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QSM for Lui and Ane Ponifasio

We give glory to God for LifeChurch Manurewa Senior Pastors Lui Ponifasio and Ane Ponifasio who received QSM today, for services to the Pacific Community. Lui Ponifasio is the Senior Pastor of LifeChurch Manurewa and Avondale, and the Auckland Mission Enabler for CCCNZ. He founded Radio Samoa 1593AM and the Samoa Times newspaper. He is a Police Chaplain for the New Zealand Police and has been a member of the Pacific Police Advisory Board. He is a leader of Christian Community Churches Inter...

NEW: Meet the National Youth Team

By CCCNZ Youth Enabler Murray Brown...

What does it look like to 'make disciples' in the current climate?

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matt 28:19-20  What does ‘make disciples’ look like in Children and Families Ministry in the current climate?  This is a crucial question to ponder as we think about what comes next. We have an unprecedented opportunity to ref...

Training in a COVID-19 world

The Level 4 Lockdown caught many of us in church leadership by surprise. We had to scramble to set up online church, imagine new ways for running home groups and youth groups, and set up new systems to care for our vulnerable.  I have seen churches set up Zoom church, invite their friends to a Facebook Live event, or email out links to YouTube sermons.  It doesn’t matter what platform or App you used – I reckon each one of these is a metaphor for our ministry!  Is your church ...

What comes next depends on whose voice we're listening to

What comes next? Well, that depends on which voice you’re listening to in this season.  Through the storms of change we have all recently experienced, and in the subsequent settling of the dust, we have had to listen to other voices to help get us through.  Voices that educate us in the knowledge of a virus, voices that guide us in ways to stay safe, voices that teach and encourage us to “move church online”, voices on how to work from home, how to guide our children through this...

The core business of youth ministry

The retail operator Blockbuster was once the giant among video stores, dwarfing a mail-order DVD service run by a company called Netflix.  When the market changed one died and the other flourished. Why? Because one saw their core business as providing DVDs while the other saw their core business as entertainment.   Now is a good time to remind ourselves that as youth leaders our core “business” is not to run programmes but to make disciples (Matthew 28:19,20). Programmes contribute...

Called to Contentment

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength."Philippians 4:12-13   The Apostle Paul knows his mission. He knows what he is called for. He knows how to stick to it: to be content and to resource it faithfully.  Like Paul, when we know our mission, what God has called us...

Being church vs. Doing church

"…to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." - Ephesians 4:12-13  The challenges many of us have faced during this time of isolation is how do we DO church.  This has seen us being very creative and dynamic in utilising technology and the resources we have. I commend everyone for DOING...

What comes next is dependent on what comes first

It’s 539 BC. The great Babylonian Empire rules the known world; power unmatched, authority unchecked. Until Cyrus and the Persians crush, confuse, and kill the Babylonians.    The result: A year later in 538 BC Cyrus decrees the people of God can return to their land. Few do, at first (Ezra 8:1). In the weeks ahead we’ll begin leaving our own lockdown ‘exile’... What will we find?   In 538 BC, those who do return find the familiar has become strange, and the new has b...

Prayerfully planning to lead in a post-lockdown world

In Philippians, Paul’s leadership is centred on Christ’s leadership of the Church. Each chapter of the book begins with Paul pointing the Philippians to the Head of the Church, Jesus. Paul continually points the Philippians to Christ out of his dynamic, ongoing experience of the risen Lord, through the gospel from the Scriptures, by the Spirit. A lot of elders and pastors are ministering in this unprecedented moment and asking:'What comes next?' 'What does church look like in Level...

CCCNZ Board: Letter to all New Zealand MPs on the Abortion Legislation Bill

We know many of you have been advocating for our most vulnerable for some time: Caring for mothers and their babies; supporting women who face unwanted pregnancies; fostering children; and many have made submissions against this legislation, or walked in support of the March for Life. Thank you. The following is a letter sent today to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and all MPs urging them to vote against the Abortion Legislation Bill at the final reading tomorrow. Feel free to use this lette...

COVID-19: Leading with the reality of Christ

From CCCNZ Ambassador, Mark Grace There is no sugar coating Philippians chapter 1: Paul is in chains, it is a struggle, and he is suffering. The work of the gospel is being opposed in frightening ways. In the same way, we need to be realistic about recent outbreaks of COVID-19. As public health officials have stated, we need to be alert not alarmed. We need to prepare rather than panic. At this stage, we need to be washing our hands and not touching our faces. However, c...

Preparing for COVID-19

What practical ways can we we as churches, admin teams and church leaders be preparing in light of the recent outbreak of COVID-19?  CCCNZ National Administrator Danielle Diprose has consulted with Dr Richard Hoskins (Medical Officer of Health for the Waikato DHB and a member of Hillcrest Chapel) to prepare a document with crisis management questions for leadership teams based on good governance, and a sample plan for churches to use as they prepare for the possibility of COV...

Pathways School of Worship Leading Registrations for 2020

Enrolment in the first semester of Pathways School of Worship Leading 2020 is closing this week: 7 February. The School of Worship Leading exists to equip and empower worship leaders, supporting our church communities as they worship corporately in a variety of contexts. Rosie Devery is the School of Worship Leading Coordinator, she says it's a privilege to walk alongside students from a variety of churches around New Zealand as they explore biblical worship: "Our culture lends itself ...

Meet Yvonne: new CCCNZ Worship Enabler

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Ways you can be praying for Australia during bushfire season

We got in touch with Chris Thomas, Teaching Pastor at Raymond Terrace Community Church, a CCCAUS church in NSW, Australia. Chris has also been a speaker at our regional conferences over the past two years, here in NZ.  We asked Chris how we can be praying.  "Here are some general ways you can pray:  Pray for rain and favourable weatherPray for safety for those on the frontline fighting firesPray for believers in the affected zones to demonstrate the gospel in the way they ser...

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...