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Easter Devotion from Charles Hewlett

The Easter story is one of hope Yet for the first followers of Jesus, witnessing the sight of his crucifixion would have bought a sudden halt to so much hope and promise in their lives. But, as believers we know the Easter story is about overcoming darkness and despair, finding new hope and life. When Jesus rose on Easter Sunday, his presence lit the darkness and shouted his commitment to be with us as he renewed his invitation to follow him. Easter invites us to believe in the power of love. At this time when fear is a natural response, the season of Easter encourages us to look towards life and love. Ben Carswell, in this issue of the Baptist magazine, wrote a wonderful piece on ‘Taking them to the Cross’—a reflection on the core reason for what we believe and what Jesus accomplished. So this Easter, take the time to care for yourselves and reach out to those who need love in this moment. Wave to a neighbour, call someone who may be anxious or alone, pray for those essential workers, and bring a bit of hope in this time of crisis.

Baptist Magazine

An Easter gift from the Baptist Union to you… the April/May 2020 issue of the Baptist magazine is available now. This time it is completely digital (thanks, lockdown!) and we would like to bless our whānau far and wide by sharing the link to it. Don’t forget articles are also available via our website www.baptistmag.org.nz. Happy reading!

Introducing Local Missionary to Youth in the North: Chelc Smart

Introducing Local Missionary to Youth in the North: Chelsea Smart

Chelc has sensed God’s calling to youth work and particularly amongst year 6 – 8s for many, many years. She is a totally committed Christian, a creative and artistic person, gifted in one on one mentoring and a long-term member of Whangarei Central Baptist Church.

Back in 2011, as a volunteer in the intermediates program she was identified as a person with a passion for youth and leadership potential. She spent three years on the team and then took over leadership of this ministry from 2014 – 2018. Since then she has joined the Rock Solid ministry (still focused on this age group) under Scottie Slykerman’s leadership. She, like Scottie, see this age group as a crucial time in a young person’s character, faith and life skill development. She has a dream of not only helping WCBC’s ministry to intermediate youth develop, but of working with the Rock Solid Youth team to start up and support youth clubs throughout the north.

Chelc has been a key senior youth group leader for many years and contributes a huge number of voluntary hours into youth ministry every week.

She has:

  • Run a variety of youth camps.
  • Run special youth and church events.
  • Been active in youth leadership for many years.
  • Worked as a 24/7 youth worker in the schools.
  • Completed a Praxis course in youth work.
  • Had some training in early attachment trauma, positive psychology and self-harm through Compass Seminars.

With the support of the eldership and senior pastor of WCBC and the full support of the Youthzone/ Rock Solid Trust Chelc would like to move into full-time youth work.

Chelc is a Godly young lady with many youth orientated skills. Please consider partnering with her in impacting the youth of the North in a holistic and positive way.

If you wish to learn more about Chelc please contact us on northland@youthzone.org.nz/ 021782547.

If you wish to become a missional partner of her in her ministry please consider setting up a payment to Youthzone trust (12-3093-0326942-01). Put Chelc in the details.

6 Questions to Maximize Your First Mentoring Conversation

When you first enter into a new mentoring relationship, it can be difficult to know where to begin. As a mentor, you’re aware of the skills you have to offer, but you need to be able to assess how your expertise can be best applied. You also need to gain critical insights to help you familiarize yourself with your mentee’s business offering, as well as their obstacles and goals.

To guide you through this process, we’ve identified six key questions, designed to get the conversation started. When asked in this order, these questions provide a great framework for determining your mentee’s business challenges—which in turn, can help you deliver better guidance as a mentor.

Question #1: Why do you do what you do?

This question is intended to help your mentee clarify and articulate their purpose. What drives them to do the work that they do? Why are they in the business that they are in?

Your mentee’s answer should help reveal their passion for their profession. For example, a mentee who is launching their own food truck might say something like: “I want to share my love for authentic Cajun food with my community.”

Question #2: Where do you want to go from here?

What is your mentee’s ultimate goal? This question is designed to unearth your mentee’s aspirations and identify their business objectives.

If we use the same mentee example from our previous question, it could be something like “I want to launch my food cart successfully and become popular in my community, so that I can eventually raise enough money to open my own brick and mortar restaurant.”

Question #3: What are you currently doing well that’s helping you get there?

This is a great way to pinpoint your mentee’s core strengths. What are they naturally good at doing? Motivating a team? Sticking to a budget? Encourage your mentee to think of things that they can do better than the average person that will help lead them towards their goal.

Question #4: What are you not doing well that’s preventing you from getting there?

