What happens when you invite an Old Testament lecturer and seven students to join in with a week and a half of ministry and mission at a suburban Chinese church in Auckland, New Zealand?
This past month, our church had the joy of hosting a mission team from Sydney at the bible college where we spent 3 formative years. Having experienced our own formative mission weeks while we were students ourselves, it was a special opportunity to “give back” and also to be mutually encouraged as a church family.
From 5-13 April, our Chinese Baptist church became home base for Geoff, Alby, Grace, James, Jess, Joel, Phoebe and Shincy to put their classroom learning into practice, work as a team, and develop their God-given spiritual gifts and abilities. As a church, we too were pushed outside our comfort zones, with church members opening their homes to strangers (for many it was the first time they’d hosted a non-Chinese person in their homes!), offering hospitality and welcome to people with different meal preferences, and learning how to love and care for a group of bible college students. In the Lord’s kindness, the experience truly was a reflection of both our college’s tagline: “Come, Grow, Go”, and our church’s vision to “make disciples of all nations for Jesus”. The chance to lead worship in song as “Ti Rakau Drive” (our pop-up band with church members and college students) was also pretty special!
On the final day, we gave several gifts on behalf of our church, one being a pair of chopsticks. The symbolism (not original to us!) is special in the context of gospel ministry. Just as both chopsticks are needed to move even a single grain of rice, in God’s kingdom it takes both the prayer partner and gospel worker to fulfil the mission our Triune God calls us to accomplish. As instruments in His hands, our prayer is that this special team will continue to acquit themselves well in their studies, and continue to proclaim Christ and serve His people, for the sake of his holy name.
We’re grateful to God for the opportunity to partner in the gospel this way.
Here’s a summary and photos from the mission team’s own words:
7 April – So far we’ve been involved in three services over the weekend (two Cantonese with Geoff preaching; one English with James Chou preaching), plus kids church, youth ministry, dinner with the young adults, and a late night jam session with the youth!
It’s a quieter day today (Monday). We’ve been hearing from Pastors Albert Tang and William HC about the joys and challenges of ministry at PCBC. There’s also been some time to explore the beautiful Auckland area.
Please pray:
- For good engagement with folks at a community English class we are running on Tuesday morning
- For helpful conversations as we head to Auckland Uni on Wednesday to hear from the TSCF team there
- For good relationships and mutual encouragement with our hosts.
10 April – We’ve had a great few days in Auckland, continuing to partner with PCBC across a range of ministries including an ESL class, young adults ministry, and catching up with church members over meals. We’ve also had opportunity to visit several different Auckland ministries (OMF, TSCF) as well as hearing from a number of pastors and other church leaders. This has been wonderful for granting insight into the challenges and opportunities for gospel work in New Zealand.
Please pray:
- For a restful day off tomorrow
- For participating in a range of evangelistic opportunities on Saturday morning
- For James, Jess, and Albert as they prepare to preach this weekend.
13 April – The team had opportunity to engage in some ‘hobbit ministry’ on Friday! The weekend was filled with evangelism ministries including three church services – Jess preaching in English and translated into Cantonese; James preaching in Mandarin; and Albert preaching to the English congregation.
Then final farewells before heading to the airport. Please pray for safe travel home to Australia and for the ongoing work of the gospel in Pakuranga.
