Events

 

“Dreaming Together of what is Possible with God”

Sick of Safe Mission Summit, Chapel Hill Community Church, Hamilton (1 -3 October, 2010)

The long anticipated Global Connections in Mission summit, held at Chapel Hill Community Church in Hamilton, finally happened in the first weekend of October.  150 participants from 28 New Zealand Christian Brethren churches/assemblies, including one from Invercargill, gathered on the Friday night eagerly awaiting what lay ahead for the weekend.  Very quickly the buzz of being a part of something special was evident and this feeling remained for the weekend.  The planning committee (ably led by Russell Embling) had set 4 people from any one church as a requirement for attending the weekend so that effective dialogue and planning could be made.  Many exceeded this amount.  The concerns as to how this requirement may have impacted the numbers attending were very quickly dispelled.

The tone for the weekend was set by Rob Purdue (Bright Hope World) when he showed a DVD of one of their partners in India (T Raja of Home of Hope) who is a modern day “Good Samaritan”. He goes around meeting the needs of the desperate in his community, the abandoned, the sick, the dying and the DVD showed the incredible way he ministers Christ’s love to these people.  The theme of the summit was “Sick of Safe” and we were immediately confronted with this challenge as the call was given to partner with such people as T Raja in mission.

There were three keynote speakers.  One of those attending noted in their evaluation of the weekend that, “all three speakers were engaging, enthusiastic and relevant in their topics and presentation.”  Phil Tait started Saturday off with a very considered presentation entitled Partnership across the Cultural Divide.  This provided us with the structure to think about partnering with churches and ministries from the majority world.  Historically we have partnered through our many mission partners from New Zealand over 100 years or more but increasingly we are partnering more directly with people in the majority world.  Phil suggested that this process can be strengthened by having, as part of the process, an agency to assist, advise and provide accountability.  Phil then challenged us as to our level of Cultural Intelligence and are we culturally intelligent enough to partner with the majority world.

Emma Stokes (GCiM Youth Director) set the afternoon proceedings alight with her challenging address Engaging Youth in Mission.  One attendee said that it was, “alive, passionate, inspiring and motivating.”  Emma challenged us all regarding the youth in our churches, do we trust them, do we believe in them, do we engage with them and do we empower them.  Our youth want to be involved in mission and in church life, we need to provide the opportunities and journey with them as they grow in God and in His work.

And then in the evening, after a wonderful dinner put on for us by the Burmese Community from Auckland followed by cultural dances and songs by this same group, we had our final speaker for the day.  Tony Plews took us through a number of real life present day examples in his talk called Connecting with the Changing Face of Missions.  Tony used the verse from Matthew 16:18 to emphasise that the church is being built by Jesus Christ and that no enemy will stop it but more than that, His church is assaulting the enemy territory and nothing will hold out against God’s church and God’s mission. The verse has an offensive emphasis not  a defensive one. It was exhilarating and a wonderful way to finish the day.

In between all of these wonderful addresses those participating had the opportunity to attend electives of their choosing.  The participants at the electives found them very valuable, would have liked to have gone to more and found it wonderful to be with people from other churches.  There was a good range of electives to choose from, they were,  Setting up and Running Effective Mission teams; Running Safe and Effective Short Term Mission Excursions; Commendation and Ongoing Care Processes; Empowering Youth Activists and Developing and Sustaining Effective Cross Cultural Partnerships.  For the latter elective we had invited two of GCiM’s partners from Papua New Guinea and the Philippines (Kos Umion and Ronnie Magpayo) to help us think through the implications of partnership from a majority world perspective.  Kos and Ronnie were able to speak at Chapel Hill and Hillcrest respectively on the Sunday morning of the summit and they were appreciated in these places.  Around the visit of Kos and Ronnie there was organised a Road Show where a number of churches and communities were able to hear them talk about their ministries, their passion and their vision for the future.  Many fruitful discussions have followed these meetings.   

An important part of the weekend were the times spent within the church groups talking through and processing the issues and challenges relating to partnership and engaging in mission in the 21st century.  A couple of comments illustrates the reaction, "A highlight for the weekend would have to be talking as a team about the relevance of mission in our own church and dreaming together of what is possible with God" and "A great time with passionate people who are desiring to be more effective in the ongoing ministry of reaching people for Christ."  Our desire is to move on from the ad hoc decisions in mission where we involve ourselves at our convenience to acting strategically and proactively in mission decision making.  The sessions and the weekend’s programme were enthusiastically chaired by Russell Thorp who kept us focused on the key tasks and the goals set out for the summit.  We would also pass on our grateful thanks to the people of Chapel Hill Community Church, who graciously allowed us to use their premises for the time of the Mission Summit.

This is not the end but just the beginning.  Global Connections in Mission desires to work with churches as they engage in mission.  Next year GCiM will have more people available to work with churches, to plan and to strategise and put in effective plans in mission for their church.  Make sure you contact us if you are wanting to be part of this renewed advance in mission.

John Hodgkinson