Carey Baptist College and

WHEN GOD RAISES NEW T H I N G S , N E W WAY S OF TRAINING LEADERS ARE NEEDED.

TheRealFindo/lightstock.com

Training Training new new

others to create formal training opportunities including a diploma programme, block courses and our annual neighbourhood hui. More personal and grass‑roots learning like visiting other communities and sharing learnings, and importantly sharing our stories, is also included. It is amazing how encouraging and insightful it is to hear the long‑staying leaders in missional forms of church sharing their mistakes and their humiliating character-building moments.

It encourages us that God can shape us too.

It takes competent leaders to inspire, lead, support, encourage and influence a local community.

They are the sort of leaders who take people with them, share their daily lives and walk against the individualistic, consumerist, me-focused culture of our times, towards another kingdom. This is the kingdom of God, where treasure is found in unlikely places, small beginnings lead to surprising changes in people’s lives, and ‘wells’ are found where modern-day Samaritans can share drinks, speak honestly and encounter surprising acceptance and hope with Jesus’ people. That’s the sort of leaders we need to train, so seeking to create encouraging spaces for leadership development is crucial for us.

Story: Alan Jamieson Alan is Senior Pastor of South West Baptist Church. The church is offering their leadership training programme, including block courses, to Carey Baptist College students and to others.

To find out more contact ajamieson@swbc.org.nz.

Carey intentional community In March 2017, Carey Baptist College launched a new training initiative for developing community-facing leaders.

Up until this point, ministry and mission training remained separate. Ministry Training was for church-based students while Mission Track was for students directed towards missions. But with this new track the two paradigms would be bridged.

If our neighbourhoods and communities here in Aotearoa New Zealand are mission fields, then our churches need missionary pastors and pastoral missionaries. How this might look in practice is what Carey was hoping to explore.

Three students were chosen—two from Carey’s Pastoral Leadership track and one from Carey’s Mission track. We were the college’s pioneering guinea pigs, with each of us leaving behind homes and church communities to venture out into the unknown.

We were connected with Māngere Baptist Church and given a simple task: find a place to live. Not so simple when your city is in the middle of a housing crisis! Our temporary residence was the home of a Māngere-based Carey lecturer who was overseas at the time. There we began practising household rhythms for our common life together. One such rhythm was walking the streets of our neighbourhood together prayerfully, noticing the things we see and listening to what God could be saying through them.

As we went out early one morning we came across a street lined with houses without any fences. We looked at each other in disbelief. It was as if God had led us directly to this street filled with homes opened up to each other. That same day we received a message from another church member. She had also been out walking the same street that morning.

The message contained a photo of a ‘For Lease’ sign outside a three-bedroom house. God was literally sending us a sign! We applied for the house and within a few weeks we were moving in.

Ever since then we have committed

ourselves to living together in community.

Coming from a culture where individual autonomy is tightly guarded, we deliberately bound ourselves to one another, forming a household covenant that holds us accountable to our shared values and household rhythms.

Through these rhythms, including eating, praying and walking together, we seek to connect relationally to one another, spiritually to God, and missionally to our neighbourhood.

As we go, God has been opening doors for us. From the doors of a local marae, joining us to their whānau for worship, to the doors of a Samoan family over the road who invited us to attend church with them and even offered to mow our lawns! Each day is a new opportunity to participate in what God is up to in our neighbourhood.

Our household has changed over the time since we began. One of our group returned to her family home. Two of us got married and our spouses joined us.

We are now multiple households living in the same block, endeavouring to live in community together. We have begun new rhythms with additional households from our church who live nearby. Together we seek the same three things: relational connection as we share breakfast together each Saturday morning, spiritual connection as we pray with and for one another, and neighbourhood connection as we look for what God is doing and the doors he is opening all around us.

Story: Andrew Meek Andrew is a third-year Pastoral Leadership student at Carey Baptist College. Newly married to Alicia, they live together in community with other Carey students and members of their church in Māngere, South Auckland.

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Maoribank community dinner What began as a few church members helping out at school breakfast has turned into a monthly dinner for all the community.

For the past 18 months, Rimutaka Baptist Church, in the heart of Upper Hutt, has been running a free community meal at Maoribank Primary School, a small decile three school.

The initiative came about thanks to a breakfast club, which introduced volunteers from the church to the school’s staff.

Now the church moves into the school’s hall once a month and provides a two-course meal to more than 30 people. The food is funded by grants from the Wellington Baptist Association, Upper Hutt City Council and other Baptist churches.

Between dinner and dessert, Senior Pastor Murray Gordon leads a devotional that incorporates parts of the Alpha course and Christianity Explored. This leads to many opportunities to answer questions and pray for attendees. Murray says he is overwhelmed by the need

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of the community, not only for a good quality meal but for fellowship.

“People won’t come to us in the church building looking for it, so we needed to go to them,” he says.

At one meal, a woman mentioned she had been planning to commit suicide. The next week she was at church and sharing her testimony of how she decided not to go through with it thanks to the fellowship she received at the dinner.

A couple of the families have also started attending church on a Sunday morning, mostly due to children prompting their parents.

Last year, more than 120 people attended the church’s Christmas dinner. Many tasted sliced ham for the first time, before taking on the mountains of pavlova and trifle.

“The children were so excited,” says church member Mathilda Hartzenberg, who helps out with the meal.

“It’s good to see the youngsters coming up for seconds and thirds!”

Story: Elesha Gordon

rawpixel.com/unsplash.com

Our stories

Amnesty International New Zealand

Baptist churches sponsor refugees in pilot scheme

Alan Jamieson with donated goods for refugee families

South West Baptist Church in Christchurch and Gleniti Baptist Church in Timaru are two of four communitybased organisations chosen to sponsor refugee families in a pilot scheme.

The New Zealand Government introduced the Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship (CORS) category in 2017. The intention is to provide an alternative form of admission for refugees to New Zealand, to complement the Government’s annual quota.

South West Baptist is sponsoring three families and Gleniti Baptist one. Both churches aim to have helped these families become self-sufficient by mid-2020.

“This has been a long journey for us as a church,” says South West Baptist’s Senior Pastor, Alan Jamieson. “In 2012 we became aware of what was happening in Syria and several of us began praying regularly for the situation there. We petitioned the Government to increase the number of refugees it took, and we quickly applied to become a part of the community-based pilot scheme when it was announced.”

It is estimated that there are 22.5 million refugees worldwide and that less than one per cent of them will get selected for government refugee quota programmes.1 Some countries have significantly reduced their quotas in recent years, for example the USA. “In the first three months of this year, the USA took just 11 Syrian refugees, which is more than a 98% reduction in numbers compared with the same period in 2016. Effectively this means that two churches in Canterbury are taking more refugees than the whole of the USA in terms of intake this year!” says Alan.

“As a church, South West Baptist wants to be a catalyst for people in the community to help others and to become

global citizens. We have been amazed at the interest and support locally for this programme. It is something in which everyone can contribute by being a good neighbour.

Businesses have offered their services and employment opportunities. Individuals have donated household goods or offered to help with specific needs, like driver training or medical support.”

Pastor Mark Pavelka of Gleniti Baptist Church says it was personal interaction with refugees from Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea and Somalia being held in an Indonesian detention centre that spawned a deep concern in him for the plight of so many vulnerable people in our world today.

