Shortly after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, in recognition of the contribution of churches in providing hope and comfort as well as material assistance, NZ Christian Network’s board inaugurated a new award, known as the New Zealand Christian Network Unsung Heroes Awards.
The purpose of these awards is to honour the good work of individuals and groups which has gone largely unrecognised, to encourage others, and to give glory to God who inspired and empowered them.
In an age which has forgotten or never knew the significance of Christianity in our history, and which increasingly does not appreciate the importance of God in our country today, we are grateful for the privilege of being able to hold this event at Parliament and celebrate what God is doing in and through the lives of people. We are thankful also this year to Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga who hosted the event.
The awards are presented in categories related to New Zealand Christian Network’s key projects – Secularism, Marriage & Family, Value of Life, and Missional Living. This year we were pleased to also make two special awards for Christian Publishing and Unity & Mission.
Special Categories for 2016
Christian Publishing
Our first award tonight is to a woman who received an MA Honours degree in German language and literature from Victoria University.
After spending 16 years in America with her husband Russell, she returned to New Zealand in 1986 and worked various jobs including three semesters teaching business communication at AUT.
In 1993 she was appointed editor of the New Zealand Baptist newspaper. She graduated from Carey Baptist College with a Bachelor of Theology in 1998.
She joined ARPA – the Australasian Religious Press Association, a network of editors of Christian publications, and in 2006 became ARPA’s New Zealand coordinator and vice-president.
In 2012 ARPA presented her with the prestigious Gutenberg Award for services to journalism.
She has served on the board of New Zealand Christian Network. From 2009 to 2014 she served as President of the Baptist Women’s Union of the South West Pacific. She is still involved with New Zealand Baptist Women’s Board.
In 2001 and for nine years she was the founding editor of DayStar newspaper which eventually became a monthly magazine.
She is a co-director of DayStar Books, an independent publishing company.
In recent years she has run workshops in India to encourage Christian writers. She currently writes a regular column for Press Service International, a Christian Media resource based in Australia.
Today freelance writing and editing occupy much of her time, along with leading conversation classes at her church for new immigrants. She and husband Russell live Auckland and they have two adult children and five grandchildren.
Please welcome the recipient of our first award tonight – Christian Publishing – Julie Belding.
Julie Belding
Unity and Mission
Our second award is for a man who was born in Australia and moved to New Zealand in 1972. Since then he has worked tirelessly to foster unity and collaboration in the church in line with the prayer of Jesus.
An accountant by trade, he has worked in a number of companies. He has served in various administration and pastoral roles within the New Life Churches in New Zealand at both the local Church and National level.
He served in leadership of the Association of Pentecostal Churches NZ and was a founding executive member of NZ Christian Network from 2002 to 2008.
He is currently the Executive Director of Life Resources and is responsible for developing the vision, leadership and networking of Life Resources. The vision of Life Resources is to evaluate, source and provide realistically priced resources for media, marriage, leadership, church health and growth and charitable support. They also provide administrative and accounting support for a number of trusts and ministries including CEC (Bible and Chaplaincy in Schools) and One to One Trust.
He is married to Sandra and they have three adult married daughters and 7 grandchildren.
Receiving this Unity and Mission award please welcome Max Palmer.
Max Palmer
Key Focus Categories for 2016
Secularism
The Secularism award this year goes to a man who has been the CEO and Managing Trustee of the Christian Broadcasting Association since it was re-founded in 1995.
For 21 years, he has developed radio programmes that have been broadcast on New Zealand’s top-rating commercial networks, and won awards nationally and internationally.
He says, that “86 percent of this audience don’t regard religion or spirituality as important in their lives which is exactly why we’re there.”
The Easter programme on Newstalk ZB averages 300,000 listeners.
The “Real Life” programme which plays every Sunday night on Newstalk ZB and Radiosport is the most-listened to show in that timeslot across all NZ radio stations.
Past guests have included the late Sir Paul Holmes, Dave Dobbyn and Sir Graeme Henry who all shared about their life, passions, faith, spirituality, and “God-stuff”.
