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Sulawesi Tsunami – Indonesia

Please pray for people who have been affected by this terrible disaster. Remember especially our Christian family, asking that they will be a source of hope, peace and comfort to all, amidst the chaos and destruction. GC Aid is collecting for relief of this disaster. ...

Headspace - Thailand - Wk 10

FINAL DAYS: 29 Sept - 3rd OctFull Team: Debrief - Chiang Mai The last few days involve debrief on their nine weeks in Thailand, looking at how the trip has impacted their views and values and how they will be able to apply that to life in NZ. Departing from Chiang Mai airport on the 2nd October, the team head home to New Zealand, arriving on the 3 October.  Pray for the leaders as they lead the team through debrief and help them prepare their hearts and minds to head home. Pray for great ti...

Reach Into Our Prisons

This year there has been a lot of press coverage on the growing prison population in NZ. No matter what your view on our present justice system, we need to remember that behind the numbers are actual people, people who need to hear the gospel and our family of churches has a ministry opportunity that has been operating now for forty-five years. Early in the 1970s the GPH began printing, publishing and marketing Bible Gem calendars which provided a verse for each day of the year in a monthly form...

Headspace - Thailand - Wk 9

For their final week the team will be together doing a work project at a home for girls that have been abused. It is a home for girls under the age of 18, where they are shown the love of God and given help for physical and emotional recovery.Pray for continued enthusiasm for their time in Thailand as some team members potentially start to feel homesick. Pray that they would have strength and energy to give their all at this last project for the trip....

An Instant Tool for Evangelism

The audio recordings available on 5fish contain some of the most important words you will ever hear. They speak good news for everyone in their own language. Just as fish is food for sustaining physical life, the messages on 5fish offer spiritual life. Global Recordings Network has developed the 5fish suite of applications for easy distribution and playback of gospel messages on mobile devices. The 5fish.mobi website provides access to GRN's content from any mobile device with a web browser and ...

Our Role In Global Church Planting

What needs to be done by whom in order to plant the churches required to bless all corners of the world? When could/should that work be international? That is a complex question that requires a global perspective and a level of nuance.This infographic will help you understand the size of the challenge, the types of roles needed and some examples of who should fill them.DOWNLOAD INFOGRAPHICPersonal ReflectionWithout looking at any data, people may drop out of international mission if they believe...

Preparing Christian workers for cross-cultural service

Are you a follower of Jesus and would love to step out in faith and be salt and light across cultures?Do you sense God challenging you to step out of your own culture to serve those of another?Would you like to start your journey by training with a diverse group of students and staff from across the globe?If that describes you, then have a look through the courses on offer and get in touch with us.Set in the beautiful countryside of New Zealand’s North Island, Eastwest is a tertiary college, a...

Headspace - Thailand - Wks 7/8

Team One: School on the borderTeam one heads to the border and continues the work teaching and building relationships with the students at the school on the border. Pray that the teaching and relationships started by the first team will provide a good base for this team to build on. Pray that the great opportunities we have here to teach about Jesus would be used wisely to benefit the students and teachers. Team Two: Payap, Chiang MaiTeam two spend their time with Payap Christian Zone, a local c...

The Gospel Speaks to all Cultures

Have you ever tried to share your faith with someone froma different culture? Did they seem confused by some of the concepts you were sharing? Have you ever wondered if you could be communicating more clearly or in a way that connected better with their cultural background and heritage?Jayson Georges' newly released book, The 3D Gospel – Ministry in Guilt, Shame and Fear Cultures, suggests three cultural lenses that impact our view of the world around us.They are:1. Guilt/Innocence – Western...

Headspace - Thailand - Wk 6

Both groups enjoy a much needed rest week at Juniper Tree in Chiang Mai. Juniper Tree is accommodation for missionaries serving in South East Asia. This provides an awesome opportunity for the Gappers to connect with others following their call to missions. The team gets to enjoy some free time and experience more of the tourist side of Chiang Mai by visiting an elephant sanctuary, taking Thai cooking classes and visiting markets! Pray that this would be a great week of rest, refreshment and reg...

Do You Care For Unreached People Groups?

The Disciples and the early Church took the Gospel mandate seriously. The rate at which the gospel spread in the midst of so much persecution was unprecedented. In spite of their best efforts these believers did not reach the “uttermost parts of the earth”. There were anthropological, sociological, social-political, economical, and geographical reasons. The task is not yet finished.Below are a few suggestions that could be applied as you seek to reach these groups: Identify the unreached peo...

Headspace - Thailand - Wk 4 & 5

Team One: Khun KlangTeam One heads into teaching at another school, this time for Hmong people. The team run an English programme and partner with the local church and Wycliffe Thailand to run after school programs. These two weeks provide awesome space for God to really work through the team to speak to the Hmong people of his love and care for them.Pray for the teams to create good rhythms of working in a smaller group. Pray that they would be able to connect well with the Hmong people and tha...

