Religious freedom really matters. New Zealand Christian Network has a keen interest in publicly proclaiming and defending the right to religious freedom here in New Zealand. This is important, as it’s becoming more and more obvious that there’s a lot of deeply ingrained prejudice and even hostility toward religious people in our country.
Last weekend there was a very disturbing illustration of that. A talkback radio host expressed the desire that all religious people in New Zealand should meet together and catch COVID-19 and then die from it, so that “we won’t ever have to hear from them ever again”. On Monday, it was also available as a podcast. It has been taken down since, so we can’t provide the whole segment, but here’s the heart of it…
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Honestly, it is quite surprising that publicly wishing the death of all religious people in New Zealand is now considered okay by NZ broadcast standards. Would this type of language be acceptable about any other group of people in New Zealand?
However, let’s take as charitable an interpretation as we can. He most likely doesn’t wish to see a million or so (religious) New Zealanders dead. So, what might be a more accurate understanding of what this host is really trying to say? Maybe he is wishing that all religion would end? Or maybe he hopes religious people would just give up speaking?
But we have to ask the question: is either of these scenarios (death to religious people, death to all religion, or the removal of freedom of speech for the religious) really what we want in New Zealand? Countries that have gone down this road (like the Soviet Union or North Korea) don’t strike me as very pleasant places to live…for anybody.
Freedom of religion, which our host seems to have forgotten about, is in a lot of ways the ultimate freedom. It is deeply tied in with freedom of speech, and with human freedom in general. It’s an integral part of the basic freedom that allows anyone (Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Slob, Whatever) to think and live the way they want to, and not just how the government or the majority want us to. Remove freedom of religion, and then watch the dominoes fall in all aspects of freedom.
How about instead of wishing the people that we disagree with would just die, we instead fight bad ideas with good ideas? How about we take the time to consider more generously why someone might be religious (or not religious)? I’d be interested in hearing this radio host’s story of why he hates religious people so much. Maybe there is a lesson there we could all learn from (and hopefully it wouldn’t involve killing!).
I will continue this line of thinking in a later article, where I’ll explore some of the reasons why the non-religious might hate religious people so much and what can be said in response to those reasons.
“These are the victors who valiantly surrendered life to keep our island home a land of peace and liberty.”
There is a sense of relief and gratitude around New Zealand that the situation with the Covid 19 virus has now much improved, and the move to Alert Level 2 is widely welcomed. It will be great to meet again with family and friends. The present restriction to gatherings of 10 means however that churches cannot yet gather together, and this has caused some anxiety and frustration for some. Against that backdrop, the NZCN team proposes these reflections…
We support the desire of the Government to protect human lives by managing and reducing the risks of infection wherever groups are gathered. Keeping people safe is part of any government’s God-given responsibilities.
We accept (with some misgivings) that because of the potential irresponsibility of a few, the Government felt that police needed some temporary extra powers at this time so that they can swiftly intervene when some people act in ways that put everyone else at risk.
We do not see any clear evidence of some underlying Government agenda to actively single out and discriminate against Christians and churches at this time.
We do look for greater consistency in how many people are allowed to gather in different contexts, and for the Government to weigh more fairly the relative risk of various settings.
We eagerly look forward to when churches are permitted to gather again, physically. We recognise that this will probably happen incrementally, and over some time, and that larger churches may be affected for longer.
We urge all churches to be very cautious, to respect the restrictions, and to scrupulously follow all safety procedures. Society is still facing a highly dangerous contagion, which could very easily kick back and re-establish itself. Church gatherings are not without significant risk. Just one person could infect many others in a congregation, and as a result some could die. We have a responsibility of care both to our own people (including those most vulnerable), and to society around us.
We continue to embrace the many opportunities of this time for Gospel proclamation, for greater reach on-line, for innovations, for small house gatherings, for small groups, for pastoral care, and for loving our neighbours.
We remain in prayer for the Government, for the health of New Zealanders, for those who mourn, for the spiritual renewal of our society, for the recovery of the economy, for those who have lost jobs and businesses, and for those many less-privileged and less-resourced societies around the world which are much more vulnerable than our own.
As New Zealand slowly begins to re-open, a question many churches will be asking is, “How do we approach ministry in Level 2 and beyond?”
