Lausanne World Pulse – LAUSANNE REPORTS – Lausanne South Pacific Region
By Daniel Willis
The South Pacific region, like many of the Lausanne regions, is diverse. There are highly developed and economically rich economies, and there are remote, rural and subsistence communities. The challenges for evangelism are enormous and those of us who are highly educated have the greatest challenge in understanding the lifestyle and priorities of a “simpler” community.
Student Ministry
Across the region, the work among students is seen as paramount. This is evidenced by the growth in the number of different agencies working among this segment of the population. In the 1960s, there was one major player; today, there are several hundred. There is both a positive and a negative in this. The positive is that there are many more people working on the ground, seeking to introduce students to Jesus and equipping and discipling those who come to faith. The downside is that there is often disunity between the groups, leading university administrations to threaten expulsion of all Christian groups from some campuses.
Throughout the various islands in the region, the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) is present, working to introduce and bring students to a mature faith in Christ. In New Zealand, the work among some 100,000 international students, the majority of whom are from Asia and China, is seeing encouraging results.
The federal government of Australia has introduced a chaplaincy scheme into the high school education system. Christian groups have been proactive in applying for funding to place a chaplain in their local schools. In Queensland, Scripture Union has coordinated this approach and now has nearly four hundred chaplains caring for young people’s spiritual and emotional needs through pastoral care, activity programs, community outreach and adventure-based learning.
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New Zealand: Evangelistic Challenges and Opportunities
Jim Chew reports that New Zealand is becoming progressively secularised. In the 2006 census, 32.2% (1.3 million) of the people said they had “no religion.” The census also revealed that mainline churches, especially Anglicans and Presbyterians, had fallen in the number of adherents. If these trends continue, less than forty-nine percent of New Zealanders will profess any adherence to Christianity by the next census in 2011. Less than five percent attend church weekly. “These sad facts…drive us to our knees and to a greater urgency,” writes Hon Graeme Lee, chair of the Evangelism Network.
At the same time, percentages of people from other major religions, such as Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism, have increased markedly, partly through immigration.
In this milieu, many church leaders have sensed a spiritual vacuum and with it, a spiritual hunger for God. “Mass evangelism” is alive and well! In a recent “Harvest Mission” in the capital city of Wellington, 14,300 people came to the TSB Bank Arena over a weekend to hear evangelist and pastor Greg Laurie; 1,760 made registered decisions to follow Christ. In addition, 1,510 people watched the live webcasts.