Greetings Fellow Kingdom
Builders!
As you open this letter you may be
asking yourself, “what have Drew and Amy been up to in NZ?” “I
haven’t heard from them in a while.” And you would be correct.
You might be able to chalk it up to winter “blahs” or busyness
in ministry but we apologize for the lack of writing over the
past few months. So here it is, our latest update and news from
the field in NZ where God is doing some wonderful things and
blessing our ministry and lives. Here is a list of the things
I will share with you in this update letter:
-
A growing
youth ministry –
The SURGE student ministry program has developed in depth
and is
moving forward with enthusiasm.
-
The SURGE
Winter Retreat and Ski Trip
-
A whole
host of hosting!
– We’ve had numerous visitors from all over staying in our
home and ministering in NZ
-
Looking
forward to a Grand Opening!
– ECW’s has finally gotten
approval to start the construction work required to fit out
our building and we’ll soon be able to move in!
-
Learning
the Language –
Becoming more and more “Kiwi”
-
Upcoming
Events in our Ministry
– eXtreme Summer Challenge: It’s
almost summer again and we are about to embark on the
biggest youth outreach program yet.
-
Prayer
requests!
A Growing Youth
Ministry:
Our primary reason for being in NZ is youth ministry. And I
know that God moved many of you to support us because of the
work we would do with the teenagers here in NZ. I want to
report to you that God is moving and our youth ministry is
producing fruit.
SURGE student ministries (www.surge.org.nz)
is the youth program of East City Wesleyan Church that Amy and I
have begun since we arrived last year. Over our first year we
have provided a Sunday evening, service type, rally for
teenagers to worship and learn about God’s word. Of course we
throw some fun and games into the mix as well. In recent months
we’ve also set aside every other Friday evening as a deliberate
social event for the purpose of outreach.
But it has been clear
that it’s time to take things to the next level with many of the
teenagers who have joined in our ministry. We have therefore
begun a new level of discipleship ministry called SURGE 4WORD
that is geared as a Bible Study, Accountability, and Small Group
program for teens to take that next step in their walk with
Christ. The teens are encouraged to set goals for growth and
learning as well as learning key Christian scriptures and
truth. We believe this will propel the teens currently involved
into a deeper, richer commitment to Christ.
SURGE SERVANT LEADERS: are our
youth board! We have a group of six students who are part of a
leadership team that plans and makes decisions for our youth
ministry. These six students are learning valuable leadership
skills as well as working in service to reach out to their
friends and peers. There help has been most welcome and it
takes us towards a goal of a youth program that is not dependant
solely on the work of the youth pastor but functions more like a
church.
The SURGE
winter retreat and Ski Trip:
On September 21st we took our first major youth trip
to Mt. Ruapehu, the largest mountain on the North Island of NZ
and one of the only places that gets snow. They have a large
ski field there and so we spent one of our days away skiing.
Many of the students had never skied before and some had never
even seen snow before.
18 of us spent 2 nights away and enjoyed a great time of
fellowship and fun. The most significant part to me was the
Sunday morning worship time that witnessed these teenagers
sincerely and openly worshiping God in a way I had not witnessed
to this point. It was exciting and has carried over to our
Sunday evenings since that time. God is good!
A Whole Host of
Hosting:
Since Richard Waugh, National
Superintendent and Pastor of ECW moved to the US to finish his
Doctorate studies we have moved into their home and assumed
their role as hosts to the many people who visit this exciting
mission field. They own a large home so we have been able to
provide a place for travelers to live while they make NZ home
for a short while.
We started out with a visit from
some friends and supporters like you. Charles and Cherith Meeks
were serving in Australia as pastor to a small church in Coff’s
Harbour and as their time came to a close they visited with us
on their way home. Charles was a part of my youth ministry when
I pastored in Eden North Carolina at Trinity Wesleyan Church and
it was a special time to have them stay in our home. We
tortured them with a 20KM tramp through NZ’s Bay of Islands that
Kiwi’s labeled as moderate. Let’s just say, it was not so
moderate.