It’s easy to be scared of change. But in reality, the NZ church has already proven that it is more than ready to adapt to changing circumstances. Think about how the NZ church has innovated over the last 60 days, we’ve gone from:
FROM meeting in-person, TO meeting online
FROM leading our ministry teams in-person, TO leading our teams remotely
FROM having a stable financial plan, TO our finances now all up in the air
FROM having predictable staff roles, TO redeploying staff in new areas for which they were not trained
FROM having no previous idea how to do what we needed to do, TO now succeeding in making it all work
With that in mind, I suggest there are three realities to now help the NZ church continue on the path of innovation, for the sake of more effectively reaching New Zealand with the Gospel.
1. Online ministry is here to stay
Most of the people we want to reach are now online. The younger the demographic, the more true that is. Furthermore, it appears that many churches are actually growing at the moment. The reasons for this are multi-faceted, but one key reason is that online church has a much lower barrier to entry then in-person church.
This is not only true for guests. Think about families with young children getting ready for church, or seniors who are more vulnerable, or people who are sick. Online ministry provides a way for people to be involved when in the past they wouldn’t have been able to.
At the same time, it should not be treated lightly. Are you having a serious conversation about investing in new digital equipment? When adults join an online group, do you have a plan to help reduce the awkwardness and make them feel welcome? How might online group leaders take advantage of Zoom features like ‘Breakout Rooms’? How will people respond to the gospel if they are not at the church’s worship service?
2. While online ministry is here to stay, physical gatherings are the church’s calling
With all that said, it’s important to remember that physical in-person gathering is key to the church’s calling. In the New Testament the word for church (ekklesia) refers to how it is a gathering, a calling together. Moreover, God created an actual world, not a virtual world. God in Genesis declared that the actual world of creation is very good. God wants us to live in his good world, not just watch it on a screen. Resurrection, one of the central beliefs of Christianity, means the restoration of all things, not an escape to a non-temporal, non-corporal spiritual (virtual?) afterlife.
With that in mind, what are some questions that you should be asking before starting up your physical ministry? For starters, what adjustments will you make to the Lord’s Supper, baptisms, offering plate, meet and greet time, door greeting, or children’s ministry? How will you sanitize your building, before, after, and during church service? For example, should all doors be kept open to prevent spread of disease? How will you create a safe environment for those who are most vulnerable in your community? What about those who can’t meet physically but also don’t have the capability to meet online?
3. Churches need to help people make the transition from the online to in-person
Given that online ministry is here to stay, and yet we are called to physical in-person gathering, we need to carefully consider how we will move people from the relative comfort of the online experience to in-person encounters and fellowship.
Homegroups have always been a good stepping-stone to involvement in church life. It’s a smaller setting, and (at their best) are much less intimidating and much more welcoming. Here in New Zealand we will probably be limited to small gatherings for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, is it possible to encourage people to move homegroup from online to actual homes? Is it possible to have Sunday morning watch parties at different people’s homes?
There have been many times in the past where Christians could not gather in large groups, particularly in the early stages of the church. The outcome was a church body that exploded across the globe. This happened as a result of the intentional, meaningful fellowship and discipleship centred around the Risen Christ. There will be a strong desire to get back to normal. The danger is that we will re-embrace a model of ministry designed to reach a world that no longer exists. Let’s continue innovating and moving forward.
Some useful resources on this subject!
NZCN doesn’t necessarily endorse everything in them, but did pick up some good points from some of them
Churches sing ‘The Blessing’ over the UK’
An example of using technology and the internet to do mission.
The World Evangelical Alliance has put together a site with resources to help families, church leaders, national alliances, business leaders and health professionals. Check it out here >
The Opportune Time Ps David Dishroon
Romans 13:11-14 encourages us, as it did the the Jews and Christians in Rome in the late 55 AD – early 57 AD, to consider the drastic changes to the world we live in as an opportune time to do something.
This message was shared as a devotional thought during one of our weekly Pray As One NZ online prayer gatherings taking place 8-9pm on MONDAYS.
Join the meeting from the website and look for updates on Facebook.
The outbreak of Covid-19 has created a global health crisis that has had a significant impact on the way we perceive our world and our everyday lives. This crisis has rapidly pushed us into the unknown and left many facing an uncertain future. However, it has been proven throughout history that New Zealand is no stranger to adversity. Time after time, New Zealanders have shown the ability to come together, with the desire to help one another demonstrating the resilience of the nation and this situation is no different.
