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Reaching Kids and Families Through Camping

Karakariki Christian Camp (KCC) is a campsite in Whatawhata, Waikato, with a vision to serve their local community, especially helping the underprivileged. CCCNZ Communications Manager Sophia Sinclair caught up with Camp Managers Eli and Noelle Savill to find out more about their school holiday camps and how they are reaching their local community.Describe what happens during the school holidays at KCC.For 10 days we put on three separate holiday programmes. The first is Impact Camp, w...

Australian Bushfires: Good news in the midst of hard times

Over the next few weeks we’ll be connecting with Australians from the CCCAust churches to hear from them how we can be praying and supporting them as they continue to face bushfire conditions and recovery.  Sophia McCrindle lives in Sydney, Australia. She attends West Pennant Hills Community Church and also helps organise the CCCAust(NSW) THRIVE women's conferences.“We really appreciate your prayers for our country. People in bushfire affected areas have been leaving with the anxiety of...

The Importance of Families in our Churches

By NZ Rally Facilitator Tony FosterOne thing I am beginning to see as I travel New Zealand meeting Rallies is the importance of having whānau as part of our churches. When you stop and think about it, there is NO congregation that exists without a member of a family. Families are part of life—even with DNA you are linked to your family line.We see in the Bible how important family lines are. In Matthew we see Jesus’ family line linked right back to Abraham. Being part of a fa...

Leading a Generational Change: The Continuing Legacy of the Riverside Club

The Riverside Club is an outreach of Tāmaki Community Church (TCC) in Auckland. It started in 1991 after Russell and Dorothy Burt and Geoff and Joy Liddle had shifted into the largest Decile 1A, Māori and Pasifika state housing community in Aotearoa.The two couples lived next door to each other on Riverside Ave and responded to a cry from the community at a public meeting held in the Glen Innes Pub in July 1991: “We heard that the reason for all the junior gangs and trouble ...

Making the Most of a Community Connection

What does good ‘follow on’ look like in Children and Families Ministry? How can churches make the most of opportunities to reach families in their communities when kids come along to programs? These are some of the questions Benji Carey and the team at Onekawa Bible Church have been wrestling with after growing numbers of children from their community are attending their holiday programs. “We started running holiday programs in 2016 and we’ve seen them grow over time. At our la...

The Church that Prays Together...

At Birkenhead Community Church in Auckland, Emily Tyler has just started a new way of connecting generations in prayer ministry for each other. ‘Prayer Guardians’ involves matching up people with the names and ages of children to pray specifically for them on a weekly basis. “It’s new for us, and we’re right at the beginning of it. So far, we’ve got people specifically praying by name for younger people—all the way from kids in creche to teenagers. When they put their...

Church is People, Not Programs

Angie and Dave Wiggins have been serving as Children and Families Pastors at Massey Community Church (MCC) in Auckland for the past year. Their heart is to develop a culture of seeing church as a family, says Angie: “Research talks about how a child’s faith is engaged on all levels with an intergenerational faith community that impacts faith going on to adulthood—serving alongside, talking with, and worshipping together as multiple generations strengthens the body as a whole.” Cultur...

Let the Children Come

There are one million children in New Zealand. Nine out of ten of them have no connection with the church and most have no idea why we celebrate Easter and Christmas. We are two or three generations removed from an understanding of the biblical narrative, where many people no longer know the story of Jesus. We can no longer assume that children in our communities have any knowledge of the Bible, and we can’t assume their parents will tell them. Even when families are connected with a church co...

Something Better from the Bitterness

The Book of Ruth is set in a bleak period after Israel enters the promised land, and before the time of kings. Ruth’s story takes place in the time of the judges and comes just as the Book of Judges ends with a night-long gang rape of one woman and the communal abduction and rape of six hundred women. It’s a time of anarchy and it’s profoundly difficult for women. And yet, Ruth details a redemptive story entirely from the perspective of women. The story begins in Moab at the scene of Naomi...

Congratulations Lui and Ane!

Lui and Ane Ponifasio are pastors of LifeChurch Manurewa, and Lui serves as the APA-CCCNZ Auckland Mission Enabler. Both Ane and Lui were awarded the Queen’s Service Medal for their services to the Pacific community in the 2020 New Year’s Honours.  Lui and Ane established Radio Samoa 1593AM, which is a Samoan language station that also airs Tongan language programmes on the weekends. In addition, they founded the Samoa Times newspaper that circulates not just in New Zealand but also in ...

The Greatest Saviour!

Every year we ask churches how they’re reaching out to their community with the good news about Jesus. It’s always encouraging to see and hear what different churches in all parts of Aotearoa, New Zealand, are up to.  “Christmas provides great opportunities to connect with people,” says Pete Rhodes-Robinson from Onslow Community Church, “…and it is a one of the key cogs in our strategy to engage with our local community.” Every year they put Christmas lights up on the chu...

Jesus Immanuel

This Christmas I am moved to tears by the depths of the grace of God shown to me in Jesus Christ. When I reflect on Jesus’ whakapapa, when I reflect on the spread of the gospel over these islands over the past 200 years, when I dwell on the reality that—under God’s good hand—all of this is part of the fabric of my coming to faith in Christ, I am blown away. As I’ve meditated on Matthew chapters 1 and 2 in the lead up to Christmas, God’s Grace to us ...

