SUNZ Adventure Magazine January 2014

Connected

BEYOND ADVERSITY

Connecting with

the New Zealand Story

Relating to God and Others

January 2014

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WELCOME

People connect with each other in various ways which serve as doors to relationship.

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t seems as if we are all looking for ways to connect, sometimes to repair a disrupted relationship, sometimes as a part of understanding what it means to be human.

I went into a McDonalds on a wet weekend and saw people who had settled in for the day, connecting around a role playing game. In Invercargill I saw groups of motorbike enthusiasts connecting over pioneering Burt Munro’s passion for bikes. We went to an ethnic restaurant and saw people connecting over their culture and food. Cultural roots are powerful in connecting with identity.

Ante natal groups continue to meet because of a shared experience and companionship in adjusting to parenthood. At the Cake-tin people gather and connect around a love of sport. In SU we connect around shared values and beliefs and in the church people connect over a shared story and hope.

THE CHRISTMAS STORY we have just celebrated is one of God’s work of connecting with the humanity He loves to reconcile a relationship. John, the disciple, describes how Jesus walked through a door so that humanity could connect with their creator.1 “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory

as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth… From His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Jesus literally ‘pitched His tent’, a very kiwi thing to do, with us. He ‘tabernacled’ with us, reflecting ‘tabernacling’ with His people during the wilderness years as a reminder of His presence.

I BELIEVE THAT until Jesus and His work are accepted, many of us skate around the surface looking for ways to meet this deep need. This edition of the Adventure explores some of those ways. In our complexly interconnected world we have created devices that connect us on one level but miss the mark.

It is important that we make authentic attempts to meet the need for real connection with one another, to understand our human story, and to complete that by acknowledging the good news our reconciling God has sent the world in Jesus. We hope the different perspectives on the following pages are helpful in exploring this theme.

Wayne Fraser, National Director 1 John 1: 14-17 (NRSV)

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JANUARY

CONTENTS Features 04

REAL CONNECTION

09

CONNECTING WITH THE NEW ZEALAND STORY

By Wayne Fraser, Hilary Hague and Neville Bartley

By Mark Grace 16

RELATING TO GOD AND OTHERS

By Liz Fitzmaurice

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CONNECTED BEYOND ADVERSITY

By Neville Bartley

Interviews 07

HOW DO WE WORK OUT OUR CONNECTION WITH GOD AND WITH OTHERS IN THE PLACE WHERE WE STAND?

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Q&A WITH LORNA GRAY

Updates 20

OUR NEWS

22

LIGHT FOR THE PATH

By Steve Adams

Children’s Ministry 11

WAY2GO MAGAZINE

January 2014

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RE AL CONNECT ION

By Wayne Fraser, Hillary Hague and Neville Bartley

I

magine yourself in the latter stages of your life, recounting memories of your younger self. You reminisce with your grandchild about your happy childhood. You recall one fond memory when you used to sneak sweets from a shop with your best friend, whom you haven’t seen for over sixty years.

One day you hear a knock on your door. As you greet the equally elderly stranger before you, they respond to you with the mention of your name – in a curiously, familiar manner. It takes you a moment, but you realise that the stranger who now stands before you is in 4

fact your long-lost childhood friend.

Your old friend reveals to you that it was your grandchild who made this reconnection possible.

Encouraged by your childhood story, your grandchild researched every aspect they could to track down your old friend, in order for you to reconnect with them. Researching everything from that location of that sweet shop from your childhood, to arranging your friend’s flights to visit you, there was one primary tool your grandchild used which made this all happen: Google.

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FEATURE

THIS IS A GREAT STORY about a friendship lost. As you may have realised, the story was for an advertisement created by 1 Google. Of course, Google claims the credit, it’s their advertisement and its focus is on the tools of a new age.

However, Google’s advertisement – more importantly – explores this desire that was planted in humans at the beginning of creation: a desire for connection. This desire was hardwired in us by God and is a kind of mirror of the Creator’s own family, as relationship is at the heart of the trinity.

