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Baptisms at Northcross Church and Willow Park Christian Camp

It’s so encouraging to hear of more and more people taking big steps in their faith journey and being baptised across New Zealand. On Sunday, June 30, two women were baptised at Northcross Church. Associate Pastor Mark Wallace writes: “It was really exciting for our church to celebrate and mark a significant moment in the lives of two women at Northcross Church who made the decision to be baptised.”...

Combined Youth event

Last Saturday, Youth groups from 5 churches (Whitiora Bible Church, Northgate Community Church, Chapel Hill Community Church, Agora Church and Hillcrest Chapel) had a combined event at Karakariki Christian Camp....

The gift of salvation

By Mark van Wijk, CCCNZ PastorLink EnablerNa te aroha noa hoki koutou i whakaorangia ai i runga i te whakapono; ehara ano hoki tenei i te mea no koutou: he mea homai noa na te Atua: Ehara i nga mahi, kei whakamanamana te tangata.Auā o le alofa tunoa ‘ua fa‘aolaina ai ‘outou i le fa‘atuatua; e lē o se mea lea na ‘outou faia, a o le meaalofa a le Atua; e lē ‘ona o galuega, ‘ina ne‘i mitamita se tagata.For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from y...

Baptisms at Eden Community Church

It was a joy to hear that three adults and one young person (pictured below giving their testimonies) were baptised at Eden Community Church last Sunday. ...

God communicates

By Sophia Sinclair, CCCNZ Communications Manager'I te timatanga te Kupu...' — Hoani 1:1'Sa i le amataga le Upu...' — Ioane 1:1'In the beginning was the Word...' — John 1:1I vividly remember a time when I heard John chapter 1 read aloud with dramatic clarity. The boldness of the Apostle John’s claims about Jesus seemed to jump off the page and straight into my heart. Immediately, we hear a connection with the very first words of the Bible, ‘In the beginning...’ and...

Theology Workshop: Gospel & Culture

On Friday, 36 participants from 15 CCCNZ churches gathered at Willow Park Christian Camp for the CCCNZ Pastoral Theologians Fellowship theology workshop. The theme was ‘Gospel & Culture’, and the day began with an outstanding presentation by international speaker Dr Darrell Bock (Dallas Theological Seminary) in which he developed a ‘theology of cultural engagement’ fit for our pluralistic context....

Knowing God through theological study

Ashleigh Trebilco teaching an elective session at Refresh, a young adults camp held at Tōtara Springs Christian Camp over Matariki weekend. You may have seen Ashleigh Trebilco’s name at the bottom of the Wrap—Ashleigh is part of the team that works to put this email together every week. We’re pleased to properly introduce Ashleigh to you as we hear more about why she’s pursuing theological education.   “I was baptised at 15 after realising how much I trul...

Teaching the Bible to Kids

On Saturday June 22, a team from Rutland Street Church in Christchurch attended a training day hosted by the Tim Course. The course was designed to help equip people further as they teach the Bible to children.  ...

Outreach Event at Hillcrest Chapel

On Saturday, Hillcrest Chapel ran an event called ‘Shine’, with nearly 100 people attending, more than half of them coming from community families.The evening started with kai, and then they shared about how the Matariki (Pleiades) constellation is mentioned in the Bible and talked about how amazing God, the Creator of the stars, is....

God, the Creator of the universe

By Sophia Sinclair, CCCNZ Communications Manager'Ko koe, ina, ko koe anake a Ihowa; nau i hanga te rangi, te rangi o nga rangi, me o reira tini mea...'Neemia 9:6 'O oe, na o oe lava o le ALI'I; na e faia le lagi o le lagi o lagi, ma 'au uma o i ai o le lalolagi ma mea uma o i ai.''You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host...' Nehemiah 9:6 Towards the end of Ezra-Nehemiah we find a community of God's people gathered ...

Winter Bible School

Last weekend, The Orchard Church hosted the 2024 Winter Bible School with more than 20 churches participating, either in person or online. This year the guest speakers were Darrell Bock, Greg Burgess, and Nelson Schonfeldt....

Reaching the community through camping

Kingston Community Church (KCC) hosted 19 leaders from the Manawatū region for a delicious breakfast and kōrero about how churches can be working together with local campsites to reach our local communities. Leaders came from KCC, Feilding Bible Chapel, Highland Home Christian Camp, Crossroads Church and Church on Vogel (some of us are pictured together below). ...

Growing together in prayer

On Saturday, Rutland Street Church (RSC) hosted a Prayer Workshop for their church community, organised by Warren and Maree Frost and led by CCCNZ Prayer Enabler Jackie Millar. RSC extended the invitation to churches in the area, and people from Bryndwr Chapel, Westchurch and Wairakei Road Bible Church joined in too....

