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New International exists to proclaim Christ and make disciples globally. Let us join with God as He continues to make all things new; He gives us new vision of new ways to reach new communities with the Good News of Christ, bringing new light to hearts that have previously been lost.
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- 12/22/2015
- new international
Returning to New Zealand
In her youth, missionaries shared the gospel with Rosalind - now she and her family are returning to give that opportunity to others.
"For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." - 2 Corinthians 2:15
It may not be very good hermeneutics to apply this verse to grape Kool-Aid, but I can't help associating the drink's unique smell with knitting needles and open Bibles and learning about salvation in Cindy Boyd's living room. Darryl and Cindy Boyd were missionaries who came to New Zealand through South Pacific Christian Fellowship because American churches cared enough to send a couple who cared enough to go to this highly secular nation, an almost forgotten mission field. Through them I was given the chance to hear and receive the word of God, because every knitting lesson ended not only with amazing grape Kool-Aid but with a Bible study.
After the Boyds, Quinn and Becky Schipper and Dena Martin came. All of them focused on one thing, to get the Word of God into the people of Auckland, New Zealand. They made me fall in love with the Bible, I couldn't get enough of what they were teaching so I left New Zealand to attend St. Louis Christian College in Missouri. SLCC understood the great spiritual need in Oceania and helped in many ways to encourage New Zealanders to receive an education and return home to be a light in a dark place.
Our family started the process of returning to NZ to plant a church about 3 years ago. It took quite a while to accept that God would be asking us to leave a comfortable church position in the States, and do something we had never done before - plant a new church and do it on full-time missionary support! However, the more we see what God has done in our lives, the investing that His people have done in us, the amazing opportunities that we have been given and the ways we have grown; we understand that God is not only asking this of us, but expecting it. And this is His timing. It is surreal to consider that God has brought me full circle, from being the one whose life was changed by the opportunity to hear the gospel from missionaries, to now working with South Pacific Christian Fellowship (a ministry of NMSI) as a missionary who will provide that opportunity for others. It won't be through knitting needles, for everyone's sakes, it may not even be through a sugary drink, but using the unique abilities and resources we have been given we hope to be faithful witnesses of the truth of God's word, His love, grace and power to change lives.
If you would like to help launch church plants in New Zealand, visit our Gift Catalog and choose "Churches Planting Churches!"