Sharing the story of Jesus this Christmas

Every year we ask churches: How are you reaching out to your community with the good news about Jesus this Christmas? Each year it’s a great opportunity to get some great ideas and be encouraged about how people are seeking creative ways to share the gospel with their community.  Steve Shirley, Equipping Pastor at Heretaunga Christian Centre in Upper Hutt, shares how their church is reaching out to the wider community this year:  “We’ve got a three-fold approach this year, beginn...

Sharing a Vision

Prayerfully considering an overall church vision, and how all the ministry areas of the church are working together towards a common goal, can be an incredibly helpful tool in uniting an intergenerational church to reach their community. Mark Herring is the Under-20s Pastor at Rosedale Bible Chapel in Invercargill, and for the past year he and the other elders have been seeking God’s direction for their church: “Our aim is to prayerfully consider who we are reaching and why, we fee...

Celebrating 25 Years in Christian Camping!

This year Paul and Jocelyn Shutte celebrate 25 years managing Teapot Valley Christian Camp just south of Nelson.  Current and past staff, board members, trustees, family, friends and the wider Christian Camping family joined together at a surprise celebration dinner on 3 November to congratulate Paul and Jocelyn for their commitment, perseverance, and Christian service to the Christian Camping ministry at Teapot Valley. Paul and Jocelyn were presented with a ‘memories book’ of contribut...

Auckland Prayer Gathering

What a joy to pray with over 70 people representing 18 churches around Auckland on Sunday night! Such a privilege to hear people pray in different languages, an expression of Auckland's diversity and vibrant multi-cultural community. Thanks to LifeChurch Manuwera for hosting, photo cred: Deitrah Chang....

A new facility to train and equip young leaders

Woodend Christian Camp in Canterbury celebrated the official opening of their new training facility on Saturday 2 November.  The new building sleeps 26 and includes a lounge and dining area, kitchen and full disability access. The vision is for this facility to provide a place for leadership training, says Woodend Christian Camp board member Peter van’t Wout: “This is the fruition of a vision we’ve had for a long time, a place to train people up and equip young people for the Lord’s...

Church Planting Conversations

From CCCNZ Ambassador, Mark Grace It was great to have church planting team members from Putaruru Gospel Chapel, The Orchard Te Puke, Clark Road Chapel (Whangarei) and the Tutukaka Coast, Redeemer Church Tauranga, Manurewa, and Raleigh Street Christian Centre (Cambridge) join us at various points in the day for conversation, prayer and planning in Tauranga yesterday. ...

Our God who sees

By CCCNZ Prayer Enabler Jackie MillarEverywhere I turn lately, it seems as if the Lord is showing me aspects of his praying Church and it has encouraged me immensely. It seems he is stirring many others as well, not just in CCCNZ circles, but in the church across New Zealand, Australia and beyond. There is a renewed call to pray, a stirring within the hearts of the Church to turn to him and seek him with repentant and humble hearts.   In New Zealand, I am hearing about more a...

Five reasons pastors and church leaders should consider coaching

Coaching is not a term we often hear in church circles. We’re familiar with ‘mentoring’ and ‘discipleship’ – but ‘coaching’ is largely a foreign concept for New Zealand church leaders. We think of sports-teams being coached, business owners being coached, actors being coached – but we never think of pastors being coached. However, over the past few years, we’ve discovered the impact coaching can have on pastors, elders and church leaders – which is why CCCNZ has quietly tra...

Seeing God's provision in church administration

Danielle Diprose, CCCNZ National AdministratorIt was a real honour to be able to sit down recently with a number of people who faithfully serve their local churches in the area of finances and to hear the joys and challenges of this area of church administration. To see how God has shown up time and time again in providing the resources for his people in his church was by far the highlight of the sessions. God doesn’t need our resources – but he does desire our obedience. As we discussed and...

Lakeland Park celebrates 60 years

Remembering God’s faithfulness was the highlight of the Lakeland Park Christian Camp 60th celebration held over October 5-6.  The event was held to commemorate 60 years since the first trust was formed and the first Rally camps were held at the campsite in Kelvin Heights, Queenstown—in what would now be considered quite primitive conditions.  The celebration included a function and meal on the Saturday night and a celebration church service on Sunday morning, followed by a...

Somebody's Watching

Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress. Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you. (1 Timothy 4:15b-16) Being in leadership can sometimes be described as being "under a magnifying glass and inside a goldfish bowl."  It can feel like a goldfish bowl because everyone can see your life. There is no hiding. When we fail, people notice. When ou...

Youth pastors: Things you can do to make the most of term four

By CCCNZ Youth Enabler Murray BrownI've always enjoyed the fourth term. Sure, there is still the tiredness one feels from a busy year and programming can be a little disjointed as exam pressure hits and young people's attendance decreases while stress levels increase, yet for me, it was frequently the least stressful term of the year with no camps or major projects.That doesn't mean however that it's not an important term. There are plenty of things to reflect on and do. Here are three suggestio...

Healing From Trauma

Sue Taylor has been working in the counselling space since 1994, specialising in trauma recovery as an ACC Sensitive Claims Registered therapist and as a trainer with CPS training (now Child Matters). From 2005-2018 Sue worked in Cambodia (12 years) and in Kolkata, India (1 year) with survivors of serious human rights abuses such as human trafficking and sexual assault. Since 2010 Sue has been involved in writing curriculums and delivering training in the field of Trauma Informed Care. She has p...