18 ED talks shared at the 2025 Good News for Aotearoa forum
Faith meets Fitness - revival outside the four walls
Bradden Hurn from Imperium shared how Jesus’ name is being exalted on beaches. Every Saturday 6am-9am in Tauranga, Auckland and Christchurch, people are meeting to pray, run, plunge, and have coffee. Everyone is welcome; all ages, all fitness levels, Christians, non-Christians, all denominations. The Imperium team are reaching out, and helping people ignite or reignite their faith and connect to a church. They help each person to go after their own relationship with Jesus. When a person comes to faith, they link them with someone else who lives in a similar area and that person invites them along to their church. They have a mobile training app to help people with fitness and faith, and they have a clothing line. As people have enjoyed the unity, light and joy and have grown in their faith, 200 have been reconciled in the last year and 100 baptisms have taken place.
18 students came to Christ through being part of a community of believers.
Justin O'Malley from Tandem Ministries (Campus Crusade for Christ International in Aotearoa, NZ) shared. They run the following ministries: StudentLife, Athletes in Action, FamilyLife, WorkLife, Love Your Neighbour and the Jesus Film Project (which is now available in many languages). On campus, Tandem Ministries aim to help students to be able to share their testimony and articulate the gospel, and move a conversation into a spiritual conversation. Through their outreach, many students come to faith in the first few weeks of joining a uni campus. For those who don’t make a commitment but are interested in finding out more, Tandem Ministry runs Explore Groups that allow people to explore Jesus in a group of 7-8. These missional communities are really important as they provide a place where people can spend time and ask questions. Recently 29 non-Christians, who are part of these Explore Groups, wanted to go with their community to an evangelism conference being run for the Christians, feeling that this is the group they belonged to! While at the conference, or in the week after, 18 of them gave their lives to Jesus!
Jade Hohaia - Green shoots in Tauranga
There are green shoots growing in Tauranga with a Maori Village being established. After Jade researched and wrote the book Tāmihana she desired that someone take up the call to help Maori come to love Jesus like had happened before. She now feels that this is her call. Currently only three percent of the one million Maori in NZ go to church. She shared how when Christianity came to NZ, Maori were given Christianity as a pot plant when it should have been given a seed that could grow in its own soil. “The message needs to be uniquely us, that suits our palette.”
Jade is the Māori advisor for the Wilberforce Foundation and is their Māori Strategic Partnership Lead.
One piece of wisdom she shared: to help heal the Maori disappointment of covenantal love being broken in the nation, love your neighbour as yourself. Maori need to know if you really love them.
The Power of Simplicity
Brian Bullen had been a pastor for many years. Dissatisfied with the impact churches were having of making disciples who could make disciples, Brian did an experiment in doing things differently. He met with people in their homes and through using the Discovery Bible Study, shared Jesus with them. He then encouraged them to do the same with others. Over time, many groups have formed and people are making disciples who are making disciples who are making disciples...
Lessons learned:
Keep it simple so others can do it with others easily; simple tools, simple strategies.
Focus on helping people learn to obey (Matt 28:20), rather than gaining knowledge.
Six words that tell us everything: love God, love people, make disciples.
What is discipling? It's helping people fall in love with Jesus and spending the rest of their life pleasing him.
Brian and his wife Stephanie run training to help others understand how to do this. See their website for details.
Re-evangelising New Zealand
Mark Keown from Laidlaw College
What would it take to evangelise Aotearoa NZ? How can we partner with God as he re-evangelises NZ? Christians need to gain confidence in the gospel and be equipped to confidently share it. Many churches need revitalisation and to be mobilised to mission.
Possible components of a Gospel movement in Aotearoa NZ:
Repentance; Reconciliation (cultural, denominational); Evangelistic Prayer; Missional Unity; Evangelism at the Centre; The One Gospel Clarified (unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials, charity in all things); The Gospel for Kiwis (consider how to contextualise for NZ); Public Witness (Christlike posture, speaking well in the public space); Courage and Confidence (encouraging the church and its leadership); Apologetics (equipping all Christians to answer questions); Ethics (A Christoform posture to the world; humility, service, unity, and aroha); Suffering; Church Planting; Apostles and Evangelists Equipped; Financial Resourcing; Evangelism Resources; Academic Resources; Churches Revitalised; Local Gospel Movements; Evangelistic Leaders; A Serving Centre (Establishing a movement centre that serves, organises, equips, empowers, and supports the movement).