“It was an answer to prayer to return to New Zealand and see that our Government was initiating a community-based sponsorship programme where churches, among other organisations, could become part of the solution to this immense humanitarian crisis. Churches offer a network of skilled and caring people to facilitate the difficult transition of traumatised people into a totally new country and culture,” says Mark.

“We are learning the ropes with one Syrian family this time.

We have received an enthusiastic response from a variety of community organisations within our city of Timaru, who are happy to lend their skills to support the settlement process.

Taking this step of sponsoring a refugee family has served to build bridges and credibility within our city.”

If you would like to support these churches' work with refugees, contact Nick Regnault, South West Baptist's Project Coordinator at nregnault@swbc.org.nz or Mark Pavelka at glenitipastor@gmail.com.

1. “Why welcome?” I Welcome Pledge, iwelcome.org.nz/why-welcome.

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Baptist / O U R S T O R I E S

Eastview Electronic Junk Project They call themselves “a few old fellows mucking about” but the group behind the Eastview Electronic Junk Project (EEJP) is raising hundreds of dollars for mission.

The idea of dismantling, recycling, scrapping and selling electronic junk as a fundraiser began when Bernard Bateman received a call from a former workmate.

“I had worked for Telecom for 50 years. After I retired I got a phone call asking if I wanted to remove an old telex exchange and scrap it for charity. I had been installing

Bernard at work dismantling dental equipment

Mosgiel Baptist Church plant In March of this year, my husband Gareth and I responded to a call from the Otago Southland Baptist Association to plant a church in Mosgiel, a satellite suburb of Dunedin.

Our desire in planting a church in this growing town of around 12,000 people is to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To us this means working alongside other churches. It means building relationships. It means engaging people who have not yet met Jesus.

It means praying and seeking God’s direction.

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telephone exchange equipment so they figured I could pull it out,” says Bernard.

He chose Habitat for Humanity as the recipient charity and, with ongoing donations of surplus equipment, made quite a lot for them. He was joined in the project by retired Air New Zealand Avionic Engineer Tony Margetts and Kevin Walker.

“Kevin works for a dental equipment repair firm. When his boss heard what Kevin did in his spare time, he told him to help himself to their jumbo bin. As a result, we get old dental chairs, sterilisers and x-ray units,” says Bernard.

“But it didn’t stop there. When our project became known by our friends at Eastview Baptist Church, our church administrator suggested there might be surplus computers and so on lying around in people’s homes.

“After a couple of notices in our church newsletter, we received quite a lot of old computer and other electronic equipment from church members and friends and within a couple of weeks had raised $200 for the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society (NZBMS).”

A visit from Tranzsend’s Andrew Page to Eastview Baptist for Prayer & Self Denial drew a trailer-load of surplus electronic junk from Carey Baptist College. Since then EEJP has donated a further $600 to NZBMS. “It’s lots of fun and keeps me off the streets!” says Bernard.

“If other ‘old fellows’ in other churches want to start this sort of project and need pointers I can give them some contact details for disposing of the dismantled surplus equipment.”

You can email Bernard at bernard_verna@xtra.co.nz.

And this means taking time.

There is a rich Baptist heritage in Mosgiel, beginning in the 1800s with the dynamic ministry of a preacher named Frank W. Boreham. The Baptist church here flourished into the 20th century through the faithfulness of its members and various pastors until 2003, when it sadly closed.

We have the unique opportunity in Mosgiel to look at doing something new. While at present we don’t know exactly what this will look like, we do know that it will take time to understand and shape a work that lives out God’s heartbeat for this community.

Through this process we covet your support and ask that you partner with us by praying for favour and grace as

Cara & Gareth Wood

we explore our call and God’s mission for Mosgiel. We ask that you pray that, through this process of exploration, we can begin to shape and build something that will draw people to the love of Christ.

Story: Cara Wood

Assembly Council

update As mentioned below, we have bid a very sad, yet fond, farewell to Jill Hitchcock.

Jill, alongside the National Administrator, was the backbone of the National Office team, creating an amazing stability and actively driving a number of key Baptist initiatives, including the Hui. She will be dearly missed at our Assembly Council table.

It was a privilege and blessing to travel our nation with Josie Te Kahu and listen to where the church senses God has us and is leading us in the next season. Thanks to all who made the effort to come out to our meetings or to make email submissions. There were an

estimated 300-350 attendees at our 22 hui. Dr Mike Crudge and his team are currently considering the material and preparing their reflections to share with you. Keep an eye out for the next edition of the Baptist magazine for some of the feedback and join us this year at our national Hui to get a full report.

Robyn Mellar-Smith is chairing the search team for the impending National Leader vacancy. The five other members on that team are Alistair Hall (Manukau City Baptist), Alison Daly (Ilam Baptist) Josie Te Kahu (President), Andrew Bollen (Mission Council Chair) and myself. We have met three times so far, with one of these having the opportunity to interview Craig Vernall about his experience in the role, which was very valuable.

Finally, we will be seeking nominations for Assembly Council

in 2019. We would love to have as broad a representation as possible from our family of churches. So, encourage an appropriate candidate to put their name forward!

Until next time.

Noho mai rā Rob Stacey Assembly Council Chair

Assembly Council acts as the Assembly between annual Baptist Assemblies (Hui) and provides leadership for our Baptist movement. It is responsible for establishing policies and practices consistent with the determinations of Baptist Assembly and the well‑being of the movement.

Farewell Jill In June, Jill Hitchcock stepped down from her role as Office Manager at the Baptist National Centre, after 12 years of service to the New Zealand Baptist movement. Originally employed as the Personal Assistant to the National Administrator and National Leader of the time, Kelvyn Fairhall and Rodney Macann, Jill’s role continually developed over time. Her depth of knowledge and experience led staff and Assembly Council to refer affectionately to her as ‘Mrs Baptist’.

“I’ve worked with two National Leaders and three National Administrators, and seen many other staffing changes within the National Centre over those 12 years,” says Jill. “The Office Manager role encompasses many tasks, including making sure that decisions at a governance level are managed, supporting the National Administrator and National Leader, and the smooth running of the National Centre.

I also managed the national Hui, the Baptist Magazine and had lots of contact with the wonderful pastoral staff around the country.”

Asked about highlights of her time at the National Centre, her answers revolve around people—“My bosses have been amazing, and the people I worked

with and came in contact with”—and the projects she has managed. The latter includes moving the National Centre from Papatoetoe to join Carey Baptist College at the Penrose campus, producing the new Baptist magazine, and development of the national intranet used by Baptist churches. One yearly project was event managing the Hui, something that she will continue to do this year.

Despite the challenges inherent in such a role, Jill says she was certain of God’s calling and his enabling.

“Psalm 16:8—‘I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken (NIV)’—is a verse that has been very real to me. God taught me to rely on him totally, especially around managing the Hui. He always lets me know the things I have forgotten— absolutely amazing! He also taught me to have more confidence in myself and he put such outstanding people around me to work with; they are all gems.

“I have loved my job, but I have been given the opportunity to support my family by investing in two of my grandsons as an after-school nanny until my husband Peter and I move to Mangawhai Heads to retire mid-2019.”

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Baptist / O U R S T O R I E S

Motueka Baptist’s ‘third space’ I imagine most of us believe that the church is the body of Christ, and that church is not buildings or meetings, but people. Yet we build buildings and the main part of those buildings has seats all in rows facing the front where there’s a platform, pulpit and microphones for one person, to lead meetings.

