SUNZ Adventure Magazine July 2010

THE ADVENTURE Your Scripture Union Magazine

JULY 2010 ISSN 1176-5143

INSIDE: Pray Day E100 Update Winter Camps

PRAY DAY 06/08/10

Our mission: Seeing children and young people transformed by jesus

With Students In Schools – On Adventure Based Camps – By Training Leaders "Break Open Your Words, Let The Light Shine Out" Psalm 119:130 The Message

Editorial July 2010

Taking the E100 challenge

Jesus was always ducking away to pray by himself.

One day Jesus had done just this when one of the disciples came up to him and asked to be taught how to pray. Wait; didn’t he already know how to pray? What had all those Old Testament stories and experiences at the Temple taught them?

We don’t know how Jesus prayed when He was on his own but He responded by giving an outline that we could call the ‘disciples prayer’.1 Read it and you notice that it’s short on our wants, and big on God’s. Most of this prayer tells us to worship God. It revolves around His kingdom and our will being aligned to His. When I read this prayer, it seems that all I need to ask for, as a follower of Jesus, is spiritual and physical fuel, to be able to give and receive forgiveness, and to be free from the evil that draws me towards wrong.

I like this definition of prayer; an interactive conversation with God about what we and He are thinking and doing together.

It seems to me that Jesus is making sure that in prayer we come to him with an attitude that is focused on Him and not on our requests; that his will would be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.2 In this edition of the Adventure you will read stories of how, in partnership with God, we are working towards a little more of heaven being evident on earth.

Wayne Fraser – National Director

We asked just a few people to share how they were finding the challenge: “I wanted to do E100 because I wanted to get back into the habit of reading my Bible every day. It has been a challenge to keep it going. The card is great because you can track your progress. It has definitely got me into reading my Bible more and it is good for me and my relationship with God. It is reminding me to pray more as well.”

Jeremy “It has been interesting. I like doing the reading and then talking together as a group and hearing other people’s insights. I find other people pick out different things from readings and share their knowledge.”

Andrea.

“I am really enjoying. The hard bit is that I keep wanting to read the bits in between the readings!

I haven’t done an overview for a long, long time so it is good to get back to that. There are new Christians in our group who don’t really understand how it all fits together. It is really good for them to see the big picture.”

Carol It’s not too late to get involved! Sign up today at:

1 Luke 11:1-4

www.e100nz.org.nz

2 Matthew 6:10 2

We are so excited by the response to E100. There are now more than 325 churches and 23,000 people signed up to take the challenge. We are so thankful to God for how He is using this resource to touch many lives.

Scripture Union

www.scriptureunion.org.nz

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Pray Day 06.08.10 It was a date to remember – 07.08.09 It was a date that will not happen again until the year 3009!

But, it was also the date of the first ever Pray Day in the southern hemisphere… and it’s happening again this year! No need to wait till 3009.

PRAY DAY 06/08/10

On the 6th August 2010, we are encouraging everyone who is involved in schools around New Zealand to set aside time to pray. We acknowledge that lots of prayer for schools is already happening. This day is about celebrating this and taking a unified stand. It is also about letting others know what is going on around the country and that they are not alone in their prayers and passion for their local school.

Last year we saw many groups and individuals around the country take up the challenge. We had Bible in Schools teachers, Mums in Touch groups and lots of churches get involved. Scripture Union staff hosted events in their areas. Our SUPAkidz clubs prayed together and got their churches praying for their clubs. One club even asked the school for items of prayer. What amazed the club leaders was that the principal was really grateful and appreciated their prayers. Our intermediate and high school groups ran prayer events with great success. There is something very powerful when young people get together to pray for their own school.

Praying for your local school is vitally important.

So, mark the date in your calendar.

Check out our website for more information, ideas and events: www.prayday.net.nz And get involved in Pray Day 2010.

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On Pray Day people all around New Zealand will be praying for schools.

Why don’t you organise a group to get together to pray?

Check out our website for free resources and ideas

Scripture Union

www.prayday.net.nz

www.scriptureunion.org.nz

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Winter camps 2010 The hardest thing about being asked to write about prayer in relation to winter camps is choosing just one thing to write about. The mountain is a place of such beauty and majesty, but is also a place that can prove unpredictable and risky. I do not know if we could manage to run our camps without having the power of prayer at our fingertips.

One of the things that I enjoy about camps is breaking down camper’s perceptions of ‘Christians’. Showing them how you can live life with Jesus. Breaking down their stereotypes about how we must pray in a certain way.

Showing them that prayer is all about communication with our Lord Jesus. One particular memory is after a week at Crusader Lodge at Mt Ruapehu. Having spent four days doing our Bible studies in small groups, we had a night where we came together to learn, worship and spend time with God. It was amazing to step back and watch as the campers sat quietly reading the Bible, praying individually and for each other. It did not seem to be coming to an end even at 11pm. I never imagined myself having to tell a group of teenagers to stop praying and reading the Bible because they need to go to bed. It is moments like these that remind me that even in a world that can seem to have lost hope, there is another generation that is putting their hope in Jesus and that should give us all hope for this world.

Loz Heil, Scripture Union Central Camps Leader

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Scripture Union

www.scriptureunion.org.nz

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Sylvia’s Story ‘It’s all about the story,’ proclaims the TV3 ad. So, what is my story where Scripture Union is concerned?