The list of his accomplishments is exhausting:
He founded ‘Media Prayer Day’ which has involved more than 1,000 churches in a nationwide day of Prayer for those working in NZ’s media.
He developed the ‘LoveIt’ media brand, New Zealand’s ‘go to’ provider of independent seasonal radio programming.
He established ‘Salt’ – a network of 200+ Christians working within mainstream media
He established a scholarship programme, attracting 30 excellent applicants annually.
And he conceived and co-founded ‘NewsLeads’ – a chaplaincy and consultancy service to New Zealand’s news media.
He is married to Annelies and they have two boys aged 13 and 9, and sadly he is overseas and unable to be with us tonight.
So to receive this award on his behalf, please welcome Phil Guyan’s Mum.
Phil Guyan
Marriage and Family
The Marriage and Family award goes to a Bible scholar and gifted teacher with a special pastor’s heart to see marriages and families be all that God wants them to be.
He pastored a Baptist church in England before PhD studies led to teaching as a missionary in Congo. He and his wife Barbara and their four children were evacuated from Kinshasa by French paratroopers, and spent a few days classed as refugees in South Africa.
From 1993-2012 he taught at Carey Baptist College and the University of Auckland where he received a Distinguished Teaching Award. He has experience teaching the Bible in four continents for three decades.
He prepared the first online hypertext Bible commentary and posts short teaching podcasts at 5-minute Bible.
He is a key member of the Network’s Marriage and Families focus group. He has spoken at our leadership forums along with his wife Barbara who is a highly qualified counsellor, and contributed a number of articles to the Network which continue to be the most accessed articles on our website.
He runs the website and Facebook page for Marriage Week which is held annually from 8 to 14 February. He is also working with NZCN to develop a video course on “Reading the Bible Faithfully”.
Please welcome Dr Tim Bulkeley.
Dr Tim Bulkeley
Value of Life
The Value of Life category award this year goes to a person whose commitment and work for social justice in New Zealand is hard to overstate.
In the 1970s, he started the Inter-Church Trade and Industry Mission providing chaplaincy services to industry and government departments.
He was part of developing the Salvation Army’s national network of Community Work Schemes, and supporting community services to the unemployed.
In the ‘80s, he founded the Community Service Operation of the Salvation Army in South Auckland, and in the 1990s managed the total re-organisation of the Salvation Army Social and Community Services throughout New Zealand.
He was the founder and Director of the Salvation Army’s Social Policy Research and Parliamentary Affairs Unit, and Director of the Salvation Army’s $100m social services in New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga.
The SPPU produces annual State of the Nation reports monitoring progress on key social indicators which are thoroughly researched, widely read, and acknowledged by government decision makers.
He has been an entrepreneur in developing the Salvation Army’s welfare and social policy initiatives in New Zealand, as well as being a leader in wider church and community initiatives on poverty and housing issues, and on prison reform.
In recent years, he helped establish the New Zealand Housing Foundation which is supporting innovative models of providing housing solutions for low-income people.
He co-founded the Rethinking Crime and Punishment Campaign which is working to create a wider change in public attitudes on the prison system.
He has been President of the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services, and today leads its Poverty and Housing Task Force, attending regular meetings with Members of Parliament.
There is so much more we could say. But please join with us in welcoming Major Campbell Roberts.
Major Campbell Roberts
Missional Living
Our final award this evening is for the Missional Living category, previously known as All of Life Faith.
A spiritual awakening led the person receiving this award to help create an organisation to enable those living with disabilities to realise their full potential.
In 1976, around 20 people attended the first official meeting for “Christians with Disabilities” in her family home in Auckland.
Margie Willers, a young woman with Cerebral Palsy, shared a vision that God had given her. Within two years, the numbers had grown to over 80 (20 of those being in wheelchairs).
The ministry grew quickly and people’s homes could not contain the numbers attending. In 1989 they rented a building as a drop in centre and place of work. Within five years, God opened the doors for them to purchase their own premises.
