Across New Zealand, local churches are partnering with NZ Rally to reach primary and intermediate-aged children in their churches and communities through biblical resources, support, and connection.
Onslow Community Church (OCC) in Wellington has been running Power Up, a weekly ministry for intermediate-aged kids, for the past 25 years. When OCC reached out to NZ Rally CEO Tony Foster last year, they began to talk about what it might look like to run Power Up as a Rally.
“Our main reason for wanting to join NZ Rally is to connect into something bigger, and to support the work of NZ Rally across CCCNZ churches,” says Pete Rhodes-Robinson, who serves as OCC’s community pastor.
“As a CCCNZ church, we’ve been really encouraged by hearing what other churches in the movement have been doing, and by the opportunities that exist to work together.” In the Rally context, this might look like working together in the future to run camps or develop leaders, says Pete.
“There is value for us in being associated with something bigger—when parents know that your group is part of a network of similar groups around the country, it provides reassurance and accountability.”
A Flexible Model for Local Churches
Pete says Power Up does not look like a traditional Rally, with badges, uniforms, or parade—a military-style drill exercise led by a group leader—and it is not the only Rally doing things differently. These days there is quite a bit of variety in the structure and format across different local churches, says NZ Rally CEO Tony Foster.
“We see a Rally as a ministry of each local church, so it needs to reflect that context and community. The aim of Rally is ‘preparing kids for life—life for Jesus and life for others.’ If local churches are running kids’ ministries that match this aim, then we’re open to joining with them,” says Tony.
“‘Life for Jesus’ is nurturing that understanding of the good news of Jesus, and ‘Life for others’ is about living that out practically. Along with Rally’s biblical curriculum, we support churches as they teach kids essential life skills and how to use those skills in service of others.”
Tony says you’d be surprised by how many kids have never had an opportunity to learn basic tasks—like cooking, sharing, or doing laundry. “Rally is a place where kids have an opportunity to put into practice what they’re learning in a way that blesses others.”
One of the non-negotiables of NZ Rally is time in God’s Word, and the organisation has established a comprehensive biblical curriculum for use within the CCCNZ movement and supports Rallies to give out free Bibles to interested kids and their families.
This emphasis was something that really appealed to Pete and the team at OCC.
“Rally has a really good biblical curriculum that they’ve developed, and we were really interested in getting a bit more structure around that sort of stuff.”
Biblical Resources for a New Season
That strong biblical foundation also appealed to Kieron Wright from Heretaunga Community Church (HCC) in Upper Hutt—another local church that recently connected its programme with NZ Rally.
HCC has been running community ministries reaching children in its community for more than 100 years. The church has been part of the Rally movement before, but in recent years its programme for Year 5–8 boys and girls, called Fusion Ablaze, was run independently.
When a church building project meant their regular venue was out of action, Fusion Ablaze was put on pause. By the time their venue space was available again, Kieron and his wife Catherine had stepped up as key leaders.
The new season also provided an opportunity to reconnect with NZ Rally. “I knew about NZ Rally from my sister Amy, who leads Rally at Manawarū Bible Chapel along with her husband.”
Kieron says that, as a church, HCC had a growing desire to connect the strong youth ministry, which starts at Year 9, with the primary and intermediate-aged ministry. They also wanted to maintain the strong community outreach aspect.
“The hope was to bring kids from the community to church, give them an understanding of what the Bible is about and who God is, and feed into the youth ministry and other ministries of the church.”
Kieron knew that a key part of being able to do this well would be to use excellent resources that would support the team to teach well.
“A priority for me was to have access to solid teaching and resources to guide kids through. Rally provides a platform and biblical resources, and gives them a logical flow. Talking with Tony was helpful in figuring out whether rejoining Rally would be the best fit for the programme.”
After just over a year using the NZ Rally programme, Kieron says the experience has been fantastic.
“We’ve absolutely loved doing it and seeing what God is doing in those kids’ lives—both from the perspective of bringing new kids into the church environment who would not otherwise be there, and from seeing kids from church grow in faith and understanding.”
Kieron says it has been good to see the Lord working in the community as kids hear the gospel and grow in their understanding.
“We started off with a lesson from the curriculum, ‘There’s Only One True God’, which was an intentional choice. Knowing that there are all sorts of ideas out there, we wanted to start by setting the foundation that there is one true God. Then we moved into the Matthew series, and kids are asking lots of questions.”
Kieron recalls one child asking questions about creation after learning different cultural stories at school, including the Māori story of Māui and the North Island.
Understanding that there is one true God who made the heavens and the earth was a new concept for her, says Kieron. “She has been coming ever since and seems to keep growing. It has been a real encouragement to see that.”
Fusion Ablaze meets once a fortnight on a Monday evening and has around 18–30 kids attending regularly. Kieron says that the support of the HCC elders and the whole church is the key thing.
“These sorts of programmes are great to do and start, but there is a blessing in having a church that prioritises this kind of ministry. They were the ones who decided, ‘We need to get this back up and running,’ and then looked for the right people to move it forward. None of this would have happened without that kind of wisdom and guidance. This is something we’re doing together as a church, as one body.”
For churches considering whether an existing ministry could become part of Rally, Tony says the first step is simply to start a conversation.
“We can set up a phone or Zoom call with your elders, or feel free to connect with me at Summit Connect. Then we’d usually come visit and see what a church is doing and talk about what sort of support and input Rally could offer.”
Tony says the key thing to emphasise is that each Rally is a ministry of that local church, and that “Rally is there to fuel and resource that ministry.” For churches like OCC and HCC, that means being part of something bigger while continuing to serve the children and families God has placed in their own communities.
More on NZ Rally: www.nzrally.org.nz