The resolution of the advertisement’s story is achieved through the grandchild, who embodies this new, young generation that has grown up with technology not dreamt of 65 years earlier.

modern tools and ancient roots feels like it facilitates the need for community, yet it doesn’t really do the job well.

TECHNOLOGY MAKES IT POSSIBLE to be more connected than ever before, yet its nature makes you feel isolated at the same time. Technology connects and divides. It allows us to know more about things and people, but not having to actually to be present with them.

We can know about a person’s activities without actually engaging with them. We can share ourselves without actually telling anyone anything that really matters. What kind of connections are we really making?

This is not the kind of connection God has in mind. He has been engaged from the beginning. Think of Genesis, where we read that God “We can share ourselves without put his own image actually telling anyone anything into creation in the that really matters. What kind of form of humans and connections are we really making?” he desired eternal connection with them. It was God’s This generation’s online connection habit to walk in the through mobile devices allows them to garden in the evening, to engage with find out about things that perhaps belong His creation. It was a connection that to another generation, track down was authentic; it was a desire for a people they had not previously heard of deeply honest and intimate relationship. or met, plan and confirm arrangements As His image bearers, we are reminded in an instant. and challenged to connect and be They can use technology to enable a faithful to the Creator. Jesus came into reconnection, to facilitate a reunion, in the world to enable God to reconnect order to meet a deep desire. with its inhabitants, those affected by Yet as contemporary society continues the partition that had been erected these innovations in technology, does between God and His image bearers. this necessarily mean that we will have Jesus connects the ancient roots in us ‘better’ connections and relationships that desire meaningful relationship with with one another? This marriage of the ultimate fulfilment of that desire.

1 Advertisement created by Google: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE

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Q

“Are we living on the basis of a Google connection, or are we living a real and authentic communion that God has designed us for?”

THIS AD WOULD HAVE ACHIEVED NOTHING if the grandchild had not acted on this desire of reconnection.

Likewise, we will not achieve anything in our relationship with God if we are not active in connecting with Him. We must also remember that a connection with God is not only made directly with Him, but also through those who are around us. Through those in our family, people in our church community, our friends, and work mates, in fact with anything through which we can see God’s creative hand at work.

This advertisement is meant to sell something, as it illustrates a need it believes it can satisfy. And it successfully reveals this human need to connect, yet at the same time it makes us reflect on the health of our own connections.

Are we living on the basis of a Google connection, or are we living a real and authentic communion that God has designed us for?

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THIS STORY DOES MORE than simply communicate a product. It connects with emotional intent and effectively communicates one of the most fundamental human desires: to connect with one another. As the advertisement ends with the two old friends sitting in the rain like school kids, it shows the satisfaction gained from a strong connection, as the two friends revel in their restored relationship.

Take some time now to think about your connections with other people.

How real and authentic are they, and what can be done to deepen them?

Surely God wants us to enjoy his creative handiwork expressed in the unique characters around us. And in the same way God engages with us, we too should not be content with distant and shallow relationships. Be prepared to engage with one another on a deeper level, yearning for quality connections more than a Google search can offer.

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PAUL DADD We asked some of our SUNZ staff:

How do we work out our connection with God and with others in the place where we stand?

Q.

Children and Families Worker (Auckland)

speak to Moses face A. “The Lord would to face, as one speaks to a friend.”

Exodus 33:11

I love this verse. The connection that Moses had with God inspires me. Isn’t this the same relationship that God wants with us today? I want to meet with God daily through Bible reading and prayer. But I don’t want to be the one doing all the talking; I want to learn how to listen to Him.

WAYNE GOODCHILD

North Island Camps Facilitator

SYLVIA COULTER

Northern Regional Director

A.

I think that our connection with God has more to do with us than with Him. Regardless of where we stand He is always actively trying to make a connection with us, which is great because that means it is easy to achieve. We don’t have to search for Him because He’s already right by our sides. All we need to do is turn to Him and acknowledge his presence and His sovereignty.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Revelation 3:20

A.