This handbook aims to help with issues that have arisen during the Covid-19 crisis.
The New Zealand Christian Network, the alliance of evangelical churches, organisations and individuals in Aotearoa New Zealand, commends the New Zealand Government for its leadership in our time of COVID-19 crisis. We agree that all New Zealanders must do what is necessary at this time to unite against the virus and slow its spread.
We also commend the many churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, marae, clubs and societies who have sacrificially agreed to abide by the Government’s temporary restrictions to keep us all as safe as possible during this period of moderate risk. We pray that the risk does not increase further.
We are thankful for technology that can help keep us connected at times when we need to be physically distant. Physical proximity is an important part of our communal Christian faith, but we also believe in a God who is not limited to our material world and is present everywhere at all times. For thousands of years this belief has been a comfort to those who find themselves isolated from their faith communities. Billions of people around the world today who follow Jesus continue to find in Him tangible peace in times of terrifying trial.
We implore leaders of churches who plan to continue gathering in larger groups to urgently reconsider. We cite Singapore and Korea as cases where community transmission of COVID-19 was greatly amplified by attendance at large church services. Churchgoers are not immune to illness, let alone a virus as dangerous as this one.
Christ-followers need to be socially responsible, to love God by loving our neighbours. There is nothing to fear in love. We encourage all Christian leaders to consider carefully the way the Apostle Paul’s pleaded with the believers in Philippi (Philippians 2:3-5): “Do not proceed out of selfish ambition or vein conceit, but concern others better than yourselves… look not only look to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” For this is the way of Christ.
We urge all New Zealanders, including Christians, to turn towards God and to be much in prayer about our situation.
To every MP, from the undersigned National Church Leaders gathered today in Wellington
Tēnā koutou. Today, 17 March 2020, the national leaders of most New Zealand church denominations gathered together in Wellington, within sight of Parliament. We want to say to every MP: we urge you to look deep into your own moral conscience, and to vote against the Abortion Law “Reform” Bill at its final reading.
We acknowledge that a decision to seek an abortion is often a lonely and agonising choice for a woman, and that the aim of this Bill is to streamline access to abortion and reduce its stigma. We recognise there are complexities in the abortion issue. We do, however, see any abortion as a tragedy for all concerned.
The profound and pervasive flaw of this Bill is that it erases all consideration for the human worth of the unborn child, and (unlike the current legislation) makes no attempt to balance the needs of mother and child and to give at least some protection to the unborn. The Bill defies the obvious, scientifically incontestable reality that the unborn are living, beating-heart, human babies. Societies which practice great oppression often first dehumanise those they mistreat, asserting they are not really human, so killing them is therefore acceptable. Unwittingly, the Bill echoes that same chilling pattern: it assumes that unwanted unborn are neither human nor valuable and that their death is therefore of no consequence; their death is minimalised as just a “health” procedure for the mother, in which the real victim is determinedly overlooked.
The intent of the Bill may well be to advance women’s autonomy or health. But we believe its primary effect will be to further normalise unspeakable abuse and death against society’s most innocent, vulnerable and voiceless members, the unborn. We believe all human life is a sacred taonga, a priceless gift from God. Justice and compassion requires that we should allow the unborn to be safely born and to live the life they have been given. Those in great authority have a God-given responsibility to help protect everyone, especially those most vulnerable; to legislate instead to facilitate their death is culpably wrong.
And so, in the name of God, and of justice and compassion, and for the sake of future generations, we the undersigned national church leaders join with a vast number of other caring New Zealanders and implore you to exercise true conscience and to vote against this highly unbalanced and unjust Bill.
