From the makers of Faith Box, Faith4Families have just launched Faith Talk Trigger Cards.
The trigger cards are the size of a deck of cards and are an ideal resource to recommend to your parents of teenagers.
Each card has “would you rather” openers followed by topics from Reputation to Forgiveness, Temptation to Peer Pressure.
https://www.faith4families.org/triggers/
NUA is all about exploration: it’s a film series that encourages questions, acknowledges doubt, and offers an engaging perspective on the Christian faith. Discuss your worldview and wrestle with the things that don’t seem to make sense—this film series is about the life-changing experience of working out your faith.
Session One // How Did We Get Here?
Session Two // Jesus: Fact or Fiction?
Session Three // What About The Resurrection?
Session Four // What Was Jesus Really Like?
Session Five // Why Do I Like Jesus, But Struggle With Christians?
Session Six // How Can You Say That God Is Good?
Session Seven // Has The Church Caused More Harm Than Good?
Session Eight // What’s Jesus Got To Do With Me?
As you probably are aware there is a crisis facing our young people like no other time before. We are seeing record suicide rates, young people on pills for anxiety/depression, family violence – just to name a few issues. Add into this mix: bullying, isolation, self image and the list goes on.
You are invited to participate in 24 hours of prayer on 11/12 May. It’s really simple, just find a time to pray with your youth group or churches and log it on the Heartache website so others in your region can attend your prayer/worship meeting and stand with you. Timeline and themes are on the Heartache website to give you some ideas. So far 300+ churches across many denominations are participating.
Keeping young people out of hospital and youth and children’s workers out of prison…
***Key leaders please pass this on to your teams***
PYM and Kids Friendly are happy to announce this free warrant of fitness training days
21-23 July – @ Connect – Waikanae
12 Aug – Oamaru (Weston Community Church) – 9am-2:30pm (lunch provided by Synod)
16 Sept – Auckland (Ranui PIC) 9am-4pm
11 Nov – Christchurch (venue tbc) – 9:30am – 3:30pm
Cost: Free to people from Presbyterian or Uniting churches. $20 for others.
The warrant of fitness training day encompasses vital training on the youth and children’s code of ethics and health and safety practices and is strongly recommended for all leaders working with children or youth.
For more information on the WOF training please visit http://oldsite.pym.org.nz/wof/
Participants must attend the full day in order to receive the PCANZ WOF certificate.
July is Bible Month.
The Bible Society, as part of it’s Good for Life campaign, have released some great resources that might be useful for your youth ministry. They have some excellent testimony videos, Bible Studies, A Bible Summary, posters and a six month New Testament Reading Challenge which includes a completion certificate.
The Bible Society have also given these tips for studying the Bible.
PRAY – ask God to help you understand what you’re about to read.
READ AND LISTEN – read the passage slowly and carefully. Think about the parts that stand out for you. Read those verses again.
THINK / REFLECT – ask yourself some questions:
• What’s the main point of the passage?
• What does it say about God? Does it say anything about
what God wants for me?
• Is there something I need to learn? Is there an example to follow, or a warning? Is God giving me a promise?
• How does God want me to respond in my thoughts, words and actions?
WRITE / JOURNAL – it’s also good to write down your thoughts and the verses that really stood out for you in a journal so you can look back on what you’ve learned.
PRAISE – thank God for his Word and what you’ve learned today. If you find your Bible hard to understand, have a look at some advice on finding an easier to read Bible.
The Sound Fuse summer camp is a clashing of faith, music and culture. It is designed to capture the feeling of a music festival, but with the “we’re in it together” focus of a missional task-force. It is a micro-microFestival. (That’s a new phrase.)
It is aimed at senior high-school students who want to make a difference in the world, who have a bent for creative expression, and who love (or are curious about) God. During this week together, we are looking to create those moments of deep connection where music + people + place all combine into something unique and meaningful… and we’ll be using the powerful creative capabilities of music and words to help lead us there. The questions we’re looking to answer is, how do I become the kind of person the world needs more of? and, how can I do that with style? ?