If you are interested in collaborating with Mike and others on this project, he’d love to hear from you.
MKeown@laidlaw.ac.nz
Good News for all Creation: Reimagining Evangelism through creation care
James Beck shared his passion for creation care. If we are called to love our neighbours as ourselves, we need to care for the environment and the people who are being impacted. We need to care about what people care about, and we can help alleviate their anxiety regarding creation care by giving them pathways to care for creation, and learn about the creator and his love for them at the same time. Young people are desperate to find answers, and they feel more at peace when they feel they are doing something to help the world’s climate problems. In the last year, 300 people have made a commitment to Jesus, and to looking after creation.
You can show how you love God by how you look after the creation around you, and invite others into the hope that God invites us into.
A New Era of Evangelism in NZ
Rowan Locke from Thinking Matters shared how Thinking Matters is helping Christians to have confidence to share their faith. While our testimony is one tool, we also need to be able to have the tools to have conversations about the questions that people have about Christianity. Christians need to listen well to people. Our aim should be to help people journey one step closer to God. Be faithful in your step on their journey. Let people share their hurt, and express their experiences, prejudices and concerns. Some people fall away from Christianity because they don't get to voice their questions. Two good questions are: “What do you mean by that?” and “How did you come to that conclusion?”
Thinking Matters were pleased to have been able to book Wes Huff to tour NZ in September.
Casting our Nets
https://www.catchnetwork.org.nz/
Martin Robinson from Catch Network shared how Catch Network is training people to go out and make missional communities. Jesus is standing at the church door knocking…. to be let out. God is calling us to GO. Six communities have arisen from their first cohort, a second cohort are currently in the nine month equipping phase, and another cohort will start early next year. The nine month equipping journey includes three one-day Intensives and 18 online workshops held fortnightly. If you are interested in the 2026 cohort, go to their website.
Martin shared a PowerPoint slide that said: Jesus left the 99 in search of the one lost sheep… we've put most of our resource into keeping the one… but have forgotten the 99 lost ones!
During the panel time the question was asked, “What do you think is needed to catalyze the evangelism ecosystem?” Martin’s wife Allison responded, “People are looking to see our lives. People want to see humble embodied authentic faith.”
Jeremy Dempsey OAC
Jeremy shared that OAC has been in existence for 70 years, taking the gospel out, and equipping churches to do so. OAC goes into schools, pubs, camping grounds etc and helps train churches since the role of the evangelist is to raise up labourers, not just do the work themselves. OAC are helping churches to be intentional to reach their community. OAC encourages churches to go out to where the people are as “there’s no point fishing in the bath tub, go to where the fish are.” OAC helps train people to communicate the gospel in their lives and community. There are lots of churches doing lots of service, but there can be a disconnect with sharing faith and discipling people. Many Christians want to share Jesus but lack the confidence and competence. Jeremy shared the story of a lady who just needed to hear the truth about God: she had a distorted view that God hated her but became a Christian after learning otherwise. If you or your church are interested in their training, see their website for details. They have a three week School of Evangelism coming up starting on 16 Feb.
Responding to the Great Commission in Aotearoa
https://disciplemakingmovement.com
Sam Turner from Discipleship Making Movement (DMM) shared that their ministry’s focus is on equipping disciples to bring in the harvest. They believe that when Paul said “I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Jesus, with no place left”, Paul would have achieved ‘no place left’ through discipling others who discipled others who discipled others. DMM's mission is to help people become true followers of Christ, equipped to disciple others and make an eternal impact. DMM teaches new believers to walk in obedience and equips them so they can bring in the harvest.
Listening First: Young Voices, New Vision
Annette Osborne from Scripture Union
Scripture Union supports churches to help children and young people discover Jesus and become lifelong disciples who serve the world around them. Scripture Union has listened well to their leaders who are having faith conversations with children. From the responses to a survey and information gleaned from interviews, Scripture Union has developed a new set of values. They have found that there has been a shift. The equipping previously given is different to what is needed now. There is much more focus on evangelism being relational, with leaders needing to be prepared to discuss many topics and share the hope they find in God with the children. Scripture Union are currently making resources and tools to support churches and organisations to train their leaders to relate and converse with children well.
