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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...

Is your missionary wasting money...

This could be a question that you have pondered, about the relationship between practical help and the gospel. You support a missionary. Is that money well spent? Is their time well used? Missionaries now days have such a variety of roles from IT specialists to school teachers to medical workers to engineers. How do they fit in advancing the gospel? Can it even be a smokescreen of good works while merely appearing to advance the gospel? I ask these questions from an engineering perspective and a...

Is Your Missionary Wasting Time And Money On Humanitarian Projects?

This could be a question that you have pondered, about the relationship between practical help and the gospel. You support a missionary. Is that money well spent? Is their time well used? Missionaries now days have such a variety of roles from IT specialists to school teachers to medical workers to engineers. How do they fit in advancing the gospel? Can it even be a smokescreen of good works while merely appearing to advance the gospel? I ask these questions from an engineering perspective and a...

Psalm 126: Facing Reality In Mission

Psalm 126 is part of a collection of “Songs of Ascents”, probably used in post-Exilic times as songs of pilgrimage for the great annual festivals in Jerusalem. Such festivals were reminiscent of mission conferences, when the people of God remembered past mission experiences, faced the present challenges, and strategized for the future. In a similar fashion, this psalm reflects this threefold experience – opportunity for return and restoration to the Promised Land (vs.1-3), disappointment i...

Investing In The Future Of Mission

We have all heard the expression, “You can’t take it with you” So within a mission context, and with a desire to be a good steward of all that God has entrusted to us, how do we respond to that statement?Your WillMission activity has long been funded from legacies and distributions from the estates of Christian people. Besides providing for family upon their death, many have generously given to Christian charities involved in mission and evangelism, responding as a faithful steward.Pause �...

Beyond my wildest dreams …

“If (the vision) seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.” Habakkuk 2:3 (NLT) I had no idea when I left for Nairobi in late January of this year that just five months on I would be writing about a pilot economic empowerment training that’s become a church plant. It’s happened with a group of Swahili speaking people at Mavuno Church’s Hill City Campus. When I arrived, my prayer was that God would give me a launching pad within Mavuno, ...

Psalm 93: The Lord Reigns

In Papua New Guinea, for over 8 years we lived by the sea. Its sounds, whether thundering crashes over rocks or reefs, or swishing wavelets sweeping up the beaches, were parts of our subconscious. The waves constantly invited us to listen to their restless mobility and persistent efforts to invade the land they had come up against. Psalm 93 is an invitation to consider God in the image of towering rocks above a stormy ocean. The psalm implicitly acknowledges that the Creator God who at the begin...

We Are Encouraged!

It has been encouraging to see the increase in the value of funds directed through GC Aid now we have the special tax-efficient donee status there for some organisations. For your information, those who currently qualify are – • Christian Brethren Churches, PNG (various)• CDLA, DRC - Murray & Joy (Day 23)• CMCT, India - Colleen (Day 8)• Harland Deaf Ministries, Fiji (various)• Lapis Lazuli Schools, Afghanistan• Limapela Development Limited, Zambia - Matthew & Alison (Day 11)• You...

A Study Of Ecclesiastes

This series of sermons by Russell Thorp were first shared with churches back in September 2014. The three sermons, Finding Gain, Death and the Joy of and Ordinary Life, and Recovering Our Purpose have been download over 3000 times and streamed online over 1500 times. ...

Mission Focus in the Psalms

The Psalms are the song book of ancient Israel. They are varied. There are Psalms that speak out the highest levels of worship and praise, the deepest depths of discouragement and despair and the widest visions of the knowledge of God. Some psalms share the innermost and hard-won lessons from personal and national history. Others are designed to share the faith with the next and future generations. Despite its ups and downs, the nation of Israel was called by God to be a missionary nation. Their...

What is GC Aid?

GC Aid was established in 2008 to focus our attention on humanitarian needs to provide for the relief of suffering. Many of our Mission Partners and affiliated organisations are involved with these adversities as part of their daily ministries. The goal for GC Aid is to assist in the transformation of communities both within and outside New Zealand with the use of resources that we may be able to provide. Our focus has primarily been given to disaster relief. Considerable funds have come through...

What is GC Assist?

GC Assist provides the physical and human resources for GC3's operations. GC Assist is the operations trust within GC3. It is this trust that employs our directors & staff, holds the contracts with our suppliers & through which we generally conduct our operations. That means the operational activity listed for GCiM & GC Aid happens through this trust. Like every other similar organisation, GC Assist pays & claims GST. It also complies with all its other tax obligations & enjoys 'donee status', m...

What is GCiM?

GCiM encourages churches & individuals to be proactively involved in effective mission. We also provide support services to mission partners scattered around the world. Our work with churches ... There are a number of ways we provide that specific encouragement, support & focus in our work with churches. When we visit we can listen & enable discovery of the gifts God has given your church to work withcomplete a mission awareness profile of your church to enlarge your mission opportunitiespartici...

Commendations

Fenton Park Bible Church would like to advise you of the commendation of Ruth to her work with Interserve in a restricted access country. The Elders of Northgate Community Church are please to commend David & Kendal Duthie to the work they are currently doing with WEC. The Elders of Heretaunga Christian Centre and The Coast Community Church are pleased to advise the commendation of Alistair & Linda MacKinnon to serve with Military Life under Tandem Ministries NZ. The role calls for significant t...

Psalm 67 – Blessed to be a blessing

This short but completely symmetrical psalm may have ended Sabbath worship in the Temple in Jerusalem and followed the priestly blessing recorded in Numbers 6:24-26. Worshippers would have then departed feeling the warmth of the promised goodness of God. This benediction oriented worshippers towards acknowledging God’s generosity in harvest, in vintage, in calving and lambing and in child-bearing. But the structure of this psalm, like much Hebrew poetry, is chiastic – like the Greek letter C...

Special Donee Status for GC Aid

Earlier this month we received some very good news. GC Aid has been granted ‘Schedule 32’ Donee Status! Generally, donations to charities and churches in New Zealand qualify for a one-third tax credit when a gift is spent within the country. Each of our GC3 trusts has that general Donee Status. It means that when an individual gives $300 to us for our activities within NZ, we can issue a donation receipt that can be used to claim $100 back in their IR526 Tax Credit Claim form. However, gifts...

Psalm 2 - Crowning God as King

Psalm 2 is a coronation song. Coronations in Israel were often like a breath of fresh air, a new beginning, raising the hopes of loyal Israelites for better things ahead. If times had been bad, or the previous king was old and weak, the coronation of another prince promised a new start. But a new king often meant that tax-paying subject nations around worked to throw off the shackles of dependency, or to broker a new deal with the new and inexperienced king. So this enthronement anthem acted as ...