Dr Rod Thompson
Rod started his role as Principal of Laidlaw College on 20 September 2010. Prior to this, Rod served as Head of the School of Theology from February 2008 until June 2010. Rod has also worked as the Executive Officer for Vision Development with Christian Parent Controlled Schools in Australia; the head of Worldview Studies at MASTERS Institute; a high school teacher; and a Minister of the Presbyterian Church in Sydney. He holds a BA (Sydney University), ThL (Australian College of Theology), MEdS (Institute of Christian Tertiary Education), and a PhD (Macquarie University).
Rod and Rosanne have been married for nearly 34 years and have four adult children and two granddaughters living in Sydney. Rod and Rosanne currently attend Lincoln Road Bible Chapel.
Rod's Topics and Scriptures for Strength and Unity 2011
World-Shaping Crucifixion – Galatians 6:12-18
World-Shaping Character – Philippians 2:12-18
World-Shaping Community – Ephesians 2:11-22
Murray Robertson
Murray Robertson with his wife Marj began their ministry at Spreydon Baptist in Christchurch at the end of 1968. It was to be a ministry that lasted 40 years. During that time Spreydon grew from being a struggling suburban congregation into a large and innovative church with a strong teaching ministry and extensive ministries both globally and in the local community that enabled many people to come to faith in Jesus Christ.Murray will be speaking at the Dinner on Saturday night.
His topic then is 'Reflections on the State of the Church in NZ'
James Rees-Thomas
James is married to Nicky and he was raised in Wellington. James has played an active role in The Street City Church, including a three year stint as an associate pastor. James is currently working as a business consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Wellington. In addition, over the past 12 months, James and Nicky have taken a voluntary staff role with Brighthope World where they are the Partnership Facilitators for the India Subcontinent. This sees them working with churches in NZ and overseas, and visiting Christian partners in India and Nepal each year.With this background, James speaks from an interesting perspective including business, church leadership and the overseas mission field. It is James’ desire to see the Church return to a Movement on Mission, gripped by its original mandate to reach all communities and sub-cultures with the unchanging Gospel of Jesus Christ.
James' topics and Scriptures for Strength and Unity 2011
A Movement on Mission:
The focus of the two sessions will be on looking at the role of the Church as a Movement based on the three pillars of faith, hope and love.
The first session will be an intro and then will focus on the Love of God, especially in the Life of a Leader.
Session two will be an amalgamation of Faith and Hope and the challenge to reach out.
The foundation verses are from 1 Thessalonians 1: 1-10
Seminar Speakers.
As you can see in the Time Table there are three Seminars on Saturday afternoon.
You can choose three Seminars to attend, from the list below.
Each seminar runs for an hour.
1. Time Prioritising & Volunteers – Russell Burt.
Full Time Christians. Not sure whether God needs more Full Time Christian Workers, He probably does. I am sure God needs more Full Time Christians at Work! I suspect that in our churches we have created a false dichotomy between the two; false because we call some "Full Time Workers" and we call others "Volunteers" or "Lay People".
2. Lord’s Supper – Russell Thorp.
A Fading Ritual or Powerful Participation; The Potential for Growing through Participation. Exploring what it is about the Lord's Supper that leads to growth in our walk with Christ.
3. Sunday as an act of worship - Chris Opie.
Why are Sunday services sometimes a battle ground for differences on Worship styles? How can we instead celebrate our diversity and unify as one body for the glory of God our Father. At its very start the Brethren church was strong in making our services something that wasn't bound by tradition but giving all believers room to participate in collectively worshipping God. How can we make this happen in the 21st century that builds up the diverse church rather than divide it?
4. Reaching the Community and How to Fund It – Russell Grainger
If your church ceased to exist who in the community around you would notice? If we are to be to be salt and light and if Jesus came to seek and save the lost, then what can this look like in a practical way?
How can a church (of any size) build strong links into the community and ‘be Jesus’ to the world around? We will explore what creative ways a church can be part of redeeming its community and look at different ways of funding it. Be inspired. The heartbeat is mission.
5. Responding to Disaster - Alan Aitken (Christchurch)
6. Taking Kids Ministry Out of the Box – Brenden Jackson
Join me for an amazing time of inspiration, down-to-earth insight, understandings and ideas to help you and your team be the best you can be as you reach and disciple kids for Jesus. Find out about the churches best kept secret, plus there will be Q&A time to ask those burning questions!!
