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Scatter and take your job with you

A new book, "Scatter", gives guidance for Market Place MissionGod is at work today in the global marketplace, providing avenues for a new generation to advance the Great Commission through their workplace. In his new book "Scatter: Go Therefore and Take Your Job With You," Andrew Scott outlines a new paradigm to do just that, engaging the global church to reach the nations through their everyday jobs. Scott invites every Christian to be God's global image bearer, and to find their part in God's ...

After the Mission Trip

You’re back from the mission trip and after all the shared stories and pictures and some intentional debrief, you soon slide back into the busyness of life. Over time, you resign yourself to the lie that only on mission trips do amazing things happen and you, like many others, start living mission trip to mission trip. The liminal experience of being outside of your comfort zone and growing tremendously during your trip is all but forgotten and the rich soil of community that was cultivated am...

Business as Mission Resources

The 'Global Think Tank on Business as Mission' has been bringing people together to learn more about the strategy of business as mission since it launched in 2012. The Think Tank is now releasing a series of equipping papers and reports for those interested in Business as Mission.Each of the reports covers a particular topic or geographical region and has involved collaboration by BAM leaders worldwide. Topic-focused reports published so far are: Business as Mission and Church Planting, Franchis...

Help Your Church Pray for the World

Operation World Leaders Resources: 10 Simple Ideas to Help You Lead Your Church in Prayer for the Nations.Prayer is important and God calls us to pray for the nations, but there are so many needs. How to start? What can you do that will authentically fit into your church community? What is sustainable long-term; rather than just a short fad? The resource Operation World Enhanced eBook CD/ DVD and Wall Map has been developed to help with these very questions. Now here are some ideas to help you g...

Renewing Our Mission

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Statement Of Faith

We believe each statement in this affirmation to be consistent with the teaching of scripture. We believe that there is only One True God, revealed in the Trinity of the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit to each of whom equal honour is due. We uphold firmly God's three-in-oneness believing that almost everything that matters in Christianity hangs on this truth. We are committed to bringing all people into a living, personal and ever-growing relationship with God. We believe the B...

Returning to NZ Permanently?

A GUIDE FOR CHURCHES AND MISSION PARTNERSWhen Your Mission Partner Comes HomeYOUR MISSION PARTNER is about to return home from their service for God overseas. All sorts of arrangements need to be put in place. Whose responsibility is it to ensure these arrangements are made? Is it something the mission partner should sort out? Or should their family or sending church take care of it?Very often, church leaders will assume that the mission partner and their family will sort it out between them. Ho...

Terms & Conditions

If for any reason a refund is required from GC3 please contact us with the details of the amount, date and name which the donation was given under. Any refunds of donations will be given at the discretion of GC3 and decided on a case by case basis. If you have any questions about requesting a refund please contact us....

Is God Calling You?

The use of a letter to introduce a Christian worker to a church was a well established practice in New testament times. A ‘Letter of Commendation’ was a way of expressing confidence in a person as they travelled and embarked in mission and enabled the receiving church or ministry to accept them with confidence.Fast-forward to today’s world where communication methods are vastly different. With the click of a button we can connect with people anywhere in an instant, but even so at GC3 we be...

Our History

GCiM commenced operating on behalf of the Christian Brethren Assembly network in January 2001 as an amalgamation of Missionary Services New Zealand and Gospel Literature Outreach. While Global Connections in Mission (GCiM) is a recently formed mission organisation, its roots go back more than 100 years. New Zealand's first commended Assembly missionary was James Kirk who sailed for South America in 1896 and served the Lord there for 56 years. Soon after a magazine called "The Treasury" was publi...

What’s In A Call?

Whenever you talk to Christians about missions, there’s always talk about the “call”. I’ve always found it a rather intimidating word. I don’t hear God directly speak to me in an audible voice or feel completelycertain about what I feel He says. I don’t want to put words in God’s mouth, or overstate the surety of a situation. So I find it difficult to say I feel “called” to work in PNG. Yet there is a real sense that that is where I am meant to be, what I was made to do. I was ...

I want to be a missionary

If you feel God is calling you to serve Him in a full-time capacity, what do you do? Eleven important steps to follow – 1. Thank God for the prompting of His Spirit and ask Him for the faith and courage you will need. Paul's phrases in Ephesians 2:10 are a good base for this kind of prayer. 2. Check that your desire to do this is clearly from God and that you are not just running away from something that's currently a problem in your life. Establishing that it is a call of God is essential, ju...

Post-Modern Missions & Millennials

Without doubt millennials are an integral part of world missions today and thankfully their approach to missions is changing the missions landscape in ways that are well suited for addressing the challenge of post-modern missions. Before we explore this issue further let’s understand who millennials are.  It is generally accepted that the term ‘Millennials’ (Generation Y) is usually considered to apply to individuals who reached adulthood around the turn of the 21st century. They live...