The Motueka Baptist Church building began its life as a big and beautiful homestead many years ago. We rather like the thought that our building was once a home where people lived as a family, eating meals, playing, talking, sleeping, growing up, and maybe even dying there. When we bought it, it wasn’t a home anymore; it had been offices for a number of years. But we knocked down walls and made it into a church and it has served us well for several decades.

However, Motueka Baptist realises we are not going to effectively reach our community if all we are is a meeting house. We realise that if we are to reach them we need to engage with them person to person, face to face, getting into relationship with them, becoming friends. That’s why we built our most recent addition, which was officially opened on 5 May 2018.

The 'third space' concept was our inspiration for building a lounge or café space along the eastern side of our building. A third space is that place you go after home, which for most people is first, or work, which is second because you spend a lot of time there. A third space is where you go just to be. Perhaps a pub, the town steps, in some cultures the well, the hairdresser or the corner dairy. At Motueka Baptist Church we would love it if 15 Greenwood could become that kind of place.

Somewhere to hang out. Somewhere where you can just be, and where you will be loved, chatted with, befriended and maybe in that context meet Jesus.

Story: Lyall Scheib Pastor, Motueka Baptist Church

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Wendy Budge speaking at the Hui 2017 women’s breakfast

Women’s Board rejuvenated New members of the Women’s Board, now known as Baptist Women New Zealand (BWNZ), are leading several new initiatives.

BWNZ is headed by its President, Andrea Page. Andrea is known to many for her work with husband Andrew in East Asia.

Other new members are: Fia Turner, who joined the board through her interest in a local chapter of the National Council of Women, acting as the Baptist representative; Naomi Quirke, who manages the accounts; Wendy Budge, who spearheaded the immensely popular women’s breakfast at the New Plymouth Hui last year; and Christine Beales-White and Rachel Finlayson, who are currently taking maternity leave.

BWNZ will run another Hui breakfast this year. Other conferences lined up are with Amelia Gavidi, President of the Baptist Women’s Union of the South West Pacific (BWUSWP), during September and October 2018, and with Lauren Bethall, an internationally renowned anti-trafficking campaigner, in 2019.

There are other international connections too: BWNZ members Olwyn Dickson and Anne MacCarthy wrote the prayers for this year’s worldwide Baptist Women’s Day of Prayer, to be observed in November 2018; and BWNZ representatives will attend the BWUSWP quinquennial conference to be held in Fiji in August 2019.

So, why is there a separate organisation for women? Don’t men need one too? Fair question. It has been recognised for decades that women’s voices are often not heard sufficiently in the decisions or pulpits of our churches. Fortunately, things are changing. BWNZ welcomes the initiatives from Carey Baptist College, Assembly Council, other national committees and many churches to include more women.

This is why BWNZ has run women’s conferences in various places in different years, as well as practical workshops on aspects of Christian service. Beulah Wood has also led a series of classes in preaching.

With all this activity, the scene in BWNZ is one of renewal and growth, but the desire remains to support and equip women in our churches to participate and lead at a range of levels.

Story: Beulah Wood

Pastors Das Premadas and Julie Osborn catch up at LEAD

Approximately 180 pastors and other leaders attended this year’s LEAD Conference, held at Hutt City Baptist at the end of June. Craig Vernall and Tak Bhana (Church Unlimited) were the keynote speakers. George Wieland, Alastair Hall, Robyn

Mellar-Smith and Jay Ruka spoke at the other plenary sessions.

Craig based his opening message on how Joshua had to be courageous and step up to where God had called him to be as he led the Israelites across the flooded Jordan River (Joshua 3).

Craig encouraged pastors to put aside shyness and fear, and to take the leadership opportunities presented to them. “You can't pastor from an ‘aw shucks’ mentality,” he said.

Tak emphasised the priority of prayer and the importance of pastors setting an example in this area. “When the leader prays, your people pray,” he said.

George talked about the changing contexts of mission, and about how we walk faithfully with God and be missional leaders in those contexts.

Alastair spoke about transitioning a church to mission, using the example of the journey Manukau City Baptist has taken in this regard.

Robyn talked about dealing with the ‘shadows of ministry’, for example frustrations, criticism, and the forfeit of personal dreams to receive God’s new dreams.

In talking about leadership, Jay explained how traditional Māori leaders—ariki, rangatira, kaumātua and tohunga—were accountable to one another. He said that although the default of nations is the single leader model, the trinity shows that God leads in a team.

Workshops and seminars covering a wide range of topics rounded out the conference, which also provided time for networking and prayer ministry.

2018 Advent Tree I’m always amazed at the way in which God inspires creativity. Sometimes it is when we are amidst the grand and the majestic, surrounded by his awe‑inspiring creation.

At other times it is through the simple and the ordinary. I’m not sure how it works best for you, but I have found that it often comes through everyday things and the simple pleasure of working with creative others. For Baptist Children & Family Ministries this has been the pathway to the 2018 Advent Tree—two colleagues and a creative God sitting around a table with paper and the genesis of an idea.

Last year’s Advent Tree was distributed to 8,000 households, enabling families all around the country (and even a few overseas) to share the real story of Christmas. We were thrilled with the stories and emails that we received telling us how the tree had impacted families.

We even heard that one of the large versions made its way to the stage of the Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral! We loved that many other denominations and para-church organisations used this resource, and that it has been the start of collaboration around resources for children and families.

As with all success stories, the pressure then comes on to produce something bigger and better, and we are hopeful that we have done just that. The 2018 tree will be A3 in size and will lead families through the four stages of Advent: the

journey to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, the angelic visitation to the shepherds and the arrival of the wise men. Each day of December there will be something to add to the tree, Scripture to be read, questions to be answered or activities to be completed, and hidden objects to find on the city map.

This year there will also be decorations that can be added to the family Christmas Tree.

As with last year, orders will be limited and it will be ‘first in, first served’. Online orders will open mid September so make sure that your pastoral staff keep a look out for email notifications. Alternatively, you can keep an eye on our website www.baptistcfm.org.nz.

Story: Karen Warner Children & Family Ministries National Team Leader

v.134 no.4 † rua tekau mā toru 23

Baptist / O U R S T O R I E S

Empowered to IMAGINE In the next university holidays, young adults from Baptist churches all around New Zealand will be gathering in Foxton for a young adult’s weekend conference. Named IMAGINE, this weekend is put on by young adults, for young adults, with the dream of creating space for people to encounter God, engage with each other, and be empowered to imagine better ways to live out the gospel in their lives and home towns.

IMAGINE began with a small number of young adults from Wellington, who gathered together two years ago to pray about young adults and God’s heart for them. This group of people, while lamenting the number of young adults who leave our churches, passionately believed that spaces must be created to encourage the significant number of young adults who are still connected with our churches. These prayer times led to local events for young adults, which culminated in their first weekend conference last year.

Despite being a grass-roots voluntary crew, with only passion and prayers to fund their way, support and interest in IMAGINE grew beyond what they had asked or imagined (Eph. 3:20).

Eventually, after more than 160 young adults from as far afield as Kerikeri registered, the organisers had to close the door as the facilities could not cope with additional numbers!

The theme of the 2017 conference was Imago Dei—being made in the

Domestic violence and sexual abuse workshop

Image of God. In IMAGINE 2018, the gospel theme of the ‘presence of God’ will be explored. Those participating will be challenged and invited to engage with how we experience God’s immanence, transcendence, and even God’s absence in our lives and world.

