Over the last few months there have been some exciting updates for our South Island team with an addition to the team, a new office space and exciting ministry opportunities. Here is a brief overview of what has been happening down in the south.
Ministry Opportunities
At the beginning of May we ran two events in partnership with the local church, where over 100 youth heard the Gospel. We had the privilege of running a youth night in Christchurch for the C3 Churches and one in Ashburton with New Life Church.
It was great to have some of our team from the North Island join us in running these events and to partner with these youth ministries to provide a platform for the Gospel to be shared. Billy Hanna shared the message of hope and we were blessed to witness 18 youth make decisions for Christ over these two events.
Following the event, Brad Marais, the youth pastor at C3 St. Martins along with his youth leaders expressed their excitement to disciple and follow up with the new Christians from their youth group. Conversations like this is what it is all about, our aim is not just provide a one off platform but to create a culture for the gospel to advance and spread through each youth community. We are incredibly grateful to God for the way he is using events like these to create discipleship opportunities within the local church.
New addition to the team
We are thrilled to introduce you to a new staff member joining our team in Christchurch, Nathan Ellis. Nathan is joining the Local Church Ministries team, to further our connections with youth ministries within the South Island. Nathan was a Word of Life intern 10 years ago in 2014, him and his wife ran a youth group together for several years. Nathan has now gone on to complete a Bachelor of Theology at Laidlaw Bible College.
He has a passion to serve and support youth ministries as they engage in gospel advancement and discipleship.
To accommodate our growing team we have officially moved into a new office space at Rutland Street Church. We are incredibly grateful for this new space and It’s encouraging to see the team growing as we enter the second half of the year.
Upcoming Ministry
Over the next month we have the privilege of sharing the Gospel at five Youth Nights across the South Island. We are running two here in Christchurch, two in Dunedin and one in Gore. We love getting to partner with youth ministries all across the South Island, and to do this we are bringing some of our team down from the North Island once again to make these events possible. Nathan Ellis and Lance Robinson will be sharing the gospel at these events so please be praying for them as they prepare their messages. Prayer would also be appreciated for the youth ministries involved as they encourage and empower their youth to share the Gospel by inviting their friends.
We will aim to keep you up to date with these ministry opportunities on the Word of Life Instagram and prayer team page. Thank you for your continued support of Word of Life NZ.