I was no stranger to Scripture Union when I became Northern Regional Director in 2003. The Bible guides were part of my life since childhood, at Auckland Girls I was a Crusader, and later Sylvia Coulter as a high school teacher I helped – Nothern Regional lead ISCF (Inter-School Christian Director Fellowship)–praying with students, opening Scripture, sharing faith with others. Stand-out memories include the potter who brought his wheel and demonstrated how God works in our lives and the morning of 9/11 when students and teachers came to pray in my classroom.

There was inter-school stuff too – social events, camps and training weekends when I saw Scripture Union staff in action. Scripture Union school groups helped my own teenagers follow Jesus, and for son Hamish the adventure camps were enormous fun, and spiritually significant too.

Soon after he left school, hard times befell us: a long struggle with cancer for my husband and within a year of his dad’s death, Hamish perished on Mt Ruapehu. Tough.

Very tough. But these things happen – and when we know Jesus, we don’t face them alone, or without hope.

But this is not true for everyone. Sadly, many NZ school children don’t even know who Jesus is.

I joined the staff passionate to see schools work revived and Christian teachers encouraged. There was no youth staff in Auckland then, and no national leader for that department. Now, Andy, who was appointed first as our youth worker, heads up the ministry with Luzette as our Auckland youth worker, and Tim as part-time assistant.

There was one Children and Families staff member, Andrew–now there’s Annette and Paul as well. There was no office assistant, now Glenis works two days a week.

There were no interns until Andy came and since then six from UK have been hosted in Auckland.

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Scripture Union

Staff care is a key part of my role, as well as making Scripture Union’s vision better known, working with our wonderful volunteers, and developing prayer and financial support. It’s exciting to build partnerships with people who share our passion enough to volunteer, pray and part with some of their hard-earned cash to keep us employed. I’m blown away by the commitment of those who’ve supported me over the years, but some are no longer around. I need new financial team members so I can continue full-time in this role. There are still many things I want to do…

Scripture Union’s Auckland Team

From our National Director As our Northern Regional Director, Sylvia has many roles: encourager and cheerleader for the Auckland staff; publicist and promoter of Scripture Union’s vision across the churches; contributor to senior staff consultations. Sylvia provides pastoral care and direction for her staff, and uses her amazing ability to connect with people to open doors for her team to work with schools, churches and volunteers throughout Auckland. She is incredibly passionate about seeing young people’s lives transformed by Jesus.

Sylvia needs new financial supporters to partner with her in this vital role. I invite you to prayerfully consider supporting Sylvia on a regular basis or with a special gift today.

Please reply via the enclosed form or free phone 0508 423 836.

Wayne Fraser – National Director www.scriptureunion.org.nz

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news

A big thank you to everyone who voted for John and Anette Money in the 2010 Intrepid Travel National Volunteer Awards! They were nominated in the largest and most competitive category and after almost 7,000 people around the country voted, they were placed in the top three.

That meant a trip for them to the Intrepid Travel National Volunteer Awards in Auckland as they announced the overall winner for each category. We sat waiting in anticipation as the three finalists for their category were again read out. The envelope was opened…and the winner of the Intrepid Travel National Volunteer of Social Services goes to John and Anette Money from Scripture Union!

Thank you, John and Anette, for the nearly 40 Scripture Union youth and children’s camps at which you have cooked and served over the years. Congratulations on a well deserved win.

Thank you also to the hundreds of you who also volunteer your time every year at camps. We wish we could have nominated all of you. We are very privileged to have people like you that give up so much of your own time and energy to serve in an incredible way.

Luzette Hermon, Auckland Youth Worker

Partner with Scripture Union Scripture Union is always looking for more volunteers to partner with us to help us in our ministry – If you are interested in investing your time into SUPAkidz, Schools ministry or helping out at a camp we want to hear from you! Please email info@scriptureunion.org.nz or free call 0508 423 836 to register your interest.

You can make a secure online donation at www.scriptureunion.org.nz or free call 0508 423 836.

Or respond on the enclosed form.

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Scripture Union

www.scriptureunion.org.nz

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Light for the path Guest Writer: Lois Conway – Scripture Union Volunteer

Recently, the girls’ group from my church invited me to be part of an ‘on the couch’ question and answer evening.

The girls asked a group of us ladies (of unspecified ages!) a wide ranging series of questions, from “Did you go out with heaps of guys when you were our age?” to “Does God have a plan for our lives?”

It was exciting to see these young women wanting to grow spiritually and find out what God had to say about the issues they were concerned about. Some of the questions the girls raised related to prayer, such as “What difference does prayer make?” and “Why pray when God already knows the answer?” We responded by discussing the idea that prayer is like a conversation with God through which we develop our relationship with Him. This involves both talking and listening to God and one of the ways in which He talks to us is through the Bible. Prayer and Bible reading are inseparably linked.

As the night progressed and the questions kept coming, it became obvious how critical it is to have a good understanding of what the Bible says on these issues. Many of the answers we gave referred to specific verses or passages from the Bible. I was again reminded of and grateful for my rich heritage of daily Bible reading from a young age and how much that has shaped how I live my life. The old Scripture Union motto “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119 v105) was certainly well illustrated that evening.

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