Location: Tirohanga Camp, Dunedin, NZ
Dates: 17th-21st January, 2017
Cost: $350pp.
Age: 15+
Website: http://thesoundfuse.com/
Pray for our Pacific is non-denominational and open to interpretation. Therefore each church community has an opportunity to Pray for our Pacific in whatever way best reflects their community and capacity. These are some examples:
Your event can be as big or as small as you like. What is important is that your church owns your event and you know that you will be joined by our brothers and sisters throughout the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand. Possibly beyond!
It’s important that we as a people use our faith to empower ourselves and this movement. We aren’t looking to our faith as a way to solve the issue of climate change, but we are looking to our faith to find the strength to continue the fight to protect the planet that was gifted to us. Not a planet that we have dominion over, but a planet we are stewards of.
This year Alpha’s going global with over 52 countries launching at the same time in
September, extended over 18 months. Through the campaign video and materials, Bear Grylls will challenge the perception of being a fearless outdoor adventurer by sharing an untold story of his inner adventure to faith.
With the help of Bear Grylls popularity, Alpha New Zealand is planning on running a significant advertising throughout the country. My understanding is, that Alpha aims to have 350 churches in our country start an Alpha course just after Easter in May 2017. Alpha can’t make this happen, and needs churches to partner with them.
In September 2016 Alpha New Zealand will be holding “Invite the Nation“, 1 hour events, across New Zealand. With food, a talk and discussion Alpha wants to encourage cities and towns to come together to invite the nation.
Whangarei: 5th September 2016, 7pm, St Andrews Uniting Church
Auckland – North Shore: 6th September 2016, 7pm, Birkenhead Baptist Church
Auckland – Central: 7th September 2016, 12pm, Mt Albert Baptist Church
Auckland – East: 7th September 2016, 7pm, Elim Botany Downs
Hamilton: 9th September 2016, 12pm, Hamilton Central Baptist Church
Tauranga: 9th September 2016, 7pm, Bethlehem Baptist Church
Hawke’s Bay: 10th September 2016, 7pm, St John’s Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Palmerston North: 12th September 2016, 7pm, Salvation Army Palmerston North
Waitara / New Plymouth: 13th September 2016, 7pm, Knox Church Waitara
Wellington: 22nd September 2016, 7pm, Salvation Army Johnsonville
Nelson: 15th September 2016, 7pm, St Barnabas Anglican Church Stoke
Christchurch: 16th September 2016, Grace Vineyard City Campus
Dunedin: 19th September 2016, East Taieri Church
Gore: TBC
At these meetings you will get access to resources to invite your community/your peers/your colleagues to explore faith. With one of the worlds most recognised TV stars as the face of the Invitation, there’s never been a better opportunity to invite people on Alpha.
Each year Kid Friendly (the children’s department of the Presbyterian Church) runs an art and writing competition, with over $900 worth of cool prizes to be won..The compeition has different age categories, ranging all the way up to Year 8. So this may be worth checking out if you have an intermediate youth ministry.
The Love Reaches Out art and writing competition winds up on Friday, 26 August 2016.
The Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership is offering a limited number of scholarships in 2016, to Presbyterians doing part-time or full-time theological studies through Otago University, Auckland University, Laidlaw College or Carey Baptist College. If you know of anyone who might benefit from such a grant, please encourage them to apply. They should send a letter of application detailing their course (and costs) of study, and what church they’re involved in. They should also include a brief letter of support from someone in their church (preferably their minister, so we can discuss their church involvement and the course of study). Deadline for applications is 30th June 2016. Letters should be sent to the Principal, Rev Dr Steve Taylor, at Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, Knox College, Arden Street, Opoho, Dunedin 9010 or emailed to principal@knoxcentre.ac.nz. The amounts awarded are dependent on the number of applications received and the amount of trust funds available. The number of theology papers being taken and previous amounts awarded are also taken into consideration.