Watchman Nee’s classic Sit, Walk, Stand shows from Ephesians how where we “stand”(6:14) links with where we “sit”(2:6) and how we “walk”(4:1KJV). When truly “seated with Christ in heavenly places,” I “stand” firm and “walk” worthily in my relationships.

Thank you, SU, for encouraging me to “sit” in his presence.

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HEATHER ZWIES

NZ Camps Administrator

A. Interview continued:

NIGEL WINDER

Southern Regional Director & Southland/Otago Children and Families Worker (Invercargill)

A.

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As a father of four observant young children I am acutely aware of what my connection with God looks like to them. It is important they see me reading my Bible, praying spontaneously, being generous, and serving wholeheartedly while treating them, their mother and others with God’s grace and love. I am grateful for the opportunities to model faith to them at home, as their Sunday School teacher and ‘Bible in Schools’ teacher. It is also a privilege to take them on SU and other camps and speaking assignments so they see and share in the ministry God has called me to. I pray they too, like me, will one day reap the benefits of being keen SUNZ volunteers.

Over the years of my life I have been deeply encouraged by God’s love, faithfulness and promises.

As I work alongside Scripture Union staff, volunteers, campers and their families I want to pass on God’s love for me in the way I support, assist and encourage them in their different roles and needs. I’m not just doing camps administration. I am enabling young people and leaders to get on camp and experience God in the life changing ways I have experienced and known for myself.

I hope to serve God well through serving others.

ANDREW RAMSBOTTOM Children and Families Worker (Auckland)

A.

I connect with God each day because, at the age of ten while on a Scripture Union children’s camp, I was shown how to have a quiet time using a Bible and SU guides as a part of living out my faith. The guides have changed quite a bit since then and today I use a free resource available online called WordLive.

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FEATURE

Connecting with

the New Zealand Story This year is a deeply significant year for the people of God and the wider public living on these islands. It is the Bicentennial of the gospel’s arrival in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

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n Christmas day 1814, Samuel Marsden, at the invitation of Ruatara, held the first formal Christian Service in New Zealand at Oihi Bay in the Bay of Islands. The service was attended by the first missionary families, Ruatara and a number of Maori Chiefs, and 3-400 other Maori.

IN THE MONTHS FOLLOWING the first service at Oihi Bay, the missionaries began to establish their homes and the mission station at the base of the Pa. It’s here that the first substantial beginnings of our bicultural journey as a country began. It’s here the missionary families established the first permanent Pakeha settlement in New Zealand. It’s here the first Pakeha school was established. It’s here where sheep farming was introduced into New Zealand, in doing so established the first pastoral farms.

In time, the first Pakeha child would be born here. It would be here in this bicultural settlement that Pakeha would

By Mark Grace - Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship, World Vision, and New Zealand Church Missionary Society

first begin to study the Maori Language intensively. It’s here that the Maori language was first committed to writing.

It would be here that New Zealand’s first orchards filled with apples and pears would be planted along with its first grape vines.

THE CMS MISSIONARY John Butler introduced the first plough into New Zealand in 1819. In September 1825, Christian Rangi was the first Maori baptized. It would be from the Bay of Islands that Maori would first learn to read.

From here, slaves first begin to be educated in the gospel, freed, and enabled to take the gospel as missionaries to their own people.

It was at the site of the Marsden Cross that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was first and forever fused with the foundation of Aotearoa New Zealand. The seeds planted here would lay the ground work for the Treaty of Waitangi.

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“

Connecting with the story has led me to want to reclaim the Treaty as part of our Christian heritage both personally locally and nationally.

”

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find its

I CAME TO FAITH in Christ in my late teens. Over the last decade I began to explore what it means to be a kiwi Christian. My father is Pakeha and my mother is Maori of TeArawa decent.

