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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?

Keeping up to date…

Mark the date for Term two 2019 has been completed! If you would like a paper copy please come and see us in the church office.

This resource is ideal for you to place on your fridge to keep track of events happening at WCBC (with space for you to add personal events also!).

Church Survey April 2019

Every 6 months our church puts out a survey to attendees and members of WCBC.

This survey is designed to help us measure how well we are doing with building intergenerational relationships.

A Critical situation in our family


Many of you will know personally and love Katie, Adam and Nehemiah Hughes. Adam grew up in this church. Katie moved here from America to marry her man. Last year we celebrated the birth of their son Nehemiah.
A couple of months after Nehemiah’s birth Katie’s health took a downward and mysterious turn. The lymph nodes in her neck began to swell up and spread and she developed Polyneuropathy affecting her feet. There are three more tumours, she has a swollen liver and spleen, a bone marrow and plasma issue, extreme exhaustion, weight loss and skin changes.
Many in the church have been active in supporting them with food and at home and in prayers. Katie’s mum has been here for this past month but is now returned home to the
USA. Adam has had to resign from his job so he can support Katie and Nehemiah. It’s unclear how much support they can access through the government as Katie is not yet a full resident.
What are their needs:
1. Prayer for a miracle
2. Full residency for Katie
3. Financial support (a give a little page has been set up) https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/castlemans-variety-of-poems-syndrome
4. Practical help around the home
5. Food
6. A calm secure atmosphere for Nehemiah
7. Practical repair work around the house
The family are constantly travelling between home and hospitals. If you can help in any way, we would be so grateful.

On behalf of the church family
Pastor Russell

WCBC Camp

You are invited to join us for the WCBC Camp 2019.

Pastor Russell – February mailout

Family, when we are going through tough times its easy to see the faith and the calibre of those of you serving around the church. With the promotion of 3 or four people in this last month I have heard such great testimonies and seen people face their promotion with such faith. With Anne Ling having such a serious (potentially fatal) call a couple of weeks ago and one of our special young mums, Katie Hughes, facing a huge health challenge, I have seen you all rally your very practical and faith filled support. We have a number of people who are sick and aging and to see how they approach illness and life’s priorities has been inspiring.
Our special members meeting yesterday was so well led by the Holy Spirit and Greg Mutton. I am so grateful for Shania’s willingness to serve (and skill to do so) and Brigitte’s willingness to go wherever God leads. Brigitte has said yes to our call and asked that we pray for her as she has some difficult conversations with people that she has served for many years. We must still try to keep our communications about Pastor Brigitte ‘in house’ until she has had those conversations. All of us are aware that though the job description is very detailed and full – Pastor Brigitte must be allowed to a large degree to shape her own ministry. There has been an amazing offer of temporary accommodation for them. Bruce’s question around how are we going to welcome them both are now in many conversations.
You will be aware that Sheryl Kitchen is now preparing lunches on the first and third Sundays of the month. The alternative Sundays we encourage you to take someone out for a coffee or home for lunch.
The elders just completed a very unified and faith filled, prayer focused day retreat. We are aware that the church looks very full on Sundays, which is off-putting for those who are new and want to slip into back seats. Ideally, we wait until Pastor Brigitte is well established and the new car parking built before changing things or looking at two services. However, we need to do something now so that our visitors and newcomers can feel that we have room for them, so we must tweek/ juggle things to allow God to grow the church in the mean while. Can we encourage everyone to consider sitting as far forward as you possibly can on Sundays, and filling up the middle of rows, leaving the back rows free. Big thanks to those of you who are parking off-site or near the high school!
As an eldership we are looking at strategies to keep the church growing, how to get back to a full-time youth pastor one day, issues around vision (wondering if slight amendments to wording may give clarity) etc. There is great harmony in the eldership and a real sense of trust that God will speak and guide each step of the way.
Evening services will restart again soon. At this point I am gathering the names of people who would like to be involved in some way. Hospitality/ music/ learning to preach/ prayer ministry etc. If God is speaking to you about this please let me know.
Over the past couple of months quite a number of our family have said to me that communion often feels rushed. I have taken this to heart and will endeavour to have some services when the children are in but with only one song before communion and some with more quiet times of reflection and prayer after they have gone out. Please note that communion in March has been moved to the second Sunday to give Richard Brunton time to minister.
This month we are going to launch and promote our Mentoring network and the Church Camp. Both activities will fit in neatly into what we are currently doing and bring about greater intergenerational relationships and growth in faith.
Frontline youth group is about to restart this week as is Rock Solid. From where I sit I it would appear to me that we may be a little short of leaders for Rock Solid which is a ministry to year 6-9’s at a critical stage of their lives. If you can help please contact Scottie 021782547or Chelc 0274208506.
We have the ladies’ brunch, Richard Brunton, Parenting 0-4’s, the Heap offering for the building coming up and so much more.
There will be multiple evangelistic opportunities this term. The ‘Relationship Matters Course’ will be advertised to the community. It will be good for all mentors and pastoral workers as well. I hope to do a street outreach again outside Reyburn house on Easter Saturday. Canon J.John outreach (bring a friend) on Easter Saturday. Youth and intermediate Easter camps. We will have follow-up discipleship and Alpha beginning the week after Easter.
Every one of us at every stage of life has gifts and talents that God will use to help us reach out to this community and make disciples/ relatives for eternity!
Your Brother and Fellow Kingdom Builder – Pastor Russell

JIPP


4 steps to take to help prevent liberalisation of the abortion law.

Join
Join a prolife organisation such as Right to Life NZ, Family First, Voice for Life. They need members, they need people to send information to, they can organise group events like marches. They need money for publicity, administration and staff wages..

Inform Yourself.
Look on prolife websites, facebook groups, get on newsletter mailing lists, read books, follow the views of Members of Parliament. See how legislation on abortion is progressing through Parliament.

Pray
Ask God what you should do personally. Pray for your Member of Parliament, pray for all members of Parliament that they would make the right decisions. Pray for leaders of the pro-life movement

Protest
Write to your Member of Parliament, write to the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice telling of your opposition. Go and see your M.P. Sign petitions circulated by prolife groups. Use social media to give your opinion. Give you r opinion to MPs by using their social media sites.

Latest uploads

Our latest upload to the website is Russell’s new booklet on How to Connect With God. How to Connect with God

If you would like a printed copy to share with a friend, don’t hesitate to come and get one from the free resources shelf.

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Whangarei Central Baptist Church