Signed…
Rev Charles Hewlett Acting Chair
Bishop Mark Whitford Secretary
On behalf of the following National Church Leaders…
Pastor Adam White, Leader, New Life Churches Pastor Boyd Ratnajara, National Leader, Elim Church of New Zealand Pastor Peter Mortlock, Senior Pastor, City Impact Church Rev Setaita Taumoepeau Veikune, President, Methodist Church of New Zealand Pastor Steve Burgess, Regional Overseer / Senior Leader, C3 Churches Cardinal John Dew, Archbishop of Wellington, Roman Catholic Church Rev Andrew Marshall, National Director, Alliance Churches of New Zealand Brent Liebezeit, President, Christian Churches New Zealand Right Rev Fakaofo Kaio, Moderator, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (personal support) Pastor David Macgregor, National Director, Vineyard Churches Bishop Jay Behan, Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa New Zealand Charles Hewlett, National Leader, Baptist Churches of New Zealand Rev Tale Hakeagaiki, Chairman, Congregational Union of New Zealand Pastor Eddie Tupa’i, President, New Zealand Pacific Union Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church Pastor Iliafi Esera, Senior Pastor, Assemblies of God New Zealand Rev Brett Jones, National Superintendent, Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand Rev Dr Stuart Lange, National Director, New Zealand Christian Network Rev Dr Jaron Graham, National Superintendent, Church of the Nazarene Bishop Mark Whitfield, Lutheran Church of New Zealand
Updates on the road to the 3rd reading of the proposed Abortion Legislation Bill
The next week or so is a very critical time for our nation, with major life and death implications for generations to come. The New Zealand Parliament is in the final stages of voting on the Abortion Law Reform Bill, a bill which further liberalises New Zealand’s laws on abortion. The aim of the Bill is to make abortion simply a medical procedure for the mother.
The Bill gives no consideration at all to valuing the life of unborn babies, or to protecting them. The protections in the current legislation (which have proved weak) are swept away. The Bill assumes that unborn babies have no inherent human worth, and no human rights. The Bill would establish abortion on demand up to 20 weeks gestation. From 21 weeks through to birth, all that is required is the agreement of the medical practitioner (the one about to conduct an abortion) that an abortion is “reasonable” with regards to the health of the mother – but with no regard to the life of the baby. Presumably “health” will include her emotional wellbeing. Will this apply to cases of Downs Syndrome, or the wrong sex? Even a baby born alive after a failed abortion will not be safe: MPs have voted down an amendment that would have required the baby to be given medical care, rather than left to die.
Most Christian people do not oppose abortion under all circumstances, and feel compassion towards those women who have been in a very difficult situation and have agonisingly decided to have their baby aborted.
The New Zealand public needs to understand, however, that this Bill is very unbalanced: it entirely takes the side of the pro-abortion lobby, and completely disregards the intrinsic value of unborn human life. Regardless of whether or not unborn human babies are currently recognised in our society’s laws as fully-fledged “human beings”, they are still unquestionably human babies. Respect for the value of all human life is a basic building block of a safe society. Justice and compassion call out for the protection of the powerless and the voiceless. Christians – and many others – see every human life as a sacred gift of God, and the destruction of innocent lives as a terrible stain upon our nation.
We strongly encourage all Christian people to shake off apathy, to be constant in prayer, and to urgently contact members of Parliament and make known their deep concerns (be courteous, clear, well-informed, and brief). MPs names and contact details are linked below.Church leaders also need to speak out (see here a plea for that), and here is a good sermon on abortion from last Sunday.
Mark Maney speaking at Massey Presbyterian Church, Auckland – 8 March 2020
Dr Stuart Lange, National Director New Zealand Christian Network
Abortion Legislation Bill — Second Reading 3 March 2020
One organisation has observed that it is still possible to swing the decision in the final reading. How?
21 MPs need to be change their vote at the final reading. This would produce a tie.
Of those, if the amendment for a referendum on the issue is not passed, all 9 NZ First MPs will apparantly vote against the bill. +
Therefore, only 12 MPs from National / Labour would need to change their votes to ‘No’. The MPs listed above with an asterisk * are ones they particularly recommend be challenged on their position.
3 Things
YOU can do
to change the tide
Pray for our MPs… Thank the lord for their service and ask that He give them wisdom making decisions that affect the inhabitants of Aotearoa New Zealand. And pray for yourself. Pray for wisdom and courage to contact your local sitting and list MPs and seek guidance as to other MPs you should approach.
Explain your connection: do you live in their electorate, go to the same church, are part of the same denomination, are members of the same club or ethnic group? RESPECTFULLY challenge their position – they also have a right to their opinion.
SPREAD THE WORD. Talk with your peers and encourage them to make a stand. Abortion isn’t a silent issue.