In 1981, the International Year of Disabled people, she and Margie were invited to speak all over Auckland and beyond and soon the word had spread around the country.
Now known as The Elevate Christian Disability Trust, there are 13 branches across New Zealand, and one in the Philippines, staffed primarily with volunteers, many of whom live with disabilities themselves.
They are involved at international disability conferences, running camps for more than 400 disabled people and publishing a free quarterly magazine.
Along with her husband Hugh, the Trust’s co-founder, treasurer and editor of its magazine The Encourager, she has lived her faith 24-7 since day one, helping people help themselves and others, and be all that God intends them to be.
She is a founding member of the NZ Christian Network and remains a member of our Advisory Group.
If you haven’t heard of John Gottman then I highly recommend that you check him out. He heads up the Gottman Institute which teaches marital and relationship stability. His findings after 40 years of studying thousands of couples have revolutionised the study of marriage.
If you’ve attended our Weekend To Remember you’ll know we talk about 5 myths of marriage. Dr Gottman has come up with 12 Myths of his own. If you’d like to read all 12 then go to his website here. For a teaser I’ve selected 5 and added my two cents worth in colour.
1. Marriage is just a piece of paper.
The psychological and physical benefits of actually being married are enormous. After 50 years of social epidemiology, it has been established that in developed countries the greatest source of health, wealth, longevity, and the ultimate welfare of children is a satisfying and healthy marriage. God’s original design for us to enjoy a lifetime of companionship stands up under scrutiny and testing. No surprise there. Marriage is good for us.
2. Conflict is a sign that you’re in a bad relationship.
Conflict is inevitable in all relationships. Furthermore, conflict is there for a reason – to improve our understanding of our partner. Conflict usually arises from missed attempts to communicate, especially in one person attempting to get emotionally closer to the other. Conflict also emerges from discrepancies between partners in expectations. These are worth talking about. Ever thought conflict meant you had a bad marriage? Even the best of marriages have periods of hurt, disappointment and isolation. Conflict is normal, and if handled well may bring you closer together.
3. Love is enough.
Love is not enough, because in most marriages – especially after a baby arrives – people stop courting one another and they stop making romance, great sex, fun, and adventure a priority. Relationships have a tendency to become endless to-do lists, and conversation becomes limited to errand talk. You need to intentionally make (or keep) these parts of a relationship a priority. Stuck in a rut of to-do lists and emails? We have great resources to help you redefine your priorities.
4. All relationship conflicts can be resolved.
Quite the opposite. In fact, 69% of relationship conflicts are perpetual (they keep recurring), so what is required is acceptance of one another’s personality differences. Dialogue about these perpetual issues to avoid gridlock and resentment. The goal then is to manage conflict, not resolve it. Generally these on-going differences exist in a deep value or belief, even a dream that the other person has. It’s unlikely that conflict will resolve it. What we must try to do for each other is seek to uncover the real deep-seated cause. It may be as a result of an experience in their past. It may be necessary to let it be.
5. It’s compatibility that makes relationships work.
It’s diversity that makes relationships interesting. We are not looking for our clones. Agreeability and conscientiousness are the characteristics that people really mean when they talk about “compatibility.” These qualities are indexed by a person being able to say things like “Good point,” or “That’s interesting, tell me more” or, “You may be right, and I may be wrong” during a disagreement.” Did you read my last Notes from Nikki? I talked about this very point. Click here. I like that saying, Compatibility is very nice but not really necessary. Commitment is not very nice but absolutely necessary.
Some thoughts are so profound, yet so simple, you wonder how you never connected the dots that way before.
I’ve mentioned previously a lunch we organised with some Wellington pastors and Dr Chris Marshall, from Victoria University, to talk about 3-strikes legislation when it was being considered by parliament. (Dr Marshall is an internationally acclaimed author of several books including Compassionate Justice and Beyond Retribution).
