Global Partners

Once again i am going as a Go-Net Missionary with Global Partners
Jeff Fussner will be my missionary support with Global Partners. Although i will be working under senior pastor Brett Jones with Cession, Jeff Fussner will still be my support and boss under the Wesleyan missions. (Above)He and his wife Beth and Nathan, Aaron, and Emily are a great family and i always enjoy my time when they are around.

This is awesome because all of the NZ missionaries through Global Partners will meet monthly and continue to debrief and encourage each other!

Since Jeff and his family have been based here for years, there are a huge resource for adapting to the culture and for understanding how to better embrace the culture. They are a huge blessing.

I got my New Zealand Visa!

My visa is approved and all almost all of my paperwork is in!

It is time to start packing the bags to get ready to go!Well, that may be a little premature...
I still have to raise the last quarter of my support while reconciling the difference in my shortage of funds with Global Partners so that i can return without my full support raised.
My goal would be to head out the first week of September. That is not a set date on a flight or anything yet. But that is the goal i have set in my head and look forward to!

Cession Community

Cession Community is a church plant located in East Auckland
This is where my local church ministry will take place.
I'll be playing the role of Community Life Pastor -
my role will be in creating the welcoming environment on Sundays, working with a team of
'undercover greeters' (Kiwis like to sneak into church) and helping new
people to make connections with the regulars. I'll then be coordinating the
followup of these new people helping them to make a stronger connection with
the church - really wherever they can find a fit - but particularly with the
church's cell groups which I'll be responsible for resourcing and
multiplying through the training and coaching of leaders
Brett Jones(below) is the head pastor. He has a servant leadership team and volunteers that work along side of him.
Cession Community originated as a young adults group that developed into its own church plant over time. For the first few years this has meant a more hands on emergent evening service.
Over the past four months they took a big step in adding a morning service.

The Sunday Schedule now is:
10.20am - Coffee & Bagels
10.30am - cession|connect AM

5pm - cession|chow - free dinner
5.45pm - cession|connect PM
(kids programming for both services)

Brett Jones has commented that
"Its been a big step, but our teams have been amazing! Lots of people involved in new areas as well which is great to see. The evening continues to grow. We are seeing core families cement a new home in the morning and fringe families/people beginning to put down some tentative roots."

This church has a very exciting and resourceful congregation and the leaders there are very gifted, artistic, and deep.
As i might have already mentioned. They put on an easter egg hunt this last Spring and had an attendance of 300! Although the church plant has been between 50-100, the contact and "touches" that this church has with the community are limitless.
INTERESTING FACT: The empty plastic eggs are not sold in New Zealand and are relatively unknown, Cession had to have them sent from the US.

I am excited to return soon to serve and give my heart and time to this church. I appreciate your prayers for me and for Cession Community.

I believe these next two years are going to bring forth some exciting stories.

Glory Stories

"Let us not become weary of doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up"

Galatians 6:9

Missionaries love to see God's glory revealed and there are times when God does do amazing things in our presence. At those times, it's easy to write home and tell everybody about what God is doing and how ministry is growing the Kingdom. We love to see our friends come to know Christ and we are honored and humbled as God uses us to proclaim and live out His Gospel. God's 'glory stories' are no doubt encouraging and uplifting. They are useful in building up the body, so we tell them joyfully!

But our days overseas are not always filled with conversions and "holy glamour." We pack up our lives and move to where God wants to use us. When missionaries move overseas, they go and live life in a way the point others to Christ. This is the same living that many of our family and friends do everyday at 'home.' We have been lead and called to do it somewhere else, likely in a place where Christ is less known. Parts of living overseas are the same mundane tasks that you face living anywhere e.g. cost of living, where to live, learning how to get around town, where to buy groceries, doing laundry...etc. God provides for our every need as we serve Him, but we still have to learn how to live in a new place.

New Zealand is an amazing place to be serving God, it's true. God is at work here and God is growing His kingdom. Praise the Lord for the work He is doing, pray for us and pray that we do not become weary in doing good. Pray that as we live lives that point others to Christ, God's grace is upon us. Pray for Spiritual and physical protection. Pray for God's glory to be revealed in amazing ways and in everyday life. Look below to a post about how to pray for missionaries, it will be very helpful if your still unsure of how to pray. May God bless you as you serve Him in the place He is using you.

Sara Dekker- graduate from IWU, teaching music and serving in Auckland, New Zealand