It’s important for your mentees to recognize their weaknesses and the challenges that are standing in the way of their success. Of course, no one likes dwelling on the negative, but you can’t overcome obstacles without first identifying what they are.

Encourage your mentee to conduct an honest assessment of what’s preventing them from reaching their goal—whether it’s at a company or individual level (or both).

Question #5: What can you do differently to overcome those challenges?

This is about helping your mentee prioritize the right things. People have a natural tendency to focus on the things that they do best (i.e. their answers from question three) and spend less time addressing their weaknesses (i.e. their answers from question four). For example, if you are an incredible soccer player, you’d much rather show off that capability than let people see you struggle in a baseball game.

Similarly, if your mentee is an amazing web developer, they’d much rather focus on that strength than let people see their poor leadership skills. The problem with this tendency is that while your mentee may boast a phenomenal work ethic, if they are not focusing their hard work on the right things, they will be very limited in their progress.

Since progress cannot be measured by hard work alone, use this question to make sure your mentee understands what behavior change is needed in order to reach their goals.

Question #6: Where do you need the most help?

Now that you’ve tackled the first five questions with your mentee, the answer to this question should reveal itself much more easily. You’ve illuminated their overall goals and honed in on the challenges they face—now, it’s simply a matter of aligning those areas with your specific skills, expertise or resources.

These questions provide an excellent first step toward building a successful mentoring relationship, helping you effectively assess how and where you can really help your mentee and their business. By going through this exercise together, you can better define a mutually productive path forward.

99 Wondering questions

The following is from a book called ‘God Space’ by Doug Pollock

 

Many times we are never more than a few wondering questions away from a good spiritual conversation. With the right attitude and atmosphere, any of the following 99 questions can be powerful tools. Remember, however that the best questions always come from the wondering the the Holy Spirit is stirring inside of you as you listen to others. Listening leads to wondering and wondering provides more opportunities to listen. As you grow in your ability to harmoniously balance God’s teeter-totter, spiritual conversations will flow more naturally in your day-to-day life.

 

Questions About LIFE LESSONS

  • I’ve made it my lifelong goal to learn from others; what’s the greatest lesson you feel you’ve learned so far in your life’s journey?
  • Tell me about your greatest success and your greatest failure along the way.
  • Would you mind sharing with me the greatest piece of wisdom ever passed on to you?

Questions About CAREERS

  • What prompted you to pursue your career in _______________?
  • What do you like most about what you do? least?
  • Do you see this as a lifetime career, or a steppingstone to something else?

Questions About TALKING ABOUT GOD

  • If someone wanted to talk to you about God, how would you like to be approached?
  • Have you ever had anyone approach you and try to talk to you about God?
  • What kinds of feelings were you left with after the encounter?

Questions About EVANGELISM

  • What images or words come to your mind when you hear the word evangelism?
  • The word evangelism means “to proclaim good news.” If that’s true, why do you think this word carries so much baggage with it?
  • If you were asked to describe the good news that evangelists are supposed to be sharing with people, how would you describe it?

Questions About VOCATIONAL DREAMS

  • What is your dream job?
  • Are you working toward it already? If not, what is standing in your way?
  • What advice would you give to a young person about finding vocational happiness?

Questions About RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES

  • What kind of exposure did you have to religion when you were growing up?
  • Why do you think there are so many different religions?
  • Do you think it’s possible for all religions to be equally right? Why or why not?

Questions About ETERNITY

  • What conclusions have you come to concerning life after death?
  • Do you think it’s possible to be certain about where you’ll spend eternity?
  • Have you ever explored what the Bible has to say about eternal life?

Questions About A GOOD LIFE

  • Have you ever been able to get a handle on what you think your purpose in life is?
  • Everyone seems to agree that money by itself can’t buy happiness. What, in your opinion, does guarantee a happy life?
  • In what ways do you feel you’re really winning or losing at life?

Questions About BECOMING A CHRISTIAN

  • Do you consider yourself to be a Christian?
  • Based on your understanding, how does someone become a Christian?
  • Have you ever explored what the Bible has to say about how someone becomes a Christian?

Questions About WORLD EVENTS

  • How did 9/11 affect your view of God and the world?
  • As you’ve watched or read the news, what conclusions have you drawn about the nature of humanity?
  • Do you believe there is a solution to social problems such as rape, murder, famine, war, racism, and divorce?

Questions About GOOD VS. EVIL

  • Have you ever had an experience in which you felt the presence of evil?
  • Have you ever had an experience in which you felt the presence of God?
  • In what ways have you seen good and evil played out in your life?