At the beginning I was completely ignorant of the New Zealand story and the central role the gospel played in it.

The more I’ve connected with the story, the more I’ve found myself asking, why didn’t I know this, why haven’t I been told about the incredible story of God across these Islands.

Discovering the story, and the role of the gospel in our bicultural founding and the forging of the Treaty 25 years later, has led me into a deeper appreciation of what it means to be a Christian and a richer experience of what it means to be kiwi of Maori and Pakeha descent.

Connecting with more of the New Zealand story has led me to want to understand the brokenness at its heart.

Our national story is filled with broken promises and broken people. I am deeply proud to be a kiwi; I always seem to choke up at the singing of the national anthem.

OUR HISTORY has given me much hope for our bicultural and multicultural future. These years are significant years for New Zealand. This year marks the 10

Bicentennial of the gospel’s arrival and 2015 marks the centennial of Anzac day and the 175th of the Treaty.

It is my hope that my children will grow up and become mature kiwi Christians loving the gospel. I also hope that they grow up knowing its bicultural and multicultural history in these Islands, valuing the treaty and continuing the contribution of the people of God to this incredible land.

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Mark Grace is a member of the TeArawa tribe and works for Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship. He is also an Innovation Designer with World Vision and assists the New Zealand Church Missionary Society.

Mark is happy to speak and lead seminars on this issue. He can be contacted at markg@tscf.org.nz)

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Issue 45

FEATURE

Easter is a special time of year for Christians and it’s

E

coming up fast! This Easter, let’s help our children

WELCOM

find out what the Bible says so they can understand its meaning in all its fullness.

When you plan your programme think carefully about what you want your children to discover about God. There are dozens of Easter ideas for telling stories and hundreds of crafts to make and do. Choose ones that appeal to you, but as you select them ask

O magazine. to the WAY2G s for people It’s full of idea ildren in h ch who work wit and local their churches Pull it out communities. round. and pass it a

yourself, “Will these activities help my children grow closer to God?” Then make sure you choose ideas that will help that happen. Make space for discussions and let the children ask questions and explore the story for themselves.

Check out the ideas in this issue of the WAY2GO magazine. They have been carefully designed to help children take a look inside the story of Easter and find out what it means for them.

WAY2GO 2014 PRESENTS:

SCRIPTURE UNION’S CONFERENCE FOR ALL

NZ CHILDREN’S MINISTRY LEADERS

Dunedin - 15 March 2014 Auckland - 29 March 2014 Wellington - 12 April 2014 REGISTER: www.sunz.org.nz

BIGGER

than the

W RLD

itself

January 2014 11 ORDER A FREE BROCHURE: EMAIL way2go@sunz.org.nz OR FREEPHONE 0508 423 836 Adventure_January_.indd 11

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EASTER

E

Experienced

Eas exc nee pla you

Try this idea for telling the story of Easter.

Write each bold sentence on separate pieces of card. Hold them up for the children to see as you tell the story and teach the children the actions to go along with them.

Mo for cra

Jesus died upon the cross.

We to

Make cross shape with hands.

The Bible tells us that the religious leaders didn’t like Jesus very much because they didn’t like what he was saying. They plotted and planned and then they arrested him and sentenced him to death. He was killed on a cross, which was the way they killed criminals in those days. This happened on Easter Friday.

Ch on

E

Use the

He was buried in a grave.

Fold hands over and bow head.

After Jesus was dead, a man named Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus’ body and buried him in his family tomb – a sort of cave grave. He wrapped Jesus’ body up in cloth and rolled a large stone in front of the entrance to the tomb.

For three sad days, Jesus was dead.

Hold up three fingers.

But then came Sunday morning.

Rest one forearm on top of the other. Raise the top forearm to show the sun rising.

An earthquake shook the ground.

Shake and rock on the spot.

When the women came to see Jesus’ tomb, Jesus’ body was not there.

Make a circle with arms and look through it.

He’d risen from the dead!

Punch hands in the air.