Black Bags

Connie was upset. She was hearing the ominous rustle of plastic bags far too often. It meant only one thing: her husband was leaving her again. Walking away from the problem. Again. Refusing to face up to the consequences of his actions. Again. She had not lost count; this was the twelfth time. As usual, he had stuffed his clothes into black bags and stomped out of the front door. She hated the sight of those black plastic rubbish bags.  Connie and Jared* had met at eighteen years of age, t...

Hope Worth Sharing

Crescent Project, originally known as Arab International Ministry, was founded in 1993 by Fouad Masri to enable Christians to reach out to the Muslim community. Because of his experience as a Lebanese student living in the U.S., he realized that internationals in America often have many unmet needs. Crescent Project was founded to prepare American Christians to reach out to the growing Muslim community in North America.Most Muslim ministries have focused on sending full-time missionaries oversea...

Unreached People Groups

Joshua Project is a research initiative seeking to highlight the ethnic people groups of the world with the fewest followers of Christ. Accurate, updated ethnic people group information is critical for understanding and completing the Great Commission. Revelation 5:9 and 7:9-10 show that there will be some from every tribe, tongue, nation and people before the Throne.Joshua Project seeks to answer the questions that result from the Great Commission's call to make disciples among every natio...

Headspace - Thailand - Wk 3

The team heads back to Chiang Mai to spend time at the Agape childrens home. The work they do here will be mostly practical projects. They will also get to spend time with the children. Pray for health, strength and energy for the team as they get stuck into a work project here. Pray that the work they do will be a blessing to the childrens home and that great relationships will be built with the staff here....

Headspace - Thailand - Wk 2

The team teaches English in a high school. This school is less open to the gospel; however over time the teams have formed relationships and built up trust and so are able to share more freely about the gospel of Jesus. During this time the team will run English camps and have opportunities to share the gospel through the team dramas.Pray that the team would be able to jump into their first teaching experience with courage and confidence. Pray that relationships that have been built over the yea...

New Van For CBCCC PNG

Titahi Bay Community Church is seeking to partner the National Office of the Christian Brethren Churches in Papua New Guinea in raising funds to purchase a new van to be used in Wewak. The present one is now more than ten years old and has served CBC very well, operating in what is a very harsh environment. The CBC National Office in Wewak serves a group of over 460 CBC churches, the majority of which are in remote locations in the West Sepik Province and in the He la Province of the Highlands R...

Headspace - Thailand - Wk 1

The team attends daily Thai language and culture classes, while also getting familiar with Chiang Mai. In this time there are opportunities for the team to see Thai culture in action and test out their new language skills.Pray that the team adjusts well to a new culture and time-zone and that the leaders would be able to help the team adjust while still having time to organize and plan logistically in a different environment....

Do You Care For Unreached People Groups

Wouldn’t you think that after more than 2,000 years of evangelisation that the world’s population would have been reached by now, if they indeed are to be reached at all? The sad reality is that not all of the world’s population of 7 billion people has been reached. As Christ’s followers we should be concerned about the people who we have never met and are on their way to lost eternity. There are millions around us who also have not heard the Gospel of Christ. According to the Joshua Pro...

Preparing A Team For Their Time Offshore

It is often difficult to describe our job as Headspace leaders. After explaining that we work with school leavers and serve for ten weeks in Thailand some say, “That sounds so exotic!” Don’t get me wrong. I love Thailand and I LOVE leading our teams, but there is little exotic about the trip or the preparation! I am excited to invite you into our Headspace community and share what we do to transform a diverse bunch of teenagers into an effective, unified team who can work in what often pro...

The Gospel Speaks to all Cultures

Have you ever tried to share your faith with someone froma different culture? Did they seem confused by some of the concepts you were sharing? Have you ever wondered if you could be communicating more clearly or in a way that connected better with their cultural background and heritage? Jayson Georges' newly released book, The 3D Gospel – Ministry in Guilt, Shame and Fear Cultures, suggests three cultural lenses that impact our view of the world around us. They are: Guilt/Innocence – Western...

The Tension Of Being Missional

I come across pastors and leaders that describe their churches as being "missional" and that God has brought people into their communities that need to be reached. They have made a decision to pull back on their global mission support to help their people "be missionaries right here." This begs the question, "Why are so many missional Christians uninvolved in God's global mission?" As the missional conversation continues and deepens, what has occurred that has led to our blindness to the lost wo...

GCAid Report - Let's Celebrate

Thank you to all who have contributed to our disaster relief appeals and provided for on-going humanitarian needs, your gifts have made a difference in the lives of those who have benefited from your generosity....

Is Hospitality the Key to Missions?

Many Christians have grown up with a very limited concept of "missions" and "missionaries." In this view a missionary is a person who goes and preaches to lots of people, often in primitive lands, and explains the theology of the gospel. The natives are convinced and become Christians. Thus the gospel commission is fulfilled. Actual missions have not been carried out in this way very much. Missionaries are generally very aware of the personal aspect of their activities, and the importance of hos...