In the middle of the conversation Chris said something along the lines of…
if God is love, and the Bible tells us that love casts out fear, then a society that moves away from God is moving away from love, and moving towards fear. It should be no surprise therefore if such a society became more punitive in its attitude to things like criminal justice and punishment.
Now Dr Marshall is in no way responsible for where this thought has taken me over the years. But it has stuck with me. And it seems to me that this logic can be applied to any attribute of God.
If God is just, doesn’t it mean that a society that moves away from God becomes more unjust? – (is that why we see a widening gap between rich and poor?).
If God is faithful, might it mean that a society that increasingly is less focused on, and devoted to, God, becomes also becomes less faithful? – (might that be why there’s such a high level of marriage and family break-ups?).
Roll forward 6 years.
A few weeks back Andrea Vance, a Wellington based journalist, wrote an interesting piece asking “Are we living in a post-truth era?” Vance was commenting on statements made the day after Brexit by pro-Brexit supporters saying basically that things they’d promised during the campaign could not actually be done. She also mentioned recent examples from New Zealand politics.
National Radio’s Media Watch on the following Sunday morning (10 July), made a major feature of this question.
If God is truth, doesn’t it follow logically that if society moves away from God, it is inevitable that it will move towards a post-truth era?
Shown right: US comedian Stephen Colbert coined the term “truthiness” back in 2005 to describe strident political assertions based on tiny traces of facts. More than a decade later, commentators still use it to call out claims made in the news that don’t stand serious scrutiny. But the questions is: when it comes to contested claims, do people ever end up knowing the truth – or is ‘truthiness’ what sticks in the mind? – “Is a ‘post-truth’ era upon us?” RNZ
There is much debate and confusion about euthanasia. Examples of actions which are not euthanasia are often used to argue for law change which is euthanasia. This would be bad law. This short |Note aims to clarify some of the terms and issues in the hope that we can prevent this from happening.
What is euthanasia? An act which of itself and by intention causes the death of another person in order to eliminate their suffering.
What is assisted suicide? This happens when a person commits suicide with assistance from others, often by self-administering a lethal substance that has been obtained with the cooperation of a third party.
Withholding or withdrawing treatment is not euthanasia When a treatment is judged to be medically futile, or when it is judged that the benefits of a particular treatment are outweighed by the burdens for a particular person, it is a question of accepting the inevitability of death and allowing the person to return to their dying.
The New Zealand Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights allows for any person to refuse services and to withdraw consent to services.
People have a right to be free of pain When a health professional administers medication with the sole intention of relieving a patient’s physical pain, that action is morally acceptable even if it foreseeably shortens the patient’s life. This is not an act of (slow) euthanasia as some claim.
Ethical and Theological Considerations
Supporters of euthanasia believe that decisions about end-of-life are essentially a matter of personal choice. Legalising such acts, it is argued, would simply provide those who wanted it with the choice about when and how to die and would not affect those who chose otherwise. This line of argument appeals to many but it fails to take into account the unintended consequences of a law change.
Acts of euthanasia and assisted suicide always involve others and affect others. They are never purely private matters. In addition, they have societal consequences; legalising euthanasia and assisted suicide will erode the general prohibition against killing in our society in a way that will over time lessen the respect for human life.
“Expanding one freedom often limits another. It does more than simply provide options … Expanding personal freedom to include assisted suicide undermines another right – to remain alive without having to justify one’s existence.”
– Mark Blocher, Author of ‘The Right to Die?’
In addition, the so-called ‘right to die’ could very quickly become a ‘duty to die’. People who feel neglected, undervalued and invisible will understandably see themselves as a burden and will want to do the ‘right thing’, especially with growing pressures on families involved in care as well as growing pressures on health care and aged care funding. Looked at like this, it is apparent that legalising euthanasia or assisted suicide will ultimately undermine real choices at the end of life.
“If euthanasia is legalised, premature death becomes a significant risk in a society which is already ambivalent about people who are perceived as having little or nothing to contribute while ‘swallowing up’ large amounts of health resources.”
