Tegucigalpa, Honduras / New York, NY – February 19, 2015
The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) inaugurated its new Secretary General Bishop Efraim Tendero at its International Leadership Forum (ILF) in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Evangelical leaders from over 40 different countries from every region prayed for Tendero and welcomed him as the new leader of the WEA, representing 600 million evangelicals worldwide.
WEA’s new Secretary General Bishop Efraim Tendero from the Philippines
The ILF, held from February 9-13, is WEA’s annual forum that brought together more than 70 leaders from the International Council, the Executive Team, representatives from the various Commissions, Initiatives and Task Forces, Regional and National Evangelical Alliance leaders and Global Partners. It was the first time that an ILF was hosted in Latin America, made possible by the gracious support of the Confraternidad Evangélica de Honduras and the Alianza Evangélica Latina.
New Zealand Christian Network’s national director was present for the ILF and inauguration of the new Secretary General.
Christian faith is not a part-time activity. It is to be lived out 24-7-52. For many Christians this involves living out our faith at home, in our communities, and in our workplaces. But several myths about faith and work can prevent us from being effective witnesses in this area of life.
Kara Martin is Associate Dean of the Marketplace Institute at Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia.
When we met at Ridley one year ago I asked her if she could condense some of the most important messages she had learned that would help Christians be more effective witnesses in their workplaces.
Myths about Faith and Work
Faith is to be lived out 24-7-52. For many Christians this involves living out our faith at work. But several myths about faith and work can prevent us from being effective witnesses in this area of life.
Work is cursed
We all know that work is tough and hard and frustrating. It is tempting to think that the one good thing about heaven is that we won’t be able to work there! Around us, everyone wants to retire early so that they can stop working. However…
A careful reading of Genesis 3 shows that the process of working is cursed, not work itself. In fact, work is a good gift from God, and God himself is a worker who is still working (John 5:17)
Work may be frustrating, but it is not impossible, and God will often bless us through our work
God doesn’t care about my secular work
The focus of so many sermons and talks is on evangelism and worship. It feels like Gospel work is the only work that God values, and he only cares about the spiritual parts of our lives. However…
If you read Genesis 2 from verse 15, you will realise that the first work assignment from God was to till the earth (physical work), and the second assignment was to name the animals (creative/knowledge work).
God describes himself working through the prophets as a builder, gardener, singer, shepherd, potter and farmer.
God doesn’t just create the world, and leave it. He works to sustain his creation, and provide for his creatures, through all of us.
The only way I can be a Christian at work is to evangelise my workmates
Often there is pressure on us to use work as our opportunity to evangelise our colleagues. It sometimes feels that our pastor sees that as the only useful part about our job, aside from giving to the church. However…
Although proclaiming the Gospel is necessary, people often read our lives before they listen to our words.
There are many ways to express our faith in our work, and the most important way is to be excellent at our job. Peter in 1 Peter 2 encourages us to live such good lives that God might be praised.
In Colossians 3, Paul tells slaves to work whole-heartedly as if for Jesus. This suggests that our work can also be our way of serving God, of worshiping him.
If I am a serious Christian I should leave my job
We may have heard sermons about how God wants us to leave our jobs and go to the mission field or plant a church… Often it feels selfish to hold onto our jobs and ignore those calls. However…
Serious Christians should seek to serve God wherever they are placed. (See 1 Corinthians 7:17)
All of us need to continually ask God to prompt and guide us to the work he wants us to do, using the gifts and skills and passion and experience he has developed in us.
Truths about Faith and Work
Your work is good
God created work as a good gift for us. Working is actually part of human flourishing. Those denied work struggle in many ways.
We are all made in the image of a God who works.
We notice that God took pleasure in his work of creation, and we can take pleasure in our work also.
We need to separate work from employment, and learn not to value our work according to how much we are paid.
You can worship God through your work
In Genesis 2:15, humans are told to work the ground and keep the garden. The Hebrew words for “work” (avad) and “keep” (shamar) are later used in reference to worshipping God and keeping his commandments.
Work is one of the ways that we keep the Greatest Commandment: to love God and to love others.
You can work with Jesus to redeem the workplace
Evangelism is one aspect of redeeming the workplace.
We also do Jesus’ work of renewal when we are creative, we do good work, we act for justice, we build positive relationships or we right wrongs, or we stop evil.
Kara Martin Associate Dean, Marketplace Institute Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia
Amanda Jackson, newly appointed Women’s Commission leader for the World Evangelical Alliance
Amanda Jackson has just been appointed as the new leader of the Women’s Commission for the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). NZ Christian Network (NZCN) is the New Zealand member of the WEA.
NZCN’s national director Glyn Carpenter got to spend a lot of time with Amanda at the recent WEA ILF (International Leadership Forum).
“I had met her once before in Auckland and knew a lot about her by reputation when she headed up Micah Challenge for Australia”.
“Micah Challenge Australia was regarded as something of a benchmark for Micah Challenge groups around the world.
“She clearly has got great leadership ability, so we’re delighted she’s taking on this role” said Carpenter.