He talked and walked with all his friends.

Shake hands with those around you.

They saw him and they were glad.

Smile and cheer.

Easter is the time that we remember that Jesus died to take away all the things we have done wrong, and then came back to life so that we can be friends with God in a new and exciting way.

If the people will believe in Jesus,

Spread your hands to indicate all the people. they’ll be his forever friends.

Put out hands one to the left and one to the right.

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WHEN THE STOR Y IS FINISHED ASK TH E CHILDREN:

What part did you like best?

What part did you think was the most important?

Who would you have been if you had been in the story?

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EASTER

Cracked

Easter Cracked combines years of Scripture Union experience with exciting new ideas. This book will give you almost everything you need to get the most out of Easter for years to come. It includes plays, crafts, events, stories, service outlines and almost everything your church will need at Easter.

More Easter Cracked is a new book out. It’s a great collection of ideas for communicating the message of Easter. It contains dramas, stories, crafts, prayers and lots more.

We have a free copy to give away – ring us and mention WAY2GO. If you’re the third person to ring, you can have it!

Check them out along with our other resources online at www.sunz.org.nz or freephone us on 0508 423 836 for a catalogue.

EASTER

Use interactive art to tell the Easter story.

Explored

Give the children a small piece of white paper.

Ask them to use wax crayons to colour a pattern of bright colours all over the page. Make sure there are no white spaces showing. Ask the children to tell you some of the things they know about Jesus. Explain that Jesus came to earth to tell us about God. That was exciting.

Help them colour over the top of their paper with black wax crayon. Explain that something sad happened. Some bad people didn’t like Jesus. Tell the story of Jesus’ arrest and death.

But then something amazing happened. Give the children a sharp pencil or a nail. Show them how to start in the middle of the page and draw a spiral spreading outwards! Look at the bright colours shining through! Tell the story of how Jesus came back to life and that he is still alive today.

Ask the children how they know Jesus is still alive today. Share a story from your own experience.

Shared

EASTER

Make an Easter card to tell a friend about Easter

Give each child a plain card made of black card folded in half.

On the front of the card, stick a strip of double-sided tape horizontally to make the cross bar. Peel off the tape backing.

Now stick another strip of tape vertically to complete the cross shape. Peel the backing off this too.

Sprinkle glitter over the card so it sticks to the double sided tape.

Shake off the excess.

Use a silver pen to write an Easter message on the inside of the card.

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January 2014

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YOU’RE LOSING

H

US

growing kids and young peop le with faith

If You Knew That 50% Of Your Church Membership Would Leave In The Next 15 Years What Would You Do?

This is a serious question. Research conducted by David Goodwin tells us 50% of children and young people in Australian churches will be gone in the next 15 years. Other research across the western world is showing similar patterns and New Zealand is no different. This research tells us that despite our best intentions, the way we are supporting our children and young people spiritually is not working. The way we are doing faith formation is not working. This is nothing short of shocking.

Scripture Union will come and run a three hour workshop for your church, exploring how you can do faith formation more effectively with your children and young people.

This Scripture Union workshop is for children and youth workers, but it is also for pastors, senior leadership and parents as well. It's for everyone because this is a worrying problem and it will take all of us working together to fix it.

We don’t know about you, but we don’t want to lose our children and young people.

We would love to come run a workshop at your church to address this key issue.

Email way2go@sunz.org.nz or call Hilary Hague on (04) 385 0485.

Scripture Union wants to work with your church to create opportunities for children and young people to discover and follow Jesus, grow as leaders, and influence the world. Contact us and let us know how we can help you.

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Scripture Union in New Zealand – PO Box 760, Wellington 6140 way2go@sunz.org.nz – 0508 423 836 – www.sunz.org.nz

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HOPE

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INTERVIEW

Q& A

with Lorna Gray Manager of Eastern Southern Youth Trust W E L L I N G TO N

What kind of work do you do?