Gospel Down Under - Gospel Images
What do we do about people misunderstanding the gospel images of Christianity?
Philip Sampson, who is assistant pastor at New Generation Church, a Baptist church in Christchurch, has completed his PhD and is now making resources from his findings to help NZ Christians know how to share Jesus using understandable and biblically-faithful imagery.
The Biblical writers used allegories of the day to illustrate the gospel. What modern day allegories can we use? For example, to illustrate cleansing: Most New Zealanders would be appalled at animal sacrifice, so explaining Jesus like an animal sacrifice may not help them understand the real meaning. We need to both give a good deal of explanation of the cultural context of Biblical times, and give modern day examples that communicate the same biblical gospel message. For example, as a contemporary allegory, Jesus is the ultimate/final rubbish truck that removes all the rubbish from our lives and makes us spiritually clean. Another example is the understanding of redemption; if we redeem hotpoints or vouchers, or a rugby team redeems themself by winning a game, what will people understand if we say Jesus has redeemed them?
We need to listen carefully to Scripture and listen carefully to our audience. We need to be aware of whether our words are helping or hindering them understanding the message so that we can carefully share the one biblical gospel.
Check out this link to an article Philip wrote for the New Zealand Baptist’s magazine earlier in the year: https://baptist.nz/the-rubbish-truck-and-the-gospel/
Imagine what God could do
Jenny Collins from Christian Medical Fellowship NZ shared. CMFnz is a network of Christian health care providers across the medical profession. Their aim is to support Christian medical practitioners to help people with physical and spiritual health.
Jenny put out the challenge to all sectors of the workplace to imagine the possibilities of how their sector could develop a network to support Christians to live and share their faith in the workplace.
Thirsty for the Presence: a House for Prayer for all Seekers
Dale Campbell from 24/7 Prayer recommends that churches be houses of prayer for the seekers who are coming to God. He shared that skeptics, influencers, Gen Z's, and random people are coming back to church. Are our prayer meetings ready for these people? We need to re-evaluate what our meetings are like. Those coming back are wearied by secularism. They are not keen on pomp or glam. They are bored by Jesus being made casual or cool. They are thirsting for the real thing, of God's presence and power. Dale suggests we lean in, and learn the historical ways of prayer to assist us.
Faith and Whakapapa
The Downes Whanau from Breakthrough Community Trust in Taumarunui
https://www.facebook.com/BreakthroughWellnessCentre/
Jamie shared how his Whanau are helping in their community to build into people's identity and belonging through their cultural connections and whakapapa. This enhances people's mental health and wellbeing. Their trust has also been involved with helping in the greater mental health space in Aotearoa.
Communicating the Gospel in the language of the people
Luke Collis from Unashamed
Young people need to know that God is real. When they are presented the gospel message, they are hungry. We need to give people the opportunity to hear the gospel in ways they can hear.
Those at Pentecost were enabled to speak in the language of the people. This is what we are called to do in our day; we need to talk in the language of the people. Unashamed runs events where youth hang out, sharing the gospel through the creative arts.
You can watch Luke’s spoken word ‘Do you know him?’ at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9PPfoG5Yiw
Google ‘Luke Collis spoken word’ to find other spoken words he has made.
If you are a rap artist, band, spoken artist or are gifted with any other creative art, and you have a heart to share the gospel and you might be interested in helping this ministry, please contact Luke via their website.
Jesus the Puna of life
Jude Michael Sinai from Nga Waihua o Paerangi Trust in the Ruapehu community
Jude had a vision of a strong working man putting down his chainsaw and going down to the river of life and drinking, and then going and hugging his spouse. His children joined in the hug, to share in the new love.
The ministry aims to see this happen and they are seeing it happening. They aim to see Maori men being led out of the world and standing strong in the name of Jesus.
Unity at Uni: How open discourse opens doors.
Anthony Cluley from STOC
There is a wide spectrum of people on Auckland Uni Campus. While other Christian groups on campus aim to reach out to those who are interested in exploring faith, STOC (Seeking Truth on Campus) runs events where conversations can be had with people anywhere on the spectrum of faith. STOC engages in open discussions with some of the most difficult and interesting concepts and challenges of the Christian faith, where all opinions are welcomed.
Anthony shared how the questions ‘Why am I here?’ and ‘Where am I going?’ are two questions that secularism doesn't answer.