Mobile Ministry Course

Here is an online course in using mobile technology for ministry and mission.The Mobile Ministry Training Course is a newly expanded, six-week online course to introduce ministry opportunities using mobile devices. By 2015, the majority of all Internet access will be through mobile devices.This presents a unique, two-way communication channel to use for Kingdom advancement.Each week contains both theoretical and practical elements. The only requirements: an Internet connection, a computer, and a...

New Ways Of Working

Where are the workers we need in our churches? Who will go?  While we face challenges in terms of sending missionaries to  new and changing contexts overseas we are noting the changes here in New Zealand.The harvest is ripe and there are Christians overseas who are being called to come and serve here as missionaries. We see this with our Kenyan brother and sister who are serving here as pastors at Ingestre Street in Whanganui. Just this last week one of our churches has received a Braz...

Visiting Africa

Every time I visit Africa I am told tragic stories about children and young people not able to get to school, mainly for economic reasons. It’s a major issue and very complicated.  Linda is a school teacher; a good school teacher. Her pastor noticed many children in the church neighbourhood were not going to school. Research he undertook suggested that many older children did not go to school because heir parents could not afford to send them. To address this, the pastor asked Linda to st...

Missionaries Who Leave, A First-Hand Account

Modern mission is all about partnership. The church is global, the Holy Spirit as at work and where ever we go in the world we join our Christian brothers and sisters serving the Lord together. Our family, John, Rebecca and four kids , have lived for the past twelve years in a “restricted access country” (RAC). A place of military rule where it is illegal for foreignersto be involved in Christian ministry. The risks are real. We know friends who have been prisoned or deported for doing so, e...

Returning for a Home Visit?

A GUIDE FOR CHURCHES AND MISSION PARTNERSWhen Your Mission Partner Comes Home For A VisitYOUR MISSION PARTNER is about to return home from their service for God overseas. All sorts of arrangements need to be put in place. Whose responsibility is it to ensure these arrangements are made? Is it something the mission partner should sort out? Or should their family or sending church take care of it?Very often, church leaders will assume that the mission partner and their family will sort it out betw...

Hidden in My Heart

When Taylor Murray arrived in Japan, she felt like she was on an adventure-an adventure that God had called her family to take. The unique food, the strange language and the foreign culture were exciting and new. But the novelty of life overseas wore off, and Taylor became overwhelmed with frustration, loneliness and the sorrow of leaving everything she knew-the States, her home, her extended family-for everything she didn't know. She kept these emotions hidden in her heart until they reached a ...

"Young People In Missions" Survey

We'd love to hear your thoughts on missions! Follow the link included to take our "Young People in Missions" survey and go in the draw to win one of three missions biographies!https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/778P263...

Mission In An Era Of Migrants And Refugees

The unprecedented changes that are taking place both in the global village and in the Church have implications for how the Church does missions in the twenty-first century. Some of these trends include the rise of postmodernism, the general spiritual decline in the West and the growth of the Church in the Global South, the impact of technology on society and missions and the migration of millions of people. This devotion will focus on people movement.  According to the UNHCR, the world is n...

Health & Safety For Mission Partners

Anyone in New Zealand will know our Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (“HSWA”) has dramatically changed attitudes, awareness and practices in our workplaces and public areas. The HSWA applies to those who are employed or volunteer at our churches, as well as those who come onto the premises. But what about the mission partners sent to some other place on the globe? Does church leadership have a duty of care to mission partners sent by the church to minister cross-culturally in another count...

PNG Earthquake

The media haven't really told us how devastating the earthquake in Papua New Guinea has been. We have had reports of damaged homes and deaths. The picture you see shows the recovery of bodies from a crushed house at Tagawi above Guala Station.I invite you to be a vital part of helping people in Papua New Guinea rebuild their lives. We have established the 'PNG Earthquake Fund’ within GC Aid to receive donations which we will channel through to Papua New Guinea to provide help and assistance to...

Who On Earth Are We Here For?

As people committed to following Jesus, how do we answer this question? We can come up with any number of responses, but the request of Jesus was very succinct. He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”, then “Love your neighbour as yourself.” (Matt 22:37) But really, how does this play out in my life and in the activities of GC3? Everyone on the Board of GC3 is unashamedly passionate about the explaining of the gospel message in ...

Missionary Care Resources

Seventeen e-books are available for download here, or for reading online. These books are also free and may be freely shared. They can be downloaded in several different formats:pdf (our recommendation)doc (Microsoft Word)zip (a zipped copy of the Microsoft Word file)mobi (for Kindle)epub (for Sony eReader, Nook, and other compatible e-readers)The topics are:Third Culture Kids and Adolescence: Cultural CreationsUnderstanding AdolescenceRaising Resilient MKs: Resources for Caregivers, Parents, an...