The purpose of the Eastern Southern Youth Trust is to work with young people and their whanau, in disadvantaged communities. We focus on the eastern and southern suburbs of Wellington.

What does work look like for you on a day to day basis?

So we might have after school drop in centres, we may have workshops that they can tap into every week. We might be intervening and taking some of the kids who are in trouble at peak times of the week and create something that will divert them from that. We’ve got some kids that aren’t coming home at night so we’ve addressed that by starting an early morning breakfast club at 6am in the morning which they really like. They like the feed so they stay home at night so they’re there to be picked up in the morning. We want to develop these youth well, socially, enabling them to make some wise choices but also help them find a gateway to God, who’s so removed from their everyday life.

How does your work affect your community?

What is, or what has been absent in the past is hope, and I think with God we have a hope that is way bigger than us. Way bigger than the circumstances. I love that verse in Jeremiah that says, ‘if you seek me with all your heart you’ll find me, I have come to give you a hope and a future.’

The city council did an opening of a park and they got the community to write dreams for themselves (in the ground) and the council was going to plant a tree on top of it. No one wrote anything. When we asked the community about this we found that they just don’t have any hope. They don’t have dreams.

They just want to survive because it’s so hard.

If you look the level of deprivation in NZ, the areas we’re working in are level 10, the highest. So these people are living in extreme levels of deprivation and it’s impossible for them to dream of what could be, when they’re just hoping they survive this. So for us, part of our journey has been to collaborate with others, to lift some of the loads that are there, to enable families to know that there’s food coming, and to know that they have a purpose and a job. That they could look at the hope.

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Relating to God and Others

By Liz Fitzmaurice

A

t 5:30 this morning I left my 2-bedroom, air- conditioned home, to climb the Jesus steps with friends here in East Timor. As I began to walk, I passed 3 elderly Timorese women with 10 litre plastic containers squatting beside a dripping pipe, which only runs in the early hours of each day.

I knew that after my day’s breathtaking climb of 1800 steps, I would return to a beautifully hearty breakfast, freshly brewed coffee and a warm shower. It struck me how different my life is from my Timorese neighbours.

Each day they hope to collect sufficient water before the pipe runs dry, for the day’s activities. For income, they sell petrol by the soda bottle on the side of the road, but in my 3 months as their neighbour, I haven’t seen anyone stop to buy from them.

HERE IN TIMOR LESTE, I can’t help but notice the disparity between my neighbour’s’ life and mine. I want to make a positive difference. I talk with my 16

friends as we exercise, asking them how we can make things better.

I share my bread when I buy it. I employ Anna, the teenage neighbour, to help in our house and buy whatever I can from the local kiosk. I attempt these tiny, yet faltering attempts to love my Timorese neighbours.

But I also watch humbly as my neighbours love and care for one another.

They share their meagre water collection with each other and any profits from petrol sales. Anna earns money for her family, not for herself, and our Timorese security guard often eats his dinner across the mesh fence that separates our two worlds.

MEANWHILE, my Christian community here help me navigate the Timor landscape. I cannot learn the rules of this new country without their help.

I cannot rely on old friends, family and workmates to fill my weeks with joy and challenge, like I did back home, relegating church to Sundays.

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Liz is a Doctor who spent 2013 working as a GP in Timor Leste.

She felt this was a strong call from God on her life.

My new church eats together, prays together, challenges one another and discusses books together. We go away for weekends and catch up during the week with a morning walk or over coffee.

When our car needed repairs church friends loaned us theirs. When we shifted houses, church friends helped us with the move. When we needed a place to

“I cannot rely on old friends, family and workmates to fill my weeks with joy and challenge, like I did back home” store our things, church friends stored them for us. The church, our Christian neighbours, loved us in a way that is both new and necessary when living as strangers in a foreign land.

But now I am about to return home to New Zealand, with its beautiful parks and beaches. To enormous supermarkets and over 40 TV channels to choose from.