Email wgtnyabaptistcollective@gmail.com or visit www.imagineconference.co.nz for more information or to offer financial support for IMAGINE 2018.

Story: Lindy Jacomb

In your church you might be involved pastorally, as a caring professional or even as youth leader or families’ pastor, with people who are either experiencing domestic violence and/or sexual abuse, or worried about how to keep themselves safe. Perhaps you are implementing the policies to ensure your church is doing the right things to keep everyone safe. Then this workshop is for you! It is coming to Whangarei, Tauranga, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and New Plymouth. For more information contact Ruby Duncan ruby.duncan@baptist.org.nz or fiona.maisey@baptist.org.nz or check out events on baptist.org.nz.

24 rua tekau mā whā † v.134 no.4 baptistmag.org.nz

“Easy to read and eye-catc

hing”

Readership Survey

Results

Thanks to all who participated in the recent Baptist magazine survey. And congratulations to Charlene and Chase, the winners of the Marketplacers $100 vouchers. We had some great feedback—too much to re-print here, but these are some representative comments.

“I like reading a hard copy magazine”

On our new website you will be able to submit letters to the editor and also to comment directly on articles. Look out next year for a new column in the magazine, ‘Editor’s pick’, which will publish one or two of the top letters or comments made online.

“I want to have my say!”

”

rs “Variety of topics and write

Good news—the printed magazine is not disappearing! But we are revamping the magazine’s website to include more of the things you love to read. We’ll let you know when the new site has been launched.

“Lovely layout x of “Good mi and and design” d an New Zeal tories” s overseas “A wonderful resource”

“I like to hear what churches are doing, who’s got married, and where pastors are moving to”

The decisions you make today affect others around you now.

Life takes us on many twists and turns.

Our choices and determination decide whether we reach our destination of freedom as sons of God.

Register today

“Interesting increasingly and relevant” We love to hear what churches are doing too!

The new website will have a story submission form, or you can contact the editor if your church has a story to share. Sorry, family details are too numerous to include in the magazine. Pastoral moves are advised monthly to all pastors and church administrators. Maybe they can include them in your church newsletter or display them on a church noticeboard.

Men’s Events 2018

• CHRISTCHURCH 3 - 4 Aug • WELLINGTON 17 - 18 Aug • AUCKLAND 31 Aug - 1 Sept

www.promisekeepers.nz or 0800 PROMISE (77 66 47)

7 - 10 November

Palmerston North | Te Papaioea Hui this year focuses on the third of our five Strategic Priorities: Evangelism We will encourage creative and diverse evangelistic expressions of church mission and community, giving God room to establish His kingdom through fresh and dynamic ways.

To this end our main speakers will include Mark and Karen Wilson (Baptist Churches, Western Australia), Leor Sarkar (General Secretary of Bangladesh Baptist Church Fellowship), Andrew Picard (Carey Baptist College) and Daniel Brass from the Rātana movement.

VENUES: • Palmerston North Central Baptist Church.

• Palmerston North Conference Centre.

• Hokowhitu Baptist Church.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE: • Baptist Research: Sutherland Lecture and Dinner with Daphne Marsden, inviting us into the world of Christian women experiencing domestic abuse.

• The Carey Hour: A special hour for our alumni and friends that will inspire and inform.

• Women’s Breakfast with Karen Wilson.

• Farewelling and honouring Craig Vernall after seven years of service as National Leader of our movement.

• Recognising our newly registered Baptist leaders.

• Welcoming new fellowships and churches into our Baptist family.

• Honouring our overseas mission personnel.

• An opportunity to join in the 100th year anniversary celebrations at Rātana.

THERE WILL BE OPTIONS AVAILABLE ON WEDNESDAY 7 NOVEMBER AS FOLLOWS: • BMF AGM (morning) and Mission Prayer Day (afternoon).

• Chaplains’ Retreat Day. • BYM Hui. Hui 2018 officially commences on Thursday 8 November at 4.45pm with a pōwhiri and hākari at the Palmerston North Conference Centre.

Start planning now!

>

meet…

Katie Herron environmentalist

Sixteen-year-old Katie Herron and her family attend Palmerston North Central Baptist Church. This is her story.

Where did your interest in environmental issues come from?

My parents are keen environmentalists. I went to Forest and Bird things with Mum occasionally. But it was always Mum and Dad’s thing—not really cool! However, over the past year or so, I have come to discover that I am passionate about it in my own right, not just through my parents.

What have you been doing?

At our place we have a gully where we are taking down pine trees and planting native species. I’ve been helping with that a lot recently. I really enjoy it and the reason we are doing it.

I have also joined a group at our church called Ngā Kaitiaki o te Taiao (Creation Carers). It’s a kind of sustainability group, to see how the church can be more sustainable, especially for the Hui, which we are hosting later this year. We’ve recently been making compost bins.

I have a friend who is quite passionate about environmental issues too, so we talk to other friends to help them become more aware.

What’s the connection between your passion for the environment and your faith?

The way I see it is that God has called us to be stewards of the Earth.

That comes right back to Genesis, when he created Adam and Eve and said, “This is the world I have made and it is good. Look after it.” That for me is the major way it interacts with our faith. A lot of people think it doesn’t really matter what we do because we’ll be gone in a few years’ time anyway. But I strongly believe that we should leave it for the next generation to enjoy, and that God has called us to look after it. It is his creation and it is good. We can’t deface something that God has made.

What is your message to us about the environment?

You can make a difference. You might think it is too late or that you are too stuck in your ways, but every little thing does help. It is important in terms of faith and what God has called us to do. 

ZERO WASTE HUI Our leadership team at Palmerston North Central Baptist has discerned God calling us to five things: 1. Deeper relationship with God marked by repentance from self-sufficiency and engagement through prayer.

2. Being vulnerable with, and caring deeply for, one another.

3. Celebrate and develop our bicultural partnership.

4. Sacrificially embrace our ethnic differences valuing that we are all made in the image of God. 5. Being visible and intentional agents of God’s kingdom in Palmerston North and the wider world.

As part of point five, a group of us have been exploring our responsibility to the environment. The group’s name is Ngā Kaitiaki o te Taiao (Creation Carers). We have begun discussing and making changes to our practices within our own church community, and as this year’s host of the Baptist Hui we aim to make it a zero waste event.

Accordingly, at the Hui, we will ensure there are recycling stations and that any food packaging is recyclable or can be composted. Catered food will have minimal packaging and water coolers will have glasses. Church volunteers will wash all the glasses and coffee cups instead of disposable paper cups being used. We will also provide shuttles from the airport, so fewer cars are required.

The Baptist National Centre is doing its part by keeping printing to a minimum; for example, day sheets will be emailed, as they were last year, instead of being printed.

Staff and helpers will wear eco-friendly and ethically-manufactured Freeset t-shirts.

Story: Grant Baldwin Member of Ngā Kaitiaki o te Taiao

v.134 no.4 † rua tekau mā whitu 27

Baptist / O U R S T O R I E S

In Memoriam

Desmond (Des) Clarence Burson Jones: Called to mission 5 November 1925 – 15 April 2018 He tangata hūmārie, he tangata ngākau māhaki, he tangata whakapono.

E kore rawa e warewaretia, moe mai rā koe i roto i ngā ringa o Te Atua.

A peaceful man, a humble man, a man of faith, never to be forgotten.

Rest peacefully in the arms of the Lord.