– John Kleinsman
Overseas practices show that, once legalised, assisted suicide and euthanasia are inevitably made available to those who are suffering mental anguish, including persons with mental illness, even when they have not asked for it.
“Legalising euthanasia will create new pathways of abuse for the elderly and disabled.”
– John Kleinsman
People who oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide and those who support it both want to prevent intolerable suffering. Research shows that persistent requests for physician assisted suicide or euthanasia mostly arise from deep fears and concerns about not wanting to be a burden or from a sense of isolation rather than from a fear of pain.
Pope Francis has recently compared abandoning the elderly and disabled as being like a form of euthanasia. The call to discipleship demands of Christians an active commitment to holistic care for those who are suffering, elderly or disabled. Palliative care focuses on the needs of the whole person; physical, emotional, cultural, social and spiritual needs. True ‘death with dignity’ occurs when these needs are met and the person is loved and cared for and feels included.
“Once you open the door to assisted suicide and euthanasia it always becomes wider and wider and wider, and before you know it what starts as an option for a few becomes what’s expected for the many.”
– Alex Schadenberg, director of Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Resources
Book:
Death Talk: The Case against Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide by Margaret Somerville
In addition to bioethics, John has experience in the areas of disability support as well as the drug and alcohol rehabilitation sectors. He was previously a member of the Central Region Health Research Ethics committee and serves on a number of other ethics committees and advisory committees.
We’ve probably all experienced a “cringe moment”, when someone identified as a Christian says something – might be at work, or at a party with friends, or it might be in the national media – that is completely outrageous, or just plain dumb.
Timothy Goropevsek is a communication specialist. He is the Communications Director for the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), the global body represented here by NZ Christian Network.
He is the person responsible for crafting our global media statements on everything from natural disasters, wars, and religious persecution, through to Terry Jones threatening to burn copies of the Qur’an.
At the start of this year, Timothy gave a talk at the WEA International Leadership Forum which was very well received. His message included a lot of ideas that are important for any Christian to know when they talk about public or social issues.
As a new convert of the mid ‘70’s, I was part of a worldwide movement that embraced a Jesus who was prepared to stand out from his culture and society, speaking and acting for the lost and poor. We embraced a holistic gospel that was passionate to see people come to know this Christ and experience His forgiveness and transformation, while at the same time having a concern for physical and social needs, both personal and societal.
Many went out into their neighborhoods and further into the world with the intention of caring for the poor and vulnerable and speaking a gospel of reconciliation with God through Christ. Our expectations were high. For myself I ended up living in a slum community in Manila for 9 years with my husband and children as part of Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor. Our beliefs took a battering and many of our expectations were unmet. Back in the west, many churches were also busy in their communities, setting up trusts and projects that expected to see the poor aided and the lost saved. Many did come into the church as a result of these endeavors, but over time, the trend was to see the projects become more effective and professional in terms of meeting social and physical need, and less effective around the proclamation of a gospel of salvation through Christ. For some it even became offensive to ‘peddle the gospel’, feeling that the message communicated was one of exclusion and non-acceptance and the idea of sin was to crush the vulnerable with a greater burden of guilt and shame.
You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain.
~John 15:16
The gospels clearly indicate that the people of God can expect to be fruitful. Some have limited this to the character fruits of the Spirit, but when Jesus tells Peter that ‘from now on you will be catching men’ and the command to go make disciples, clearly there is an expectation that this fruitfulness will also be found in what happens in the lives of others.
Types of Fruitfullness
Physical – meeting of physical human need such as food, clothing and shelter and adequate financial resources.
Social – Creating places and opportunities for belonging and connectedness to others. Creating community cohesion. This may also involve learning and employment programmes that enable people to more fully participate in society, builds self esteem and independence.
Emotional – Personal emotional development and learning that creates greater internal and external harmony for the individual. Inner healing that leads to changed behavior etc.
Spiritual – the development of a relationship with the unseen world, which for us as Christians is about development of the relationship with the Creator God through coming to know and submit our lives to the Christ who is King. This brings us into the journey of transformation by the Holy Spirit from within and into fellowship with His church.