7. Reaching Immigrants & International Students – Terry McGrath & ISM
Workers from the Philippines help us milk cows, Thais and Indonesians help us harvest produce. Indians perform surgery and nurse us back to health. New Zealand is undergoing change in its social demographics because we need people for our work force and we need money for our economy. The result is increased immigration to meet our workforce needs and to enable us to earn money by selling education. The face of New Zealand is changing and the mission of the church needs to respond to it. This seminar will discuss the opportunities for extending Gods kingdom amongst our increasing diverse multicultural population and the opportunity for us to engage in “overseas” mission right here on our doorstep amongst international students. A team from ISMNZ will help us explore the opportunities we face and what we need to do to meet them. The intention of this seminar is to cover the implications of opportunity and the practical steps needed for churches and individuals to identify and engage in mission amongst immigrants and international students resident in local communities .
8. Leading Wisely - Rod and Denise Edwards.
Plural leadership is one of our strengths. Yet isn’t church failure almost always because of leadership failure? Catastrophe, rapid or glacial, occurs through neglect, ignorance, ineptness, a diotrephic syndrome(!), and other distortions of servant leadership. That “leadership is all about team” may suit our theological convictions but theory and practice sometimes collide. What does it mean to “lead wisely”? How do we build leadership capacity in our church young adults? When is the claim for the leading of the Spirit genuine and when is it spurious? What is gifted leadership and what is learned? Is any authority valid in a post-modern era? Let’s together seek counsel from the Lord on leading wisely.
You can choose three Seminars to attend, from the list below.
Each seminar runs for an hour.
1. Time Prioritising & Volunteers – Russell Burt.
Full Time Christians. Not sure whether God needs more Full Time Christian Workers, He probably does. I am sure God needs more Full Time Christians at Work! I suspect that in our churches we have created a false dichotomy between the two; false because we call some "Full Time Workers" and we call others "Volunteers" or "Lay People".
2. Lord’s Supper – Russell Thorp.
A Fading Ritual or Powerful Participation; The Potential for Growing through Participation. Exploring what it is about the Lord's Supper that leads to growth in our walk with Christ.
3. Sunday as an act of worship - Chris Opie.
Why are Sunday services sometimes a battle ground for differences on Worship styles? How can we instead celebrate our diversity and unify as one body for the glory of God our Father. At its very start the Brethren church was strong in making our services something that wasn't bound by tradition but giving all believers room to participate in collectively worshipping God. How can we make this happen in the 21st century that builds up the diverse church rather than divide it?
4. Reaching the Community and How to Fund It – Russell Grainger
If your church ceased to exist who in the community around you would notice? If we are to be to be salt and light and if Jesus came to seek and save the lost, then what can this look like in a practical way?
How can a church (of any size) build strong links into the community and ‘be Jesus’ to the world around? We will explore what creative ways a church can be part of redeeming its community and look at different ways of funding it. Be inspired. The heartbeat is mission.
5. Responding to Disaster - Alan Aitken (Christchurch)
6. Taking Kids Ministry Out of the Box – Brenden Jackson
Join me for an amazing time of inspiration, down-to-earth insight, understandings and ideas to help you and your team be the best you can be as you reach and disciple kids for Jesus. Find out about the churches best kept secret, plus there will be Q&A time to ask those burning questions!!
7. Reaching Immigrants & International Students – Terry McGrath & ISM
Workers from the Philippines help us milk cows, Thais and Indonesians help us harvest produce. Indians perform surgery and nurse us back to health. New Zealand is undergoing change in its social demographics because we need people for our work force and we need money for our economy. The result is increased immigration to meet our workforce needs and to enable us to earn money by selling education. The face of New Zealand is changing and the mission of the church needs to respond to it. This seminar will discuss the opportunities for extending Gods kingdom amongst our increasing diverse multicultural population and the opportunity for us to engage in “overseas” mission right here on our doorstep amongst international students. A team from ISMNZ will help us explore the opportunities we face and what we need to do to meet them. The intention of this seminar is to cover the implications of opportunity and the practical steps needed for churches and individuals to identify and engage in mission amongst immigrants and international students resident in local communities .
8. Leading Wisely - Rod and Denise Edwards.
Plural leadership is one of our strengths. Yet isn’t church failure almost always because of leadership failure? Catastrophe, rapid or glacial, occurs through neglect, ignorance, ineptness, a diotrephic syndrome(!), and other distortions of servant leadership. That “leadership is all about team” may suit our theological convictions but theory and practice sometimes collide. What does it mean to “lead wisely”? How do we build leadership capacity in our church young adults? When is the claim for the leading of the Spirit genuine and when is it spurious? What is gifted leadership and what is learned? Is any authority valid in a post-modern era? Let’s together seek counsel from the Lord on leading wisely.