Des grew up in a family hit hard by the depression, an experience that left a lasting imprint and a deep sense of social concern. Early years in Christchurch centred around Oxford Terrace Baptist Church.

He attended and led Boys’ Brigade and enjoyed tramping and climbing, before beginning work and university study during the war years and then moving to the Waikato in 1951.

His catalyst to train as a minister was a sense of mission, of concern for the need he had already seen

in Māori, Chinese and Pākehā communities. Later, he would speak of a conversation with a young Māori teacher. When Des expressed concern about Māori living conditions at the time, the young teacher challenged him to do something about it. At Baptist College he was again challenged that to engage effectively and make a difference for Māori, he would have to learn the language and live in the community. From the start he wanted to serve in Māori ministry, but only until there were sufficient Māori to lead the work.

While at college he spent the weekends in Pukekohe connecting with Māori communities. He was ordained in 1955 and spent time at university learning Māori, being supported by Hoani Waititi and establishing the Baptist work in the Waikato. In 1956 he married Joan, and they set about embedding themselves in the community, moving to Te Kohanga (Port Waikato) and engaging directly with the five local marae. His focus was on care for others, breaking down barriers through gentleness and through his deep Christian faith and calling as a pastor.

The move to Rotorua in 1966 represented a change in no longer being embedded in the communities that he had chosen to serve. However, this did not diminish his sense of making a difference in people’s lives. In Rotorua the issues of urban Māori were emerging and dislocation from marae was an area of engagement and emerging focus for him. Ill health meant a rethink of how to serve and continue to make a difference in communities. This led to a move to North Invercargill in 1971, and

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later, linking with Glengarry, which represented a cultural change.

Two facets emerged in his serving in a mainstream church: strong Christian leadership in preaching, and widening community pastoral care to hospital and prison chaplancies. This included engagement with the Māori club in the borstal, with many of these young men attending church in the evening.

The move to Hillcrest Baptist in 1977 meant coming to a church that had lost members due to internal division. Both Des and Joan set about building the church through strong pastoral engagement. Closely connected with the university, it developed a multicultural student community.

He also developed strong relationships as a hospital chaplain, re‑establishing links with Māori community. The final move was to Huntly Baptist where he again expanded his ministry to become a mines chaplain. Throughout their ministry their home was always open.

Retirement in 1991 to Whangaparaoa meant that he and Joan continued to support the local church as well as supporting the Baptist Missionary Society and other overseas missions.

Des and Joan’s last years were spent at Hillcrest. Des believed in the importance of supporting the local pastor in their mission. Des’s calling was ultimately a mission call, whether at home in disadvantaged communities, in mission abroad, or within the local church.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Gospel Perspective/lightstock.com

100 Years Ago The Antiquity of Man of the extinct mammals. Now, one of the certain things is that until Captain Cook no non-pouched mammals ever intruded of themselves into the isolated continent. How, then, did this ancient man come to be hunting with dogs on the Darling Downs? The inference adopted by Wood-Jones is that he arrived by boat with domesticated dogs, and this at a period anterior to that day in the dim and distant past when man was supposed by the Darwinians to be scarcely distinguishable from the brutes.

The Professor holds that the missing link, if ever found, would not be a more ape‑like man, but a more man-like ape. These speculations do not serve the cause of religion any way. But their interest is perennial, and we set down these things here.

Baptist magazine, August 1918

MISSION OPEN DAY IS GOD LEADING YOU INTO MISSIONS?

Do you want to explore how and where you can serve God in the world?

Spend the day discovering how Carey could be part of your journey in mission.

As part of Mission Week this year Carey is hosting a special OPEN DAY for anyone who wants to be well prepared to participate in the mission God calls us to here in New Zealand and across the world.

TUE 21 AUG 9

STARTING

The Antiquity of Man is an interesting subject. It is nothing more. Men who gave an impossible value to the calculations in the margin of the Book of Genesis were necessarily staggered at some scientific estimates of the age of the genus homo.

The general lay of the subject is being altered by some recent experts. The Professor of Anatomy in the University of London, Wood‑Jones, has been proclaiming that man is not descended from the anthropoid apes, but that these last would much more accurately be described as descending from man. He holds that man is a much more ancient inhabitant of the planet than the apes. One of his proofs is Australian. A skull was found on the Darling Downs in 1889. It was very highly mineralised, and was found with the bones of extinct pouched mammals. There were also found the bones of dingo dogs which had gnawed the bones

AM

Join our Mission Track formation training.

Meet the various mission agencies that will be on campus.

Attend the Mission of God lecture with Dr George Wieland, Director of Mission Research and Training.

Register today at events@carey.ac.nz 0800 773 776 More details carey.ac.nz/events

Baptist / O U R S T O R I E S

Vlad/lightstock.com

What’s on your mind?

Two reflections C. S. Lewis, books and evangelism For professional development through Carey’s Centre for Lifelong Learning this year, my cohorts and I have been reading through the works of C. S. Lewis. Recently we read his autobiographical Surprised by Joy,1 in which he narrates the story of his conversion to the Christian faith. His testimony combines well with an essay of his, “Christianity and Culture,”2 in which he discusses the potential role culture can play in helping expand one’s horizons and open them up to the reality of ‘ultimate truth’: A cultured person ... is almost compelled to be aware that reality is very odd and that the ultimate truth, whatever it may be, must have characteristics of strangeness—must be something that would seem remote and fantastic to the uncultured. Thus some obstacles to faith have been removed already.3 This resonates with Lewis’s own testimony of coming to know that strange ultimate truth by way of several experiences of what he calls “Joy”. Lewis was first met by joy in his encounter with Norse mythology as a bookish youngster. Later, in his early academic life he was met once more by this joy—surprisingly, to the

30 toru tekau † v.134 no.4 baptistmag.org.nz

then atheistic Lewis—in his reading of books by Christian authors. By contrast he found that the writers with whom he shared a non-religious view of the world “all seemed a little thin; what as boys we called ‘tinny.’”4 His broad literary experience exposed him to both sets of writers, and though he was philosophically aligned with the non-religious writers, it was the Christians whose work was most compelling to him! These were significant signposts pointing him in the direction of the surpassing joy of Christ.

Which raises the question for me of culture and evangelism: have we been making adequate use of culture to raise the question of a deeper joy for the non-Christian? Are Christians still producing the types of films, music and literature that cause people to see other material as ‘tinny’?

Lewis reminds me that the Christian, because we know the surpassing joy of Christ by the Spirit, should offer a richer, deeper, embodied account of reality, which is compelling to the world in its pursuit of tinny happiness. And similarly, in journeying with non-Christians, how am I open to what pre-conversion experiences like Lewis’s experience

of joy might be preparing them to meet Christ? These experiences can be like signposts in the forest, pointing to the surpassing joy of Christ who faithfully pursues them.

Reflection: Elliot Rice Elliot works in tandem with his wife Sarah as Co-Senior Pastors at Papanui Baptist Church, where they've served since 2016. He also lectures at Laidlaw College (Christchurch), teaching New Testament: Introduction and Theology: Introduction. Elliot completed his Master of Applied Theology through Carey Baptist College last year, engaging the systematic theology of Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar.

1. C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life (San Diego: Harcourt, 1955).

2. C. S. Lewis, “Christianity and Culture,” in Christian Reflections, ed. Walter Hooper (London: William Collins, 2017), 16-50.

3. Ibid., 32.

4. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, 213-14.