I will be bombarded by commercials and junk mail telling me I need more things

to be happy, that I deserve a new car or a better iPhone. They tell me to buy better toothpaste or deodorant, in order for me to meet better friends.

ALREADY, I suspect that loving and being loved by my neighbour will be harder in New Zealand. Unchecked, my life will speed up to its previous rhythm with little time for noticing God and noticing my hungry kiwi neighbour. I fear church, for me, will shrink down to something I attend on Sunday, rather than a vital community I want to belong to.

I want to unwrap the gift of Timor Leste back home in New Zealand. I want to notice those I encounter and share my things and my time with – my church and geographic neighbours. I want the courage to fight our kiwi commitment to becoming self-sufficient and rediscover community. Will anyone join me as I try to love my neighbour in “God’s Own”? Because, it is too hard to do it on my own!

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Connected

BEYOND ADVERSITY

By Neville Bartley - Youth Ministries Team Leader

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A

s a youth worker over the past 25 years it has not been uncommon to hear from youth and adults alike about their struggle to connect with God and to trust God, particularly when times are tough. How I wish that these people could meet Rebekah, she would turn their worlds upside down. She is my youth staff member in Nelson and does a fantastic job. The thing about Rebekah that I so often forget about is that she has Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

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FEATURE

SHE WAS DIAGNOSED in 1998 at the age of 18 and then in 2007 she had a major relapse that left her paralysed for several weeks. Miraculously, after much rehabilitation, she is mobile but always requires at least one crutch (others would use a wheelchair) to get around.

You would think that such things would test the faith of any Christian. That a circumstance like this would challenge their connection with God, but not this young woman. Rebekah is one of the most inspirational followers of Christ that I know.

When I talked to her about her relapse in 2007 and asked her ‘where was God in that?’ she simply replied, “He felt even closer [to me] than before”. Lying there paralysed she found herself thanking God for the future, for what lay ahead.

WE SO OFTEN come up with ‘reasons’ why we find it hard to have time for God. Sometimes, we have our own reasons for why it is difficult for us to connect with Him. Looking at Rebekah I realise time and time again that some these ‘reasons’ of ours are simply ‘excuses’.

One of her favourite ways to connect with God was through getting out in nature, something which now she cannot easily do. But she doesn’t let her condition limit her. She finds new ways to get into nature and to connect with God, as she says “I am restricted in so many ways, so I just have to become more creative”.

I THINK SOMETIMES in our lives we need to be challenged by the lives of people like Rebekah. She doesn’t see herself as any different or better than anyone else.

Her motto is “MS might slow me down but it doesn’t stop me. I choose to focus not on what I can’t do but on the things I can”.

She sees her life as belonging to God and serving Him and in fact talks about the doors of opportunities that having MS have opened for her. This young woman knows God in a way I think many of us would like to.

“MS MIGHT SLOW ME DOWN BUT IT DOESN’T STOP ME. I CHOOSE TO FOCUS NOT ON WHAT I CAN’T DO BUT ON THE THINGS I CAN.” WHAT CAN WE LEARN from someone like her? Well we can learn, as she puts it, to “choose to follow God, choose to have faith in Him no matter what”. So the next time you are struggling to connect with God, the next time in the midst of adversity you wonder ‘where is He?’, just stop, remember the times He has clearly been in your life and then choose to follow, choose to have faith, choose to believe, and know that He is there with you, and you are connected.

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OUT & ABOUT Graham Fullerton welcoming the guests.

WAIKATO/BOP Graham Fullerton

Prayer evening

NORTHERN REGION Sylvia Coulter

On 12 November forty people met to pray for summer camps and their leaders.

Some prayer stations focused on specific needs; one had us write prayer messages to be posted to camps; another featured the “I wonder” board from the Spring SUPAkidz camp with children’s reflections on their Bible stories. Pray for the camps, and if possible, come to the Summer Thanksgiving Barbecue, 21 February, to hear the camp reports.

