Mission Field within NZ

It's been wonderful getting involved at the International Christian Service at St Pauls on Friday nights - a mission field within New Zealand! The majority of those attending are internationals themselves or have a burden for internationals and come from several churches around Auckland, others don't yet attend church, and still more wander through the door for the first time each week. I've been joining the Japanese group of 10-20pax to sing a worship song in Japanese before other groups do the same in Korean, Chinese, Indonesian... I've actually had the priviledge of leading the Japanese group on the guitar and interpreting at times :) The time of worship is followed by a message given by a guest speaker, prayer and fellowship.

Through involvement at St Pauls I've been led to the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle Church (the Tab), another church with a strong emphasis on missions. For the last two Sunday mornings I've joined the Global service which has an ESOL message followed by discussion groups and a shared lunch. It's so exciting having many new Japanese friends eager to ask questions about the Bible! I also loved bumping into one of my professors at the Global service - the Head of the Global Missions Department at the Bible College of New Zealand (BCNZ). There's a Japanese Bible Study on Sunday afternoons at the Tab which they have asked me to lead next week. I'd appreciate your prayers as I prepare to lead an inductive style study on John 20:24-31.