Directory > Faith revival for the next generations I came to New Zealand in 1995 to study at the Bible College of New Zealand. I had planned to return home after I completed my BMin, but my daughter was born with cleft lips and palate. For this reason, I could not go back but had to stay here in order to fix it.

Twenty years later and we have yet to fix it fully, although we are nearing the end of the surgeries.

I attempted to further my study in America but my student visa was declined due to my major. I chose instead to study in New Zealand. I now believe God gave me this opportunity to serve the Korean migrant Christian community, and that is what I do. This is my 28th year in Christian ministry. I have focused on the Korean migrant church ministry all this time but have also been praying for the revival of New Zealand for a long time with other Korean pastors.

Last year I took a three-month sabbatical. I was in America for the majority of this time and I had a special 40 days of prayer.

God placed in my heart a vision to revive the faith of the next generations in New Zealand and to build a ‘Christian hub centre’ for the next generations, including migrant churches. It will be a house of prayer and also a centre where Christians can come and refresh their spiritual life in Christ.

Since I started my ministry I have seen a lot of changes within our society. This has affected our children and has changed their lives. The current generation of children are different to the previous generations and I worry that our children will lose their faith in Christ. They may not know who God or Jesus is, or what our values in Christ should be.

When I studied at Bible College of New Zealand, which is now known as Laidlaw College, I took CIW (Church Involve Weeks) several times with my cell group between 1996 and 1999. At that time I did not see young people in the churches. It was sad to see that most parents did not care about their children’s life in Christ.

As parents, we have to teach our children not to lose their faith in Christ. But they are challenged by the laws that we have now, for example same sex marriage, abortion and so on. Therefore, we have to think how to keep our Christian values, especially for our young generations.

I believe one of the strategies is that we should provide a special place where people can come to pray, worship and rest any time. I propose we should build a Christian hub centre in every city in New Zealand. All the generations can come to see God and meet Christ in prayer and worship 24/7 there.

ACCOMMODATION

ACCOMMODATION IN WELLINGTON 2019

CENTRAL HOUSE IS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE COMING TO WELLINGTON TO STUDY OR WORK • Located in the inner city • Close to Victoria, Massey, and other learning institutions • Connected to Central Baptist Church • Self-contained flats, supported by wardens.

Reflection: Kim (Tim) Myung Ho Tim is Senior Pastor of Albany Korean Baptist Church and a member of the Auckland Korean Baptist pastors’ cluster group.

His church recently celebrated its seventh anniversary. He and his wife Young Mi have four children, ranging in age from 17 to 24 years old. If you want to learn more about Tim’s idea for a Christian hub centre, you can contact him at timyoungmik@hotmail.com.

We aim to build a community where young people can explore, maintain and strengthen their faith in a new city.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CENTRAL HOUSE, INCLUDING APPLICATION FORMS: www.central.org.nz/central-house centralhouse@central.org.nz 04 499 8937

v.134 no.4 † toru tekau mā tahi 31

<

Directory ORAKEI BAPTIST CHURCH

FUNERAL SERVICES

GRAPHIC DESIGNER PART TIME

75TH

ANNIVERSARY We welcome past worshippers to a special service and lunch, 9 September 2018, 10am LET US HELP YOU THROUGH...

INQUIRIES TO LAURIE GUY laurieguy4@gmail.com | 09 575 4214

Dignity, sensitivity, and respect are the hallmarks of H Morris Funeral Services and we are proud to be able to provide funeral services to suit your needs and financial circumstances.

Our staff are available to you twentyfour hours a day to help put in place funeral plans, provide advice, and take care of all of the details to make the service meaningful and appropriate.

31 OCEAN VIEW ROAD, NORTHCOTE 09 489 5737 office@hmorris.co.nz hmorris.co.nz

GAY & CHRISTIAN

PONSONBY BAPTIST

Gay & Christian support & discussion group monthly meetings 027 279 4461 office@ponsonbybaptist.org.nz ponsonbybaptist.org.nz/gay-andchristian-information

SENIOR PASTOR

We are looking for someone who will be responsible for • Ensuring that Eastgate’s visual identity is well designed, understood and communicated throughout the organization.

• Oversight of all the creative output from concept to production.

• Responsible for developing digital graphics and print materials used for events, ministries and activities that represent Eastgate Christian Centre.

Otumoetai Baptist Church is situated in one of the fastest growing regions in New Zealand. It is well placed to meet the needs of this vibrant city.

We are looking for a senior pastor with an authentic relational faith and the ability to inspire, empower and mentor. Someone with recent church pastoral experience who will work with the established pastoral team.

A passion and gift for preaching is essential along with a desire to impact our community and world for Christ, within a fellowship where intergenerational relationships are given priority.

IF YOU THINK THIS MIGHT BE YOU, AND YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE EMAIL THE SELECTION COMMITTEE SECRETARY mearsfam@kinect.co.nz APPLICATIONS CLOSE 31 AUGUST

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• Must have experience with InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT PASTOR SAM TAYLOR 021 714 620 | samt@eastgatecc.org

PHOTOGRAPHERS FOR BAPTIST MAGAZINE We require volunteer photographers who can submit stock images for general use, and/or take commissioned photographs of people and events.

TO FIND OUT MORE EMAIL linda@baptistmag.org.nz WITH SOME SAMPLES OF YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY THAT SHOWS YOUR RANGE OR SPECIALIST INTEREST. Please note, we are not looking for scenic or nature photography.

Glo bal Mis si on

Photo of the month The ferry boats lining the wharf on this large South Asian city morning ply the river north and south taking people to various locations. This is normal transport for local Tranzsend personnel as they travel and is certainly far less congested and more relaxing than moving around by road.

TOG ETHER W E CA N RE A C H T H E W O RL D

v.134 no.4 â&#x20AC; toru tekau mÄ toru 33

Baptist / G L O B A L M I S S I O N

A word from Rachel AN OPEN MIND CAN OPEN DOORS One morning, on my way to the office, I heard the radio announcer talking about a problem one listener was experiencing. One particular friend would enter the listener’s home without any knocking, announcement or invitation to enter. The listener said they were getting rather frustrated at the assumption that this was okay.

This created a significant level of radio debate—some callers were positive; others were negative.

It turned out that the intruding friend had recently returned from living overseas. While the country was not named, my first thought was, “Is this a cultural expectation in that other place? Has this person simply transferred her norm from there to here without thinking of the context?”

Over the years, I’ve had some interesting conversations with mission enquirers about cultural expectations and appropriate behaviours within different cultural contexts.

Issues such as types of clothing, behaviours in church, expectations around food, gender roles, language learning etc. The comments will often come back, “But they can learn my language; It’s too hot to dress modestly; No, I haven’t tried that food but I can’t eat what I don’t like...”

We cannot assume that what is a norm for us will be the same for someone in a different place and culture. Even within New Zealand, the same can apply. What happens in one home, family or business will not necessarily be the norm in another. It’s not wrong—it’s just different. How easy it is to critique or criticise because “It’s not what I would do.”

In general, people are gracious and accepting of genuine mistakes, but so much misunderstanding and frustration can be eliminated by simply taking the time to ask some basic questions: “What’s appropriate here? How should I behave, dress, eat, act? Is there some background I need to understand?”

