principal (mnzm)
What an incredible God-orchestrated year – 2017! Hopefully, God always gets to orchestrate every year but this year has been over and above. This will be the last time our yearbook reflects one school on two campuses. Next year, it will be three sites with our Mt Albert Campus flourishing, and this is indeed God’s doing. We look forward in 2018 to a brand new purpose-built middle school facility – again it is HIS doing and it’s sure nice to be along for the ride! The ride of our lives! In spite of all the property matters and what seems like an ‘extension of Elim’s tent pegs’, my focus has continually been drawn back to people – our students and our staff! As a Christian school, we are far more than just a school. Our mandate is massive and our opportunities can be life-influencing and life-changing! Therefore, we must focus on growth – spiritual growth in hearts, the shaping of the Spirit, growth in the walk of purity and obedience marked by grace and servitude. It’s about what is happening between you and Jesus, me and Jesus – that’s the reach, serve and influence we should be focused on. Don’t get me wrong, God is already using and stretching us as an organisation – that’s what He is choosing to do and we are running to keep up! But what He really, ultimately and authentically wants to do is the inner work in you and me and quite frankly nothing else matters! So, are you taking more steps towards Him than away? So, staff member or student, are you in love with Jesus and just as strong in your relationship with Him as the first day you met Him? If not then “Houston, we might just have a problem?” The bible is so clear when it says in Matthew 6:33: “But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right—the attitude and character of God), and all these things will be given to you also.” It doesn’t say achieve well academically or in the sporting arena, or lead worship on stage or be chosen for Brain Bee or as Prefect! Or for staff – make sure you graduate from Mindlab (as good as it is) or get invited to speak at an education conference – no, no, no! First and foremost, seek Him … and the rest will come as and when He sees fit! There is quite a difference, wouldn’t you agree!
Murray Burton I cannot do this for any of you! If I could, I would! I can help you, influence you, put the right teachers in place, authorise the purchase of resources to guide you and so on. But it is between you and Jesus! John Maxwell says, “When it comes to your life, a hole in the boat is a hole in the boat, and eventually it’s going to sink you. That little area you thought you had under control will eventually take you down. And, it will affect the people around you, because while sin is personal, it is never private.” Above all from this year and especially for our Year 13s, as they embark on a new season – are you still following, seeking or even chasing after HIM? As Principal and ‘boss’, that’s the key performance indicator I use and long for, but I cannot always know! To conclude - in his book, ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’, South African author Alan Paton wrote: “I shall no longer ask myself if this or that is expedient, but only if it is right. I shall do this, not because I am noble or unselfish, but because life slips away, and because I need for the rest of my journey- a star that will not play false to me, a compass that will not lie.” That compass is Jesus! He’s also referred to in scripture as the plumb line! He is the way, the truth and the life! He is righteousness, He is the beginning and the end and He is all you need! Where He leads, you simply must follow for He alone knows the way! They say ‘an inheritance is left to but a legacy is left in!’ As our school grows, lengthens, broadens, expands, the legacy must always be Jesus living in our lives – each one of us – and with Him as our compass – whom shall we fear and of whom shall we be afraid! God bless all you amazing people and thank you for your lives. “Wise men still seek him.”
