Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand

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Global Cent$

The mission box scheme was relaunched last month with the new name of Global Cent$.  All parishes were sent an example and invited to support the scheme, which suits congregation-wide implementation as well as by specific groups such as the APW.  The idea is a simple one and we are very pleased by the response to date.  A ‘BIG thank you’ to all the parishes who have ordered in bulk.  Our hope is that this is a practical way for parishes to encourage their members to be involved in Global Mission.  Boxes are available from the GMO.

People Link

At the time of writing a group of builders and farmers from Hawera Presbyterian are in Vanuatu undertaking specific tasks.  Dean Jordan from Southland has volunteered his farming skills for a month.

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Volunteer service for a year at an AIDS orphanage in Zambia (all expenses paid)

English teaching in Thailand (all expenses covered)

Administrator in New Caledonia (partly sponsored, French fluency a prerequisite)

Tutor in boat building in Vanuatu (package to be determined)

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Quik Gifts

Quik Gifts are a quick way for you and/or your parish to make an immediate impact.  Never more than NZ$5000 with no long term commitment.

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Help Friends of Jagadhri meet their target to sponsor the building of a second flat to accommodate the nursing tutors.  The first is nearing completion thanks to the generosity of Presbyterians all over New Zealand.

Lecturer Project to Talua Ministry Training Centre – Vanuatu.  Sponsor a one month lectureship programme ($1500).

Purchase new resources and books for the Onesua High School library in Vanuatu (from NZ$100.00 per book).

Pay towards the cost of the Global Mission Gazette ($1 per copy).

Disaster Relief Trust – help sent to India, Nuie, Vanuatu and Madagascar this year. Your donation today enables us to respond when disaster strikes tomorrow – any size donations received.

Support the next CWS  Appeal.

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Link Gifts

Link Gifts are smaller gifts made over a longer term thus linking you as a friend of a community/ project.   Here are two examples:

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The Prison Ministry in Thailand run by Kathryn McDaniel  (Thailand Trust)

Project Officer Trust (Vanuatu) – commit yourself to a monthly donation and share in Roy Pearson’s work and progress.

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The story from the inside

In response to the decision of the 2002 Assembly, Glenn Barclay served in Israel Palestine (IP) for five months.  Glenn will write three reports on her experiences in the lead up to this year’s Assembly.  Here is Part 1:

It was a joy to me to be there, living in Ramallah, Palestine and visiting other locations.  I was sent as a Global Missioner by the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand to be an Ecumenical Accompanier for the World Council of Churches.  I was commissioned by Wellington Presbytery and supported in prayer and interest by friends in New Zealand and overseas.  Undergirded by regular contact with Andrew Bell, I became the face of ‘Down Under Christians’ during the five months I spent in IP.  It was right to go and I felt privileged to do so, on your behalf.  So what did I do?

As a member of a team from the US,  I spent a week being trained in the US and a further 10 days of orientation on arrival in IP.  Group 5 had 22 people in it from seven countries.  Having conferred with the church leaders who had conceived the programme originally, we went to our placements to start the task of presence, solidarity, protection and monitoring while recording life as it unravelled or exploded.

Going through Qalandia Checkpoint for the first time was nerve-racking. The three of us had to take two taxis or services to get to it and travel in two more before coming to our apartment. Drivers can travel only within limits. That began our life of sharing the frustrations, anxieties and potential risks of daily life.  This epitomised the experience of accompanying the occupied and living out their long-term reality of collective punishment as an enforced lifestyle.

Most of the team were located in various parts of the West Bank while several remained in Jerusalem working with Israeli Peace personnel. Some placements were single focus (like being near The Wall) while Ramallah had many possibilities.

We were told to be impartial. How difficult that was!  The raw suffering of innocent people treated appallingly by the occupiers or ‘Death Squads’ as the Israeli Defence Force is known. Most Palestinians are just ordinary family people trying to create a normal life within the struggle for survival. The tragedy is that the Israeli people appear to have become corrupted by their desire for more land and for security of tenure. Their flouting of the Geneva Convention and the UN Human Rights Codes has made them as much the oppressors as any they ever faced up to themselves in former times. This is tragic and ironic. Global political intervention is urgently needed. No justification can be found in the name of a covenant of a ‘Promised Land’.

It was a joy to be amongst Palestinian Christians, to worship together; to celebrate Christmas and Easter with them. But they were not free to travel to Jerusalem or Bethlehem. So we chose to stay in Ramallah which is home to about 12,000 Palestinian Christians.  Even more live in the Bethlehem area.

Teaching English at Al Amari refugee camp meant getting acquainted with the Muslim people. Our networks strengthened rapidly as we visited many non-governmental organisations and educational groups. We were warmly welcomed, and hailed with delight by some. Few internationals go to the West Bank. We tried to get to know the Israelis as well but this proved to be very difficult. One of my last actions was to get a key Israeli communications person to visit Ramallah and spend the day with my team and my Palestinian friends. It was dangerous for her, not because of the locals, but because the soldiers could have arrested her at the checkpoint as she returned. It was an important breakthrough for us all and she bluffed her way out of it.  There were so many opportunities to serve, but a Christian leader told me “just your being here is enough”. The comfort of presence. They feel like the forgotten people.

Glenn Jetta  Barclay