The parable of the Seeds (or the ground) tells us that not all our efforts will achieve successful outcomes. To a significant extent, fruitfulness or positive outcomes are the responsibility of the one who receives or is given the opportunity for ‘new life’.
While we are not responsible for the outcomes of what we do in good faith, a reflection on those outcomes gives us food for learning and potential information that aids in the development of what we do to be more effective for the sake of others.
There is a current reality that different places, churches and activities are seeing different types of outcomes. For a long time we have wrestled with the desire of the community of faith to see ‘converts’. To see some come into relationship with God through Christ, such that they experience forgiveness, transformation and join the fellowship of believers.
Over the years many ministries that began with the hope that this would be one of the outcomes have become disenchanted, as they have not seen this happen. There was, as part of this, often a belief that Christians and non-Christians having time together would lead to some kind of awakening in the non-Christian who start seeking. This seldom happens. Across the Baptist movement there was then a readjustment of expectations along with some new thinking about the Kingdom of God and Shalom. This brought the idea that where we were able to facilitate personal development, relationship and belonging for the lonely, and community cohesion, we were achieving what God intended. While still encouraging personal faith it ceased to be an expectation that many would come into a strong and vibrant personal faith.
At this point in time, many churches are seeing the lowest growth and numbers of baptisms that they have experienced since they began counting. At the same time, this is not a universal experience. There are a group of churches who are actively involved in their communities and also report seeing people come into new relationship with Christ alongside seeing the other aspects of fruitfulness… social, emotional and physical.
To the casual observer such as myself, it seems that these particular churches are not running programmes or activities that differ greatly from what others are doing, but they have practices that surround those activities and ways of thinking and acting that make a difference. I emphasise that this is based on my own observations of a variety of churches across denominations, and has no research or solid data to back it up!
What I have observed is that the characteristics of church activities seeing people come to Christ are as follows:
A clear focus on evangelism with practices of sharing faith in both informal and formal (running groups like Alpha) ways. People involved in community ministries can share experiences of sharing their faith with others and have no fear of doing so. There was a lack of fear about causing offence or of minimising evangelism for fear of affecting possible funding streams.
Evangelism and community impact are not prioritised one over the other, but are both seen to be important kingdom activities.
Team – community ministries across the church saw themselves as a whole team and within each ministry had strong practices of support, prayer, planning and sharing together. This ‘teamness’ may involve a group across more than one church.
Theology of Holy Spirit transformation – leaders and volunteers saw themselves as on a journey of being transformed and were constant learners, while also having an expectation of the Holy Spirit at work in others and their communities. This gave them current stories of God’s power at work in their lives, having a fresh and open faith journey and gave an attitude of identification with those in the community.
Submission to church leadership – Community ministry leaders worked closely alongside church leadership and saw themselves as submitted to the leaderships input and direction. Where a trust was operating, which has its own structure, this was not a strongly visible line separating that operation from church leadership. The manager of a trust was often on the church leadership team.
Constant evaluation and preparedness to change in response to the community and God’s leading. Also in this a creativity where individuals were free to respond in some unique way as part of the mix, but also came under the CM leadership direction.
Volunteerism was strong across the generations.
Prayerfulness – all effective ministries were soaked in prayer of all kinds. The teams prayed regularly, had prayer needs on the walls, had intercession times, provided prayer opportunities for attendees within the ministries themselves and were supported by prayer in church prayer times.
Healthy structure – clear governance, management and structures ( processes and policies) that hold good process and minimise conflict. Allows for the focus to stay on ministry with efficient decisionmaking.
Common issues that may hinder this outcome:
Community facing ministries are not part of an overall plan for reaching our community. They are disconnected from one another.
Most ministries are heavily focussed on mothers and children.
There are no transition or linking activities for seekers such as Alpha or Support groups which are Biblically based
Often you see groups and programmes that have the focus of providing something FOR others. This is an approach being questioned by many as it is not effective for community impact or creating opportunity for the participants to contribute to meeting their own needs.