NZ Christian Network has three women on its board, who have started talking to key women leaders about setting up a Women’s Commission or network in New Zealand and the South Pacific.
New Zealand Christian Network (NZCN or ‘the Network’) was launched in September 2002.
Who we are
We are a network of churches, organisations, and individuals, who want to be connected and who subscribe to an orthodox biblical (evangelical) Statement of Faith.
We are the NZ member of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and are committed to representing evangelical faith positions. But we recognise also that the term ‘evangelical’ has different meanings in different countries and contexts, so we are very careful in its usage. NZ evangelicalism seeks to be faithful to scripture and is broad politically and socially.
We offer an opportunity for a visible expression of unity which connects us beyond ourselves, across ministries, towns, cities, local churches, and denominations.
Reliable figures suggest 14.5-15% of New Zealanders attend church weekly. 18-19% ‘regularly’. Approximately 500,000 of these Christians are evangelical. This represents a significant constituency that NZCN seeks to serve and represent in different ways.
Background
Because of Jesus’s prayer ‘may the be one that the world will know’ (Jn 17) there has always been some level of networking among evangelicals and between evangelicals and other streams of Christian faith.
In the 1980s there was a network called Evangelical Fellowship of New Zealand (EFNZ). John Fulford, Brian Hathaway, Ray Windsor, and Bruce Patrick were some of the names involved with EFNZ.
In the 1990s EFNZ morphed into Vision New Zealand (VNZ), which began running Congresses – gatherings of evangelical and other Christian leaders. Brian Hathaway and Bruce Patrick were key leaders in this development. Congresses were held at Waikanae near Wellington in 1993, 1997, and 1999. Books were published titled New Vision I, II, III (editor Bruce Patrick), and the Heads of Churches 6-monthly meeting grew out of these Congresses.
In 2001 Bruce and Jinny Patrick and Graeme Lee attended the WEA General Assembly in Malaysia. They came back to New Zealand with the idea of setting up a network in New Zealand that could help network and be a voice for evangelicals – a voice that many felt was sadly lacking in public debate – and which could be formally part of the WEA.
Meetings were held with around 70 evangelical leaders at the New Life Church in Palmerston North, chaired by John Walton, and with a sense of general, if not unanimous agreement, the network was launched in September 2002 with a Council of more than 100 leaders and an Executive team. John Walton became the first Council chairman, Bruce Patrick was chairman of the Executive, and Graeme Lee served as interim National Director.
On 3 March 2003, Glyn Carpenter began working as the first full-time National Director. Bruce Patrick served as Executive chairman until March 2011, when the position was taken over by Martien Kelderman.
What we do
The motto which was adopted from the very beginning was Gather – Build – Speak. We exist to help evangelical Christians in New Zealand gather(with other evangelicals and beyond), to buildresources, networks, and collaboration, and to speakan authentic, well-researched, non-strident voice into the Church and the public sphere.
This motto aligns well with the WEA motto which is Represent (or Identity) – Equip – Voice.
What we have done
Since the launch in 2002 NZCN has organised, and participated in, and resourced many groups and conversations. We have run 5 further Congresses (2005, 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2017). We have given and mobilised significant support for several large and small evangelism campaigns (Impact World Tour, Greg Laurie, Power to Change, Jesus – All About Hope).
We are active in helping evangelicals network in areas such as prayer, marriage, sanctity of life, evangelism, business, and politics.
In 2006 NZCN’s National Director was asked by the Heads of Churches group to be a representative Christian voice in interfaith dialogues which were very active between 2005-2011. NZCN has issued many media releases and made submissions to government select committees where a biblical/evangelical voice was needed. Leaders within the Network have also been on radio and TV and participated in public and university debates and forums on important topics.
Between 2009-2011 we surveyed evangelical and other Christian leaders about the biggest issues facing the Church and society in New Zealand. Out of that has come four key focus areas – secularism, marriage and family, value of life issues, and missional living (previously called ‘All of Life Faith’).
In 2012 and 2013 NZCN was well placed to play a key role in preparing for the Gospel Bicentenary which was commemorated in New Zealand in 2014.
In 2016, NZCN partnered with Auckland Church Leaders in organising the annual Auckland Prayer Breakfast, which has grown from 400 to 700 people attending the event held at Eden Park over the three years it has been held.
International developments
NZCN is the New Zealand member of the WEA. The WEA was formed in 1846 and today is one of the three main global bodies representing Christians (approximately 650 million) along with the Catholic Church (1 billion) and the World Council of Churches (400 million). Pentecostals have a global body but their faith position overlaps significantly with evangelicals and the two groups often merge together.
The WEA has two main branches – (a) alliances, and (b) commissions, initiatives, and task forces (CITs). WEA also has affiliates – significant bodies that affiliate directly to WEA outside of the two main branches.
NZCN is one of 129 national evangelical alliances (NEAs), many of which do not include the word ‘evangelical’ in their name, even though this does describe their core faith position. NEAs are grouped into 8 regional alliances (REAs). Some of these (e.g. Africa and Europe) are well established, others (e.g. the South Pacific ) are not.