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70 supporters of Scripture Union in the Waikato – Bay of Plenty attended the recent Appreciation Dinner held in Hamilton. Our SU staff, Judy Bennett, Wayne Goodchild and Steve Adams shared about what they have been doing this year. The Dinner was a good opportunity for staff and the Regional Committee to thank our supporters and to assure them of our ongoing appreciation of their prayer and financial support.

Each of them brought along someone from a School Christian Group, a Camper and a Leader, and these people shared why they are involved with their chosen SU activity. We were encouraged with their obvious passion and commitment for what Scripture Union offers them in the Camps and in the Christian groups at their Schools. SU certainly does have a continuing ministry opportunity in these activities.

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OUR NEWS

E3 campers tramping through the wilderness.

This is Ben at the breakfast holding up a cooking stove used on camps back in the late 1930’s.

OTAGO/SOUTHLAND Nigel Winder

Ben Necklen with the E3 campers.

CANTERBURY Ben Necklen

We had our E3 expedition on the 4th of December which took 13 youth away for 10 days on an expedition of a lifetime.

This was an exciting project working with the local church South West Community Church and the local adventure operator Adventure Specialties Trust. Thank you to all who have been for this project.

The Otago Regional Committee hosted a delicious breakfast in Mosgiel to raise funds for summer camps. Ben Necklen (South Island Camps Facilitator) shared a very old camp story and a more recent one. He had a camp cooker from each era, making the point that while the methods and equipment have changed, the values, ethos and transforming effects of camping ministry haven’t.

At the recent children’s ministry network meetings in Invercargill and Dunedin, Rosie Staite inspired us to think intentionally about how we welcome children.

Three awesome youth camps are on offer in the south over summer, Rakiura Adventure, Wild Makarora and Te Anau Wind ‘n’ Water.

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LI GH T F OR T HE PAT H Steve Adams - National Youth Team Member (Waikato/BOP)

I

n a business world, connecting with people is called networking. In Gods world, it’s all about building relationships. God started this whole idea about connecting with us back in the Garden of Eden, and yes, I know we pretty well wrecked that until God gave us the opportunity to get back on track.

THE WAY I CONNECT with people can be different from you, but I like to smile a lot and get them laughing which can really break down barriers. The more I talk the more chances I have to connect.

Obviously a good conversation helps.

We all approach connecting with others differently, don’t we? I guess at the end of the day we need to be who God created us to be, using the very gifts and talents He has given us. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

We, as Christians, come in contact with a lot of people, in school, in our families, at work, travelling and even visiting our favourite Thai restaurant.

How we connect and why we connect is part of Gods plan. We live out our faith by connecting to God and others. Sure, each of us has different skills in this area and some can be better than others, but we aren’t called to be like others are we?

THE ABILITY TO CONNECT with our fellow human beings is one of the most important aspects of our humanity.

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Creating emotional connections with people- whether they are your co-workers, friends, family members or a potential romantic spouse - is an important part of a well-rounded life.

Why are close, loving relationships so crucial to our well-being and happiness?

Relationships create psychological space and safety so that we can explore and learn. When we feel safe and supported, we don’t have to narrow in on survival tasks like responding to danger or finding our next meal. We are able to explore our world, which builds resources for times of stress and adversity.

THERE ARE SO MANY characteristics of connecting and building close relationships: The ability to love and be loved, mutual understanding, caring, being a source of direct help in times of trouble, celebration of good times, validation of self-worth, security, having a diversity of ideas and influences to help us grow and learn, not to forget one of my favourites – fun.

God got it right when it comes to relationships. He knew that for us to have satisfaction we need to connect with Him and with others. I think people are happier when they are with other people than when they are alone. I find that even hanging out with someone and not talking is already a form of connection. What is God’s reaction to the way we connect with others.

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PO BOX 760, Wellington 6140 - 0508 423 836 - info@sunz.org.nz He rama tau kupu ki oku wae Your word is a lamp to my feet. Psalm 119:105 January 2014

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