As we involve ourselves in God’s world, whether local or global, let’s take the time to pause and ask some questions about the context we seek to serve in. Let’s listen, learn, observe and understand first, rather than expect, assume and ignore. The time taken to do so will save embarrassment and headaches further down the track. And at the core of it, when people see we are genuinely seeking to understand their norms and take an interest in their culture, the door will be opened a little wider for us to share Christ. Simple. gā mihi nui, N Rachel Murray, General Director

Register Online

tranzsend.org.nz

THINGS WE’D LIKE YOU TO KNOW! This edition’s major story is about

statistics—facts and figures about NZBMS, the overseas mission organisation that represents New Zealand Baptists in global mission. It’s about letting you know what we do. And, it’s about inspiring you to continue to support NZBMS and the life-transforming work we are partnering in.

7

OUR BUSINESSES

= THE NUMBER OF CURRENT BUSINESSES

Marketplacers International Ltd has established or partnered with businesses in many of the regions in which we are working. This gives us the opportunity to meet people and input positively into their lives.

• Businesses currently operating = 7 • Businesses planned for the near future = 4 • Lives touched by our businesses = thousands • Number of people employed by our businesses = 413 Please pray for our businesses—that those leading them would have wisdom in the business decisions that need to be made; that those nationals working within them would be challenged and transformed by the witness of those they work with; that new businesses would be established and help build the kingdom.

N Z B M S

-

R E A C H I N G

OUR PEOPLE The role of NZBMS is to facilitate and resource New Zealand Baptists to be involved in overseas mission.

The sending arm of NZBMS is Tranzsend. These figures relate to Tranzsend personnel currently overseas:

T H E

9 1 1 4 3

• 33 adults and 14 children from Baptist churches all over New Zealand • Average adult age = 43 years • Total number of adult years spent in overseas fields with NZBMS = 240 • Average number of years per adult = 7.27 years • Longest current serving couple = 30 years Please pray for our people—that they would be kept strong in their faith and focused on their mission; that they would be encouraged by the positive and be resilient when times are tough; that they would see lives transformed by the work they are doing; that others would feel the call to join them.

WHERE OUR OUR FINANCES MONEY GOES Two of the most often asked questions of any mission organisation are, “Where does the money go?” and “How can I be sure my donation gets to 29% where I want it to go?”

NZ based 71% Just over 70% of money given to NZBMS Sent goes overseas. If funds are given specifically to overseas projects, personal gifts for people, and to Student Sponsorship, every dollar will get to its intended place. Funds given to Team Support, Prayer and Self Denial, Christmas Angel, etc. have a component for use in New Zealand, but the bulk will reach overseas targets and people. This NZ component enables us to issue a tax receipt for these gifts and most is used to directly support our overseas work.

The following figures relate to the last financial year.

• Total income = $1,682,596.80 • Money sent overseas = about 71% • Money received per Baptist church = $135.39/wk • Money received per Baptist church adult attendee = $1.31/wk (Note—these figures include the Prayer and Self Denial Offering) Please pray for our finances—that people would be inspired to give; that those who oversee the use of our income would use it wisely; that the money generously given would be truly used by God to build his kingdom.

360

MISSIONS AND PRAYER

= THE HOURS SPENT IN PRAYER FOR NZBMS PER YEAR

Disclaimer: These figures are wildly inaccurate estimations. There are currently 40 Baptist church prayer groups who have advised NZBMS that they are actively praying for NZBMS and overseas mission—29 of these are BMF (Baptist Missionary Fellowship) groups.

• If each group meets monthly, and prays for 45 minutes, that = 360 hours of corporate prayer per year Please pray for mission—Does your church currently have a prayer meeting dedicated wholly or partly to overseas mission? Why not start one?

Contact the NZBMS office for more details—we will send you regular prayer needs and updates.

NOTE: Some of the statistics listed are difficult to measure and so are approximate only, and remember, “All the statistics in the world can’t measure the warmth of God’s love.”

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W O R L D

WHERE OUR PEOPLE COME FROM

ANNUAL PRAYER AND SELF DENIAL APPEAL

CHURCHES DOING 101 Not yet ANNUAL doing appeal SELF DENIAL APPEAL

138 Doing appeal

A feature of NZBMS’s fundraising programme is the annual Prayer and Self Denial Appeal. It must be noted that the appeal is not just about money; it is also a challenge to pray for our work. These statistics relate to last year’s appeal.

• Number of New Zealand Baptist churches = 239 • Number of Baptist churches who were engaged in Self Denial = 138 (58%) • Number of Baptist churches not engaged in Self Denial = 101 (42%) • Income from Self Denial (last year) = $433,994 • Income per church involved in Self Denial = $3,144 • Expected income from Self Denial if ALL churches were involved at current rate of giving = $751,416 Please pray for the annual Prayer and Self Denial Appeal—that people would be inspired to both pray and to give generously; that those churches not currently engaged with the appeal would be inspired to give it a go.

v.134 no.4 † toru tekau mā rima 35

Baptist / G L O B A L M I S S I O N

Demographics In this column we give details of the nations

STORIES

Stories of Treasure and Transformation

NZBMS is working in. Please use these as a prompt to pray for these places, our people and the communities they serve.

(For security reasons, we cannot name the nations).

Known for being one of the world’s poorest and most populous nations, this nation shares a long history with NZBMS.

Economy: The average personal yearly income here is less than US$2,000. Many people struggle to earn enough to feed themselves and their families. The largest sector of the economy is agriculture, which is adversely affected by annual flooding. As with many developing nations, urban drift is evident and many cities contain large slum areas.

Education: The nation’s literacy rate is low—around 66% for males and 63% for females. Education for the poor is a very real challenge—many families require their children to work in order to ensure the family’s survival, meaning they cannot afford to send those children to school. NZBMS has a vital work in the area of education in this nation.

Climate: With a tropical climate, this nation has never recorded an air temperature below 0OC. Severe flooding is an unavoidable climatic feature here. Each year around 18% (26,000km2) of the country is flooded, killing thousands and displacing many thousands more. The worst flood recorded covered 75% of the country. This directly affects the nation’s economy and adds to the poverty of its people.

Religion: According to the 2011 census, this nation’s religious make-up is • 90% Islam • 0.3% Buddhist • 9.5% Hindu • 0.2% Christian.

The need: The challenges for our workers include the climate, the sheer number of people who populate the cities, and the need to encounter and deal with poverty every day.

New Zealand Baptists work closely with the small but enthusiastic Baptist movement (which New Zealand Baptists helped establish many years ago). We have a number of active businesses in this nation, notably engineering and schools.

The need for more workers with a variety of skills is great.

Please join us in praying for our workers in this needy nation; and contact us if you think you could be involved—teachers are especially required.

36 toru tekau mā ono † v.134 no.4 baptistmag.org.nz

We love sharing the different ways God is transforming the communities we are a part of. In this month’s edition of ‘Stories’, we feature three accounts of where God has shown his presence in the lives of the people we serve.

Prepared in advance As I walked home the other evening, I bumped into a couple walking with their five-month-old baby. The last time I saw them together was in a hospital room, immediately after the baby was born. Sally, the child’s mother, had experienced a blood clot, and things were tense. When I arrived at the hospital, there were a few people in the room: • Sally, lying on the bed, who communicates using sign language • her mum, who knows sign language and English • a hospital intern, who uses the local language, but neither English nor sign • a number of others who use sign • and me.

The intern walked into the room and, in the local language, asked me a very specific medical question. “Wait! Am I translating?” I asked myself. “I’m only here to provide emotional support.”

N Z B M S

But, of all those in the room, I was the only one the intern could talk to, so she started addressing her questions to me.