In 2006 at a meeting of South Pacific evangelical leaders in Vanuatu, NZCN’s National Director was asked to be the point of contact for the South Pacific region.
There are around 20 commissions, initiatives, and task forces. These include theology, women’s, missions, and religious liberties commissions, and task forces on creation care, nuclear weapons, and peace and conflict resolution.
As the regional contact person (‘chairman’), NZCN’s national director attends an annual International Leadership Forum with leaders from the REAs, CITS, and Global Executive Team.
A note on our name
When the Network was launched in 2002, the name was Vision Network of New Zealand. But because of confusion with similarly named organisations and a growing sense that the name should show clearly that we are a Christian network, the name was changed in 2008 to New Zealand Christian Network.
There was considerable discussion at the time about whether the Network should have been called the New Zealand Evangelical Alliance. Although there are many good reasons why this would have been appropriate, the issue of different understandings about what is meant by the term led those making the decision to leave the term evangelical out of the name.
International Council Appoints Bishop Efraim Tendero as Next Secretary General / CEO of the WEA
New York, NY – January 23, 2015
The International Council (IC) of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is pleased to announce that it has, by unanimous vote, appointed Bishop Efraim Tendero as the next Secretary General and CEO of the WEA. Bishop Tendero who currently serves as the National Director of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches.
Bishop Efraim (Ef) Tendero
“We acknowledged from the onset and throughout the search process that we needed God’s wisdom and the Spirit’s guidance in making this significant and strategic appointment. We are not only pleased, but confident that Efraim is the right person to take WEA into the future which promises to be great,” said Rev. Ndaba Mazabane, Chairman of the IC and Acting Secretary-General/CEO of the WEA. “His understanding of our global vision and his experience as a national Alliance leader will certainly help him connect with our constituency for greater global impact.”
Bishop Tendero succeeds Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe who announced early last year that he would not be seeking a third term after leading the WEA for the past ten years.
Upon his appointment, Bishop Tendero said: “I am humbled by the trust that is given to me to be the leader of Evangelicals around the world. This is an enormous task and I put my whole trust and confidence in the Almighty God who called me into this ministry, believing that He will provide the wisdom, favor, and grace needed in carrying out this solemn responsibility.”
Bishop Tendero will begin his five year tenure on March 1, 2015.
“I urge you all to uphold him and his family in your prayers and support him in every possible way as he makes this leadership transition and prepares for the task ahead,” concluded Rev. Mazabane.
About Bishop Tendero:
Bishop Efraim Tendero, widely known as Bishop Ef, has served as National Director of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) for more than 20 years. PCEC is WEA’s national Alliance member that represents some 30,000 evangelical churches in the Philippines. He is also President of the Philippine Relief and Development Services (PHILRADS), the relief and development arm of PCEC that works hand in hand with local churches in holistic ministries to serve the poor and needy.
Bishop Tendero also serves as International Facilitator for South East Asia of the Asia Evangelical Alliance and is the chair of the board Back to the Bible Broadcast, Evangelism Explosion (EE) 3 Philippines, Global Filipino Movement, and the Philippine Missions Association. He is also the Executive Editor of Evangelicals Today, the longest running Christian magazine in the Philippines.
Bishop Tendero has a BA in Theology from Febias College of Bible and a Master of Divinity with focus on pastoral counselling from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He received two honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from Asian Theological Seminary and Febias College of Bible, and a Doctor of Leadership degree from International Graduate School of Leadership. Bishop Tendero and his wife Sierry have four children and two grandchildren.
New Zealand Christian Network director Glyn Carpenter is calling for people to pray and exercise understanding over the Sydney hostage incident.
“Most important” Carpenter says, “is to pray for the victims and families of those directly involved in the incident – especially those who have been killed or injured.
“I wrote earlier today to our sister organisation in Australia expressing sympathy and saying that Kiwis all over New Zealand would be praying for them all.
“We are also calling for understanding, and praying that this will not result in any backlash towards Muslims in Australia or New Zealand.
“News reports indicate that the gunman was a sociopath who was using religion as a cover for his common criminal activity. We have plenty of examples of sociopathic behaviour in New Zealand and I’m sure in Australia. Most commonly these are not linked to any religion and don’t result in any negative backlash, so there’s absolutely no reason for there to be one in this case.
“We thank the media who have quickly exposed the gunman’s lack of connection with mainstream Muslim community in Australia, and call on Kiwis to continue to grow friendship and hospitality to Muslims living in New Zealand.
“And we pray for all the victims and their families as they try to come to grips with the aftermath of this tragic incident”.
New Zealand Christian Network is a broad-spectrum network of churches and Christian leaders, with a Board of Reference that includes leaders from all the main denominations. It seeks to present a biblically orthodox position on issues, reflecting the views of the majority of Christians in New Zealand.
For queries or further information contact: Glyn Carpenter National Director, New Zealand Christian Network
