MEDIA RELEASE NZ Christian Network is pleased to announce the launch of the NZ Marriage Week website.
In announcing the launch, NZCN National Director Glyn Carpenter said “It’s good that New Zealand can now join with other countries around the world where groups are working to strengthen marriages and the culture of marriage.
“Marriage Week is a joint initiative of Marriage Week International and the World Evangelical Alliance, of which NZ Christian Network is the New Zealand member.
“The purpose of this website is to feature articles and resources about strengthening marriage, and events related to Marriage Week which occurs each year from 7-14 February.
“It is not a website for debating contentious issues relating to marriage. The website is based on the concept of marriage as being between one man and one woman for life.
“Many people these days are simply not aware that when it comes to intimate relationships, marriage offers by far the best chances of a good and successful outcome.
“This website is intended to help get that message out”.
People with relevant information to share are invited to comment on this site or send in articles to be posted.
If you would like to register as a contributor to the site please make contact with the NZ Christian Network office.
I was looking for some inspiration to share on being a witness in the workplace the other day and stumbled upon this list. It was compiled a couple years ago by Josh Reeves, who is the Lead Planting Pastor with Redeemer Church in Round Rock, Texas.
Josh offers some great ideas to bring Jesus into the workplace. His list doesn’t include the stereo-typical leaving a Bible sitting on your desk or a Christian screensaver on your Mac or PC. It doesn’t even include wearing a cool t-shirt on casual Fridays, WWJD bracelets, crosses, jewellery or bumper stickers.
Instead, Josh lists very simple actions. Intentional, kind moments that are breaths of fresh air. Gentle glimpses of life as it was meant to be, even on the job.
It might seem strange that I would think of such things given I am no-longer in secular employment. But the heart behind this advice rings true no matter who you work alongside. Wouldn’t we all prefer to work in an uplifting environment?
Actually… I mostly work from home and I don’t see many people during my day. But I can still make deliberate choices to be salt and light in my encounters with other people and support my husband in being missional at his work.
As you read this list, I challenge you to ponder Josh’s ideas and see if they spark other possibilities. Let the Holy Spirit help you stir up pleasant, Jesus-like experiences for your co-workers and, if you’re in a similar situation to mine, help you support someone else put this into practice.
Instead of eating lunch alone, intentionally eat with other co-workers and learn their story.
Get to work early so you can spend some time praying for your co-workers and the day ahead.
Make it a daily priority to speak or write encouragement when someone does good work.
Bring extra snacks when you make your lunch to give away to others.
Bring breakfast (donuts, burritos, cereal, etc.) once a month for everyone in your department.
Organize a running/walking group in the before or after work.
Have your missional community/small group bring lunch to your workplace once a month.
Create a regular time to invite co-workers over or out for drinks.
Make a list of your co-workers birthdays and find a way to bless everyone on their birthday.
Organize and throw office parties as appropriate to your job.
Make every effort to avoid gossip in the office. Be a voice of thanksgiving not complaining.
Find others that live near you and create a car pool.
Offer to throw a shower for a co-worker who is having a baby.
Offer to cover for a co-worker who needs off for something.
Start a regular lunch out with co-workers (don’t be selective on the invites).
Organize a weekly/monthly pot luck to make lunch a bit more exciting.
Ask someone who others typically ignore if you can grab them a soda/coffee while you’re out.
Be the first person to greet and welcome new people.
Make every effort to know the names of co-workers and clients along with their families.
Visit co-workers when they are in the hospital.
Bring sodas or work appropriate drinks to keep in your break room for co-workers to enjoy. Know what your co-workers like.
Go out of your way to talk to your janitors and cleaning people who most people overlook.
Find out your co-workers favourite music and make a playlist that includes as much as you can (if suitable for work).
Invite your co-workers in to the service projects you are already involved in.
Start/join a city league team with your co-workers.
Organize a weekly co-working group for local entrepreneurs at a local coffee shop.
Start a small business that will bless your community and create space for mission.
Work hard to reconcile co-workers who are fighting with one another.
Keep small candy, gum, or little snacks around to offer to others during a long day.
Lead the charge in organizing others to help co-workers in need.
Now, the challenge. Step out in faith and intentionally give it a go!
We’d love it if you would share some of your ideas here and stories of your experiences.
Blessings,
Gayann
Gayann and her husband, Stephen, have provided web design and email communication support to NZCN since 2006. She has home schooled their two children for the past nine years, but was ‘made redundant’ at the start of 2013. Since then, she has taken a more active role with NZCN.
by Nigel Dixon member of NZCN All of Life Faith discussion group
I guess my concern, as I write these words, is to express the essential core of what it means to be Christian in our context. So, in choosing these words, I am seeking words that can define us as a community as well as being missional (there being an integrity between how we live together and how we face/embrace the world).
Living the story
We are called to live in the story that begins with creation and concludes with the completion of the new creation – in the story of God. This narrative invites us to take part in God’s unfolding purposes and longings for human life and the care of creation. This story centres on Jesus who incarnated God, who Died and rose again and reigns as King and calls us to live in this kingdom reality and kingdom dream. We invite every person to be participators in this new covenant and new creation.
Living as community
Karl Barth once said; ‘there is no such thing as an individual christian’ yet our culture, however, has radcially individualized the way we see our lives and the way we live together. Central to Jesus’ mission (indeed the whole Bible) is the formation of a community that would live in the life of God – for the sake of the world. This community, the church, to called to live incarnationally (forgiving, serving,…), relationally (committed friendships, healthy marriages…), missionally, the message they know and believe.