I turned to Sally’s mum and repeated the question in English. She turned to her daughter, lying on the bed, and asked the question in sign language. Seeing her daughter’s response, she replied to me in English, and I replied to the intern in the local language. The intern asked a second question, more obscure and technical than the first. We repeated the process, and so the interview progressed.

It was getting late as we walked home from the hospital. I turned to Sally’s mum and said “It’s remarkable really, over the past few weeks I happened to be memorising an enormous collection of vocabulary in the local language for medical treatments, anatomy, and medical conditions... now I understand why! God just has a way of arranging things, doesn’t he?” “Yes, he does,” she replied.

“And in such detail.”

From a Tranzsend worker in East Asia

A courageous stand I recently received a text message from a 15-year-old girl with whom I’ve been meeting for the past 19 months. She explained that, after going to her start-of-year school camp where she and other students had to spend a lot of time chanting religious mantras and honouring statues, she is now even more keen to follow Jesus.

That may sound like a simple thing, but not where we live. This will mean that in the future when students bow to the statues in school assemblies she will not take part; and for that she needs special permission. It makes her decision to follow the faith very public, especially in a school of 3000 students.

She first expressed interest in becoming a follower about a year ago and, since returning from that school camp, she has been baptised. Usually a rather shy girl, she is very confident and resolute about her commitment to Jesus. Even as I write this, she is heading to the municipal office to have the religion on her ID card changed.

Please remember my young friend as she makes this stand; that she will stay firm in her decision and will get to know, love and serve Jesus more and more.

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Easter Conversion I was enjoying singing “Hosanna, hosanna, here comes the King of Peace” on Palm Sunday in our local church. There didn’t seem to be much peace in our city, but I prayed that each person there would find peace in their hearts.

I noticed a young man at the back of the church who I hadn’t seen before. He slipped out during the final prayer. As I was preaching on Good Friday, I noticed him there again. Later, on my way home, I saw him at the metro station.

As we talked, he shared that he was searching for peace for himself and his people. His train came—he stayed talking. Then my train came—I got on, only to hear God’s voice telling me to get off and finish the conversation.

On Easter Sunday, he was at church again.

During communion, he walked right up to the front and took the bread and juice. As I served him, he said, “Today I have taken his name.” Once again, he left before the end of the service.

I never discovered his name, and often wonder what happened to him. I’m trusting that our brief encounter has been used for good and for God’s purposes. Please pray for this new believer.

From an overseas worker in South Asia

N O I S S I M

TRIVIA

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From Maree in South East Asia R EAD M ORE

about the work of Tranzsend at tranzsend.org.nz. v.134 no.4 † toru tekau mā whitu 37

Baptist / G L O B A L M I S S I O N

STUDENT SPONSORSHIP COORDINATOR

SMALL BITES

MURRAY After six years serving in South Asia, as a significant part of the Freeset team, Murray feels it is time for him to return to New Zealand. Murray will be greatly missed by the team. In the words of Andrew Page, Tranzsend Team Leader, “It is not just his important practical skills and experience we will lose. Murray has brought a quiet wisdom and has been a tower of strength to many in the team. We’re grateful that he has been involved in building foundations and refreshing buildings, but he has also done that in the lives of many around him.”

Murray, his wife Jennie, and two children also served with Tranzsend in PNG for three years in the early 1980s. He will finish at Freeset in September and complete a period of final leave in New Zealand when he will have the opportunity to share with supporters around the country.

CONGRATULATIONS JO & CHARLIE On July 14, Jo, one of our Tranzsend workers, married fellow overseas worker, Charlie.

Kerry Hilton officiated. After honeymooning, they will return to South Asia to continue their work in one of our businesses there.

Congratulations Jo and Charlie!

Angela Cossey has been a part of the NZBMS team for the past three years, serving as Student Sponsorship programme coordinator in a voluntary capacity. She recently made the difficult decision to step out of this role. We want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Angela. She has undertaken this role with enthusiasm and dedication, and we are grateful to her for her commitment not only to NZBMS but also to sponsors and students in Bangladesh and Tripura.

We welcome Rebecca Smith to the role. Based in Canterbury, Rebecca is a medical doctor who many readers will know as the daughter of Richard and Sally Smith. Rebecca spent a part of her growing up in Bangladesh while the Smith family served with Tranzsend.

Sally will be assisting Rebecca as needs be.

Rebecca can be contacted via email on sponsorship@tranzsend.org.nz.

GARY & HEATHER Also returning to New Zealand later in 2018, after significant service in South Asia, are Gary and Heather. Gary and Heather have been integral in the running of one of our key businesses in South Asia. They now believe it is moving into a new stage in its life cycle meaning their work is complete.

Andrew Page commented, “We’re grateful for all Gary and Heather have offered to our work in South Asia. The entire business team, other Tranzsend colleagues, and local friends will miss them, but we’re sure that the foundations they have built, and are still building, will set up this business well for the next phase of its life as an enterprise established to be a light on a hill.”

Please keep Gary and Heather in your prayers N MISSIO over the coming months as they begin the process of transition to a new 0%) in a ,741ou(4 6 s p r em s, stage in their lives. ople gr e nou

TRIVIA ER ANSW

Anna Hart Photography

38 toru tekau mā waru † v.134 no.4 baptistmag.org.nz

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N Z B M S

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OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE NZBMS, through Mission World present the following opportunities to join with God’s mission in our world by joining with Tranzsend or one of our other strategic mission partners.

• Refugee Workers (West Asia) with Interserve. To work with church-based refugee efforts serving the needs of neglected people who have no other support available to them. 2+ year commitment.

• Church planters and disciplers (Thailand) with OMF. Join a team passionate in evangelising and discipling graduates and young professionals in North Thailand.

Biblical training required.

• Youth workers (Zambia) with SIM. For a youth centre focused on outreach and discipleship through sports, counselling, art, music, and life-skills.

• Linguists, teachers, IT technicians, maintenance personnel, translators (globally) with Wycliffe.

Opportunities to contribute to Bible translation work in rural and urban settings.

• Product designer (South Asia) with Tranzsend. To serve with a small freedom business. Role could be located in New Zealand with occasional visits to the business.

• Deputy Operations Manager (South Sudan) with MAF. To oversee operations/ground teams including support management for training, monitoring of personnel, policy and procedure management. Requires recognised operations and flight dispatch course, and aviation experience.

• Orchard Project (Central Asia) with Pioneers.

Assistants for a small fruit tree nursery. Short and long-term opportunities for agriculture, import/export, accounting, marketing, administration and animal husbandry.

• Dance instructor (East Asia) with WEC. Teach various forms of dance across a wide range of ages.

For more information and to express an interest email info@missionworld.org.nz or phone 09 526 8446.

31 AUGUST st

ENDING OUR FINANCIAL YEAR Please send all of your outstanding funds and support through to us by this date to ensure our budget meets target.

This includes: • General donations • Student Sponsorship • Prayer and Self-Denial Appeal • Christmas Angel Appeal • Team Support • Specific Projects in any of the fields • Extra gifts or donations Please send to us by 31st August 2018.

Thank you for partnering with us in Global Mission— your generosity is transforming lives!

PO Box 12149, Penrose, Auckland 1642 | info@nzbms.org.nz | 09 526 8444

you

hank MS A huge t s at NZB u f o ll a from l ur financia o y f o ll a for his year! t t r o p p u s