About BARRIERS TO BELIEF

  • What causes you to struggle the most with the idea of God’s existence?
  • Up to this point in your life’s journey, have you met anyone or experienced anything that made the reality of God seem plausible to you?
  • To what do you attribute your disbelief in God?

Questions About RELATIVE TRUTH

  • It sounds as if you value open-mindedness. Do you ever find yourself closing your mind to certain things, ideas, or people?
  • What criteria do you use to determine whether something is true?
  • Does your worldview allow for any absolutes?

Questions About MARRIAGE

  • How did you meet your husband/wife?
  • What have you learned about yourself through marriage?
  • What do you enjoy most about marriage? least?

Questions About LOVE

  • Has your understanding of the word love changed over the years?
  • Why do you think so many couples end up falling out of love?
  • If you could pass along one word of advice about how to keep a relationship going and growing, what would it be?

Questions About FINDING GOD

  • Why do you think so many people prefer to live as if God does not exist?
  • What would you want God to do to validate his existence and bring you to belief?
  • It’s been said that many people never find God for the same reason a robber can’t find the policeman standing on the corner; what does this saying mean to you?

Questions About RIGHT AND WRONG

  • Some people believe that we are the product of a random evolutionary process. Do you think discussions about right and wrong have a place in that kind of worldview?
  • How do/will you teach your kids right from wrong?
  • What authority do you appeal to?

Questions About DREAMS

  • Did you have any dreams or set any life goals when you were younger?
  • What dreams have you let go of?
  • What dreams are you still hanging on to?

Questions About THE FUTURE

  • Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of our world?
  • Do you think it’s easier or harder to raise kids in today’s world than it was when you were growing up?
  • What concerns you most when you think about your future?

Questions About MAJOR INFLUENCES

  • What experiences have shaped your worldview the most?
  • Has there been one book or movie that’s left its mark on you in a significant way? How so?
  • Besides your parents, is there any one person who stands out as having had a major role in shaping your life? Tell me about him or her.

Questions About GOD’S POWER TO CHANGE US

  • God has changed my life; have you ever considered letting him change yours?
  • If God had his way with you, what do you think he would change first?
  • What scares you the most about letting God change your life?

Questions About TAKING STOCK

  • What three principles of life have benefited you the most so far in your life’s journey?
  • What, if anything, causes you to be hopeful about your future?
  • If you had only six months to live, what would be on your list of things to do before you died? Why?

Questions About GETTING TO KNOW YOU

  • As people get to know you, what about you do they enjoy most?
  • As people get to know you, what about you do they enjoy least?
  • As people get to know you, in what area do you feel most misunderstood?

Questions About DIRECTION

  • How would you describe your leadership style?
  • What leadership style do you respond best to?
  • Jesus was described as a servant leader. When have you, if ever, experienced that kind of leadership?

Questions About DIRECTION 

  • Why do you do what you do?
  • What life experiences have molded you and motivated you to pursue the path you’ve chosen for life?
  • If you were to choose your path over again, would you choose the same one? Why or why not?

Questions About FOR GOD

  • If you could ask God three questions, what would you ask?
  • If God were to ask this one question, “Are you for me or against me?” what would you say?
  • What evidence would you present to defend your response?

Questions About GENDER  

  • Which gender do you think has the tougher path in life?
  • What do you enjoy most about the opposite sex?
  • What do you enjoy most about being male/female?

Questions About HATE  

  • Have you ever hated anyone?
  • Has anyone ever hated you?
  • Have you ever been able to overcome hatred? If so, how did you pull it off?

Questions About DEATH  

  • If you could choose the manner of your death, how would you like to go?
  • How would you like to be remembered at your funeral?
  • Does the thought of death scare you?

Questions About CONTROL

  • It’s been said that life is largely out of our control. If that’s true, why do so many people try to control the uncontrollable?
  • Do you struggle with trying to control things?
  • What kinds of things do you think can be controlled in life?

Questions About HABITS

  • What kinds of habits do you struggle with most?
  • Do you ever find yourself doing the very things you don’t want to do, or not doing the things you really want to do? If so, what do you attribute this to?
  • Have you ever found anything to set you free from this cycle?

Questions About CHILDHOOD

  • How would you change the way you were raised?
  • What things are you doing/going to do to raise your kids differently?
  • What values from your childhood do you want to pass on to your kids?

Questions FOR JESUS

  • If Jesus were here right now, what would you ask him?
  • How do you think he would answer?
  • How would you feel if that happened?
+ More

Whangarei Central Baptist Church