Living vocationally
Every person is God breathed and God called . Our human journey, in part, is a journey of discovering who we are, how we are wired, and how to serve God best in the world. The church, therefore, ought to be deeply committed to helping people discover who they are and supporting them as they navigate their way in the world. This involves valuing the world of work – that the church is developing leaders and giftedness to bless, and to have influence, in the world.
Living compassionately
The church is a community that lives for the sake of the vulnerable, the disadvantaged, the outsider. Loving our neighbour, whether they are in Christian community or outside it, is the essence of Christlikeness. Jesus always practiced a radical inclusion of the outsider – this involves seeing people, accepting people and acting with compassion; hospitality, generosity and creativity for the sake of the other.
Nigel Dixona member of NZCN’s All of Life Faith discussion group. He is a life coach, husband, father, and bible teacher. He completed a post-graduate theological study through Regent College in Vancouver. He loves exploring scripture and culture and the challenge that being Christian poses in a post-Christian world. Nigel is employed part-time by Emmaus to organise the curriculum and lecture. He is the author of Villages Without Walls.
It’s a big question and it’s one that many young Christians really start to wrestle with as they transition out of home and into study and the workforce. One person who has done a lot of thinking about that question is Steve Garber. He has written a fascinating book entitled The Fabric of Faithfulness. In the book he discusses issues of moral meaning, integrity, consistency and connecting what we believe with how we live.
Having lectured for decades on university campuses and interacted with thousands of under-graduate and post-graduate students, Garber has identified three reasons that they become and stay faithful into their adult lives. They are:
1. Convictions – They were taught a worldview which was sufficient for the questions and crises of life, especially the ones implicit in our culture’s secularization and pluralization.
2. Character – They met at least one teacher or mentor who incarnated the worldview which they were coming to consciously identify as their own. That person passionately lived what they believed and was willing to share why and how.
3. Community – They made choices over the years to live out their worldview in the company of mutually committed folk who provided a network of stimulation and support which showed that the ideas could be coherent across the whole of life.
One organization that is trying to foster the development of these three factors in the lives of young adults is the Compass Foundation. The tag-line at Compass is “Know the Gospel; Know Culture; Translate” and at their annual summer conference approximately one hundred 18 – 30 year-olds gather together at Lifeway Campus in Snells Beach to explore those themes with a group of local and international speakers. It is a great place to explore the richness of a gospel that impacts all of life – our working, worshiping, studying, relating, imagining, lamenting, and creating in a thoughtful, open and safe forum. Many of them are profoundly shaped by the week and the ongoing connections and conversations that result.
Philosopher and theologian Jacques Ellul in his Meditation on Ecclesiastes writes: “Remember the Creator during your youth: when all possibilities lie open before you and you can offer all your strength intact for His service. The time to remember is not after you become senile and paralyzed! Then it is not too late for your salvation, but too late for you to serve as the presence of God in the midst of the world and the creation. You must take sides earlier – when you can actually make choices, when you have many paths opening at your feet, before the weight of necessity overwhelms you.”
Driving home today listening to a National Radio Worldwatch item about discussions in Belgium about euthanasia for children. Who said we don’t need to worry about a slippery slope?
We can be thankful for the time being that Maryan Street’s euthanasia bill for New Zealand has been withdrawn, but we should also remember that it is “only for the time being”. When advocates think the time is right, the bill will be reintroduced and Kiwis need to be ready and informed.
Having dinner recently with a friend in Wellington who I regard as very clued up in matters of church and public issues, I was surprised to hear him talk about switching off life-support machines as euthanasia. It’s not!
And if people are not well-informed on the issue, there’s a real danger that when a bill to legalise euthanasia is re-introduced, misinformation will determine the outcome rather than facts and the public good.
One group that I have met has set up a website called euthanasiadebate.org.nz which gives some pretty simple facts and arguments against legalising euthanasia. In a one page flyer called “8 dangers of legal euthanasia” they talk about difficulties with so-called legal safeguards, elder abuse, and other reasons why legalising euthanasia is not a good idea. The back page of the flyer provides answers to common FAQs.
A student doctor I know changed his view on this issue after reading the information and meeting with Professor David Richmond, chair of HOPE Foundation, who supports this initiative and is a specialist in this field.
I recommend having a look at the flyer, and if you think it’s useful forward this post to others. If it’s easier, you can even use the Facebook / Twitter buttons below to share it with your friends.
Many readers will be familiar with the name Keith Newman, author of Bible and Treaty – a book we’ve been encouraging people to read in the lead up to 2014 – the year we mark 200 years since Samuel Marsden first preached the gospel in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Keith has recently released a new book called Beyond Betrayal, and was interviewed by Chris Laidlaw on Radio New Zealand, Sunday 29 September.
As Keith talked about the important role played by the missionaries in New Zealand, and especially by Maori believers, Chris Laidlaw asked “Has NZ history sold Christianity a bit short?”.
Keith’s answer will not be a surprise to most readers but the examples he gives and the stories he shares are well worth listening to.
Chris Laidlaw challenged Keith about claims over the years that evangelical Christianity had undermined the very essence of Maori culture and that in effect the decision to send missionaries to countries like NZ was a form of spiritual assimilation?
Keith’s reply was that the role of the missionaries had been quite misunderstood. He said that the missionaries had to learn and speak the language, to live among the people, learn their customs, “and of course they were working very hard to undermine some of the nastier elements of [the culture] cannibalism, utu, and bring ideas of forgiveness. But once Maori got this they realised that this was a very important change for them”. He went on to talk about how the constant utu, battles, and so on, were decimating the tribes and undermining their ability to survive and trade.
