Charles Hewlett is the National Leader of the Baptist Churches of New Zealand.
It’s a great time to be part of the staff team at the National Support Centre of the Baptist Union of New Zealand.
Our Regional Associations are being revitalised, we have developed a robust Lead Team, and we are working to establish greater partnership with tangata whenua. Our new and emerging leaders are increasingly influencing the shaping of our future, and we are positioning our assets for the purpose of ministry and mission. We look expectantly to how God will use our collective of faith communities to bring Gospel renewal to people and places in Aotearoa New Zealand andbeyond.
We are looking to employ a Children and Families Catalyst with initiative, energy, maturity, and broad experience: someone to provide visionary leadership and strategic guidance to the Baptist Union of New Zealand in the development and implementation of the He Rito initiative. He Rito is a Māori concept gifted to us to use for Children and Families Ministries and Baptist Youth; it reaches young people aged between 0-25 in our Aotearoa New Zealand Baptist faith communities.
He Rito uses the Māori metaphor of the harakeke (flax bush) to represent whānau (family). The rito (young shoot) symbolises the child, nurtured by surrounding leaves—parents and grandparents—and rooted in the wider community. Just as the harakeke cannot survive without protecting its rito, a whānau cannot thrive without caring for its children.
Click here for more information and to apply for the Children and Families Catalyst role.
Who we are
The Baptist movement is a collective of faith communities bringing gospel renewal to people and places in our local neighbourhoods. We currently have 240 ethnically diverse member churches, fellowships, and missional communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. We have about 400 pastors, chaplains, and workers.
We believe that Baptist ministry and mission is best done locally. Our faith communities determine for themselves the best way to fulfil their mission within their unique communities. This has resulted in a movement that oversees a significant number of ministries and social initiatives throughout our country and beyond. These include a wide range of programmes that impact the lives of every age, ethnicity, and social grouping in New Zealand – our diversity is our strength!
We endeavour to support our local faith communities both regionally through strong regional associations, which have a functioning and robust executive, regional leader and ministry coaches, and nationally by resourcing our churches in key areas, including property, finance, legal, HR, communication, leadership coordination and social impact.
Image: Photo montage by Christine Stride