Team Update

The staff leadership team will lead the staff team while I am on sabbatical. The team is Tim Hodge, Julie McKinnon, Sophia Sinclair, JC Marais and Mark van Wijk. If you want to contact them, email my EA Paula Almada and she will forward it to the appropriate person. Also don’t hesitate to contact them directly. They’ll be touching base with Gordon Fountain (CCCNZ Board Chair) fortnightly. I’m immensely grateful for the staff team and t...

Manawatū PastorLink Regional Gathering

On Tuesday morning Gary Gilpin Pastor at Feilding Bible Chapel hosted a meeting with CCCNZ PastorLink Enabler Mark van Wijk and pastors from the Manawatū-Whanganui region, including Kingston Community Church, Church on Vogel, and Crossroads Church. A huge thank you to each of you for the way you point people to Jesus through the gospel from the Bible....

Canterbury Gathering

Last Friday Rutland Street Church hosted visiting speaker Dr Darrell Bock for a Canterbury region gathering of churches on cultural engagement, with 60 people in attendance. Darryn George, elder from Bryndwr Chapel, said “Darrell gave us some good tips related to reaching the unchurch culture for Jesus and the gospel and he had good illustrations. What we took away was a better understanding of how we can build gospel conversations.” For Geoff Stark, f...

Sermon Sharing

On Sunday 16 June, Pati Leiataua (pictured below) preached his first sermon from Ephesians chapter 6 at Church on Ingestre as part of a sermon share with Pastor Doug Benn. Doug writes, “Sermon-sharing is something we have done on occasion over the years to introduce a young person to preaching for about 7-10 minutes, with support from a more experienced mentor completing the message.”...

Hospitality, an act of love

By Mark Grace, CCCNZ AmbassadorWhakamanuhiritia tetahi e tetahi; kaua e amuamu.‘Ia feagaleleia‘i o le tasi i le isi, e aunoa ma le muimui.Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 1 Peter 4:9I love the logic of 1 Peter 4:9-11. The end of all things is near. So, 1) be alert so you can pray, 2) love one another, and 3) offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Put simply, Christ is coming; therefore, pray, love, and practice hospitality towards one another. Here i...

Churches coming together at Otago Summit

52 leaders from Caversham Community Church, Cornerstone International Bible Church, Elles Road Bible Chapel, Orwell Street Church, Riverside Chapel, Rosedale Bible Chapel and Anchorage Church came together for the Otago/Southland Summit on Saturday at Riverside Chapel in Henley, outside of Dunedin. A huge thank you to Stafford Ferguson and the other elders from Riverside Chapel for your hosting and hospitality....

A Heart for Prayer

On Wednesday, CCCNZ Prayer Enabler Jackie Millar met with a team of 10 people from Church @ 109, Taupō, to discuss their heart for prayer and weaving prayer throughout church life. ...

CCCNZ Team News

On Wednesday morning, some of our CCCNZ staff team were at Raleigh Street Christian Centre in Cambridge.Dr Murray Harris, retired Kiwi New Testament Professor from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, gave us a beautiful devotion on Paul and his fears from 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, 2 Corinthians 7:5-7, Acts 23:1-11 and 2 Tim. 4:9-18.We were reminded that Paul was one of us, a human, who like us became deeply discouraged and downcast. As much as we were moved by the devotion, we were a...

God comforts the downcast

By Mark Grace, CCCNZ AmbassadorI nga whiunga, i nga hereheretanga, i nga ngangaretanga, i nga mauiuitanga, i nga mataaratanga, i nga nohoanga pukutanga; I runga i te kinokore, i te matauranga, i te manawanui, i te ngakau ngawari, i te Wairua Tapu, i te aroha tinihangakore.Auā e moni lava ‘ina ‘ua matou ō mai i Maketonia, sa leai se mapu i o matou tino; ‘ae sa puapuagātia i matou i mea uma; o tau‘a i fafo a o le fefe i totonu. 6Peita‘i o le Atua, o lē e fa‘amafanafanaina ē ‘ua ...

Church, Camp and Ministry Conversations

It’s encouraging seeing churches and support ministries working together to point people to Jesus.  On Friday seven leaders from three Northland Churches (who are also involved with Coopers Beach Christian Youth Camp) came together to explore further how more Northlanders could hear and experience the gospel....

Youth Groups Getting Together

Feilding Bible Chapel and Kingston Community Church had a combined youth group evening last Friday.Mikaela Hosking, Youth Group Leader at Feilding Bible Chapel writes:"We started off the night getting to know each other with a game of speed friendships, which also showed the surprising difficulty of youth knowing their left from their right!"We had a great time playing a large game of volleyball, followed by worshipping together and hearing a message on the Parable of the Good Sam...

First Training in Canterbury

Three churches combined to run a First Training weekend for 16-18 year old developing leaders.Riccarton Community Church (RCC), Rutland Street Church (RSC) and Halswell Community Church came together for a weekend of discipleship and leadership sessions and discussions. A core part of the weekend was to teach and empower youth to spend time with the Lord one-on-one. Although many of the youth have been in church for years, they had not spent significant time al...