We also have had visitors, such as
West Michigan District Superintendent,
Mark Gorveatte; the
Meadowvanes, retired missionaries from Australia who were in NZ
filling in for one of our WMCNZ pastors; a Professor from
Houghton College,
Mike Walters as well as some other people needing a place to
stay. We were able to help some American’s
(who came to work with
troubled teens in NZ) by keeping them here as they worked out
some immigration issues. And now we are hosting Ken and Ann
Gorveatte as they spend a couple of months serving in New
Zealand. Ken is traveling to many of our churches each week
preaching and teaching at every opportunity.
Looking forward
to a Grand Opening!
Well we’ve been talking
about it and looking forward to it for a long, long, time but
it’s finally coming soon! ECW purchased new property several
months ago and has been going through the application process to
get a permit to fit out the building for use as a church. Only
yesterday did we get word that the permit will be awarded to us
shortly and we can begin construction. Everyone has been
waiting eagerly,
and somewhat patiently,
to get started and now it’s about to begin.
This is going to be a crucial time
in the growth of ECW as we move into a new location, community,
and dynamic as a congregation. Although the building is a huge
step forward it does not meet every single need the church has
and so needs to be entered into with a level of understanding.
We are excited about what it does offer by way of mid week usage
and a presence in the community.
Our target had been Christmas as
an opening but that does not seem to be possible. We will
likely be into our new building sometime early next year.
Learning the
Language: One of
the most interesting parts about being a missionary in an
English speaking country is learning the language. In the
beginning it didn’t seem all that important to adapt the words
we used, our language differences were fun and humourous at
first. However, as we live here longer we find it important to
speak more like a Kiwi. Hanging on to the words and meanings
from Canada don’t serve our purposes anymore and Amy and I find
ourselves using the “lingo” of New Zealanders more and more.
It’s a subtle difference here but there comes a time when the
expectations are “ok, you’ve been here long enough to know how
we talk”. It used to feel weird to use words we would not
normally use but now we find ourselves using them even in our
own private conversations at home. I guess we have started to
truly become part of this world. Next time you speak to us, you
may tilt your head and say,
“huh” “what did they say?” but don’t worry it’s
just us speaking Kiwi! If you are interested in any of the
differences you can check out our culture shock page online at
www.addministries.com.
Upcoming Events
in our Ministry:
Summer
is almost here and so is Christmas. It still
seems a bit strange but we can’t wait. We’ve discovered that
New Zealand has roughly 10 months of
a rainy season called winter and a couple months
of nice weather called summer. So when it’s summer time people
truly love it and take advantage. So I’d like to share some of
our summer plans with you.
I have a philosophy for youth
ministry that says you can do one of two things during summer.
You can “low key” the ministry and drain the enthusiasm and life
out of it only to kick it off as summer ends or you can “blast
it off” with a summer program that makes them wish they didn’t
have to go on vacation. (Parent’s just love me for that) So we
have decided to run a summer program called the eXtreme Summer
Challenge again this year. It was a great success last year
and, despite the joke, parents actually are asking for it again
and the teens can’t wait.
XSC is an outreach oriented team
based competition that runs during the months of January and
February. The youth group will be divided into 4 teams that
will compete in games, attendance, inviting friends, (and
anything else we can think of) for points. What generally
happens is that, although we lose teens consistently to vacation
time, we gain new teenagers throughout the summer through
invitations to our exciting program. The result is an end of
the summer increase in attendance and contacts when everyone
returns home.
This year we plan on amping up the
program with the help of our adult leaders and servant leaders
helping me make it the best XSC I’ve ever run.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
-
Please remember our church as
we move towards our new building. Pray for energy,
volunteer help to be cheerfully available, and for it not to
be a draining time but time of growing enthusiasm.
-
Pray we would reach the
community around us and the 695 families in the area that
are not in the close proximity to any other church.
-
Pray for the SURGE 4WORD
discipleship program and the teens growing together.
-
Pray for the eXtreme Summer
Challenge Program planning as we look forward to our summer.
Serving His Kingdom
Together,
Rev.
Drew & Amy Donovan
Missionaries in Auckland, NZ
www.ecw.org.nz
www.addministries.com
www.surge.org.nz
amy@addministries.com
