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A family baptism at Crossroads Church (Palmerston North)

Crossroads Church Discipleship Pastor Isaac Pettersen writes:“As we continue to explore 'What is your next step?' in 2024, we've witnessed an incredible surge of faith in action. Over the past three weeks, we've been blessed to celebrate the baptism of eight individuals, including a remarkable family of four who took this transformative step together.”...

CHARGE Holiday Programme

Onslow Community Church held their annual holiday programme on Thursday and Friday last week. The original inspiration for the programme came a few years ago after hearing The Anchor Church share about theirs at the CCCNZ National Summit. Pastor Pete Rhodes-Robinson said they sensed a holiday programme could help them engage with the community by meeting a practical need and at the same time, provide real opportunities to share the gospel and serve alongside each ot...

Manawarū Bible Chapel Kids' Programme

Manawarū Bible Chapel partnered with Word of Life to run a kids' programme from Monday to Wednesday this week. Pastor Justin Thompson says they had the joy of seeing over 60 kids have fun for three days and get to hear the gospel....

The uniqueness and supremacy of Jesus Christ

By Mark van Wijk, CCCNZ PastorLink Enabler'He maha nga wahi, he maha nga huarahi i korero ai te Atua i mua, ara nga poropiti, ki nga matua, I enei ra whakamutunga na tana Tama ana korero ki a tatou, ko tana hoki tera i mea ai mana nga mea katoa, ko tana kaihanga hoki tera o nga ao''E tele auala ‘ese‘ese na fetalai mai ai le Atua i o tatou tamā anamua e ala i perofeta; a ‘ua fetalai mai ‘iā te i tatou i nei aso e gata ai e ala mai i le Alo, o lē ‘ua tofia e ia e fai ma ona tofi mea u...

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...

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....

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.”...

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....

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....

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 ...

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). ...

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....

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....

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. ...

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....

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...

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...