Prayer Requests from New Zealand
The church here is about to hire an equipping minister for the staff team. We’ve had a bit of turnover, too many part time positions and the well from which we can dip for trained gifted ministry personnel is not deep. The phrase I heard this week is, “NZ is on the cutting edge of being unChristian. What a way to be a world leader!” That means there are not many thriving churches, thus not many paid ministry positions, thus some of the good people go overseas or choose other jobs…. thus a shortage for the churches to try to do things well. Phooey.
Pray for wisdom and discernment as a decision is about to be made, and good beginnings as the team integrates.
Pray too for our elders. Where to get biblically grounded elders in a postChristian society!?! Ahhhhhh! |
|
Refugees, Spirituality Week, Bible Study
Ministry with refugee background students is going well. If we can help these young ladies(for now) succeed, they fulfill their ambitions, they maintain dignity and identity, become contributors in their new home culture, enrich society… and don’t become disenfranchised or marginal. It’s strategic and relational.
It’s a long process, but billboards and bullhorns won’t accomplish much.
Spirituality Week on Massey University campus is 2-6 May. Please pray for good weather so we can engage in lots of conversations with loitering students. Pray the art installations come together as talking points.
Bible study has gone very well the past few weeks with real maturity on display and hard and deep things being discussed. One lady and her husband have started attending a Seventh Day Adventist church instead of Shore. Discipleship must be deep and biblical understanding thorough or people can be easily distracted and deceived. Pray that I will be wise in my responses. I cannot put her in a position of choosing differently than her husband. They’ve been married for one year. It is a second marriage for both with a much wounded background. |
|
| April 21st I enjoyed providing transport, equipment and food for a picnic for youth from refugee backgrounds (photo below). They walked up the volcano while I set up lunch. We were Somalian, Burmese, Afghani, Kurdish, Fijian, Kiwi. A Chinese group stopped by to chat and pet Richie. Other curious locals stopped to talk too. |
|
|
|
| April 10th I facilitated leadership training for the Pacific Region Conference of Girls’ Brigade, a Christian version of Girl Scouts. Leaders from Cook Islands, Australia, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvulu and Vanuatu seemed much encouraged. |
|
Our New Outside Chaplaincy Office
This table sits up in the main area of campus where there’s more traffic than down near our office. This table has no doors to knock on or sense of insider-outsider territory. |
|
| The table has a little plaque to designate it as the chaplains’ other office, but of course anyone can use the table. Yeah! We’ve been lobbying the university administration for approval of this for a couple of years now. A local church bought it!
It’s all about creating conversations during which I can talk about Jesus. |
|
| April 13th I spoke to Massey University nursing students on the Christian perspective of death and dying. Secular students struggle to acknowledge that there will be cultural and faith traditions to consider in patient care. Sikh, Baha’i, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and atheist representatives also spoke.
Another prayer request is for my friend Heather Taylor, practically the mother of Shore Community Church, who has had two of her children on staff with SPCF. She bent to pick something off the floor at work in early April, popped something structural that then impinged on the spinal cord… eventually had surgery and now is unable to coordinate her legs for standing or walking. Heather is now in the spinal injury rehab unit. Please pray for her husband Mike as he is looking weary and stressed. He was Chairmen of Elders at Shore and SPCF-NZ’s Chairman for awhile. These are people I spend Christmas with and who have contributed much to church growth in NZ. Again, phooey…but with hope of healing and a full active life.
Blessings and gratitude,
Jill |
|
|
Doing life
in public
creates conversations.
|
|
|
|
