The organisations and groups below all come under the umbrella of the Baptist Churches of New Zealand which is the team of 40,000 people within the 250 faith communities. Education, training, research and advocacy is part of our DNA.

Carey Centre for Lifelong Learning

Our Centre for Lifelong Learning exists to provide on-going training and resources that equip our leaders and churches to thrive. It provides accessible, affordable, and quality content from leading academics and practitioners to support personal and professional growth.

Visit Life Long Learning

Carey Baptist College

Since 1926 Baptists in New Zealand have been training Christian leaders to bring gospel renewal in churches and communities across Aotearoa and around the world. Our college has a world-class leadership formation programme for those who have a calling to pastoral or missional leadership. Alongside this is a range of NZQA qualifications in the areas of Bible, theology, ministry, and mission. Carey can equip any Christian to participate in the gospel’s transforming work, wherever they are called. The campus is in Auckland, there are regional hubs throughout New Zealand, and well-resourced online programmes.

Visit Carey Baptist College

Baptist Research

Baptist Research exists to resource, stimulate, and publish research relating to Baptist and wider church life in Aotearoa New Zealand. Since 1949 the Baptist Research and Historical Society has served as a ministry of the Baptist Union of New Zealand with the goal of stimulating research, and preserving the historical record of Baptist Churches in Aotearoa. This is achieved through the Pacific Journal of Theological Research, Archer Press, the Sutherland Lecture, and other events and programs.

Visit Baptist Research

Baptist Women 

The Baptist Women New Zealand board’s aim is to see all women thriving in Baptist church life, celebrating the faith we share. They aim to be a steadfast voice for Baptist women, by connecting, strengthening and upholding one another to be co-workers in God’s Kingdom.

Visit Baptist Women

Māori

Manatū Iriiri Māori and the Te Kapa Rautaki team have a vision to see all Māori come to Jesus, reaching their full potential, and positively transforming their whānau, community and world in which they live.

Te Kapa Rautaki

Children and families

Recognising the importance of family within community life, Baptist Churches have programmes aimed at encouraging and supporting children and their families. Baptist Children and Family Ministries have a vision to empower, motivate, train, and resource churches so these ministries can be effective in bringing positive change to the church and their local communities. To achieve this, the team is committed to providing resources and training to the leaders of children and family ministry programmes within Baptist churches throughout New Zealand. Our Baptist Children and Family Ministries have a national points person and some regional coaches.

Visit Baptist Children & Family

Youth

With one of the largest youth ministry networks in New Zealand, Baptist youth work has over 2,000 people providing youth work (paid and volunteer) and engages with over 20,000 young people of intermediate age, high school age, and young adult age, throughout the country, every week. There is currently a review taking place considering the next chapter of Baptist youth work. The national points person for youth is Mike Dodge [email protected] and some Regional Associations have youth coaches.

Multicultural ministries

Networking and resourcing the growth of ethnic, migrant, refugee and multicultural communities of faith within the Aotearoa New Zealand Baptist collective. There is a National Advisory Group for Multicultural Ministries, which can be contacted via the support centre: [email protected]

Visit Facebook page

Latest articles

Waiheke pastor’s Baptist church in Myanmar needs your donations and prayers Image
News
April 23, 2025 | Christine Stride Channel: 2144749

Waiheke pastor’s Baptist church in Myanmar needs your donations and prayers

Donate now to support emergency relief and help rebuild the Baptist Church in Manje, Myanmar, the home village of Waiheke Island Baptist Church pastor Roi…

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Articles
April 22, 2025 | Charles Hewlett Channel: 2144749

Tribute to Pope Francis

The late Pope Francis led with humility and deep compassion for those for whom life was hard, writes Charles Hewlett.

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Articles
April 16, 2025 | Paul Cossey Channel: 2144749

Reducing car use for God’s good creation

A Baptist pastor is making the most of New Zealand’s ride-to-work benefit program.

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News
April 15, 2025 | Christine Stride Channel: 2144749

Baptist Union votes in new vice president

Former tech business entrepreneur Brian Smellie will be the Baptist Union’s president in 2026.

Just Baptists: Three NZ men who resisted ‘the system’ to bring about justice Image
Education
April 14, 2025 | John Tucker Channel: 2144749

Just Baptists: Three NZ men who resisted ‘the system’ to bring about justice

John Tucker discusses justice in the life of Jesus and the actions of three New Zealand Baptists who made doing justice their mission.

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Opinion
April 10, 2025 | Phil Pawley Channel: 2144749

Sports chaplains in New Zealand are uniquely placed for local mission

Boosting support for sports chaplains would help them reach thousands of people, on and off the field, says Phil Pawley.

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News
April 10, 2025 | Karen Warner Channel: 2144749

New code of ethics and conduct available to read

Read the new code of ethics and conduct for Baptist pastors and ministry leaders in New Zealand.

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News
April 9, 2025 | Christine Stride Channel: 2144749

Give to the Baptist World Alliance Myanmar earthquake relief fund

Here’s how you can help the Baptist World Alliance in its Myanmar earthquake relief efforts.

Meet the globals! ကမ္ဘာတဝှမ်းမှပုဂ္ဂိုလ်များနှင့်တွေ့ဆုံကြည့်ပါ Image
Articles
April 8, 2025 | Christine Stride ခရစ်စတင်းစထရိုက် Channel: 2144749

Meet the globals! ကမ္ဘာတဝှမ်းမှပုဂ္ဂိုလ်များနှင့်တွေ့ဆုံကြည့်ပါ

A reflection on the uplifting evening celebrating New Zealand’s multicultural Baptist people, with Burmese translation.

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Stories
April 7, 2025 | Shirley Pearce Channel: 2144749

Faith on the farm

When her daughter’s Burmese cat goes missing on the farm, Shirley Pearce puts her faith in action.

Pondering: A bicultural church? Image
Opinion
April 5, 2025 | Grant Buchanan Channel: 2144749

Pondering: A bicultural church?

“In my opinion, we are importing a secular or political concept into an ecclesiastical structure…”

Seeking God for our next National Leader Image
News
April 3, 2025 | National Council Channel: 2144749

Seeking God for our next National Leader

Appointing a new denominational leader is a pivotal time for our churches. We invite all churches to unite in prayer for this process.

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News
April 3, 2025 | Maya Bradley Channel: 2144749

An invitation to Journey Together

What if mentoring young people became a cornerstone of your church? Journey Together is a practical resource designed to help churches foster meaningful, intergenerational discipleship.

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News
April 2, 2025 | Rod Robson Channel: 2144749

National Council meeting February 2025

Ethics & safety | Vice President nomination | how we hold disagreements and live in unity | mission & ministry | honouring retired leaders |…

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Stories
April 1, 2025 | Catharina Siraa Channel: 2144749

Is this the most unique Baptist church in New Zealand?

I visited Immersion Baptist Church...

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Articles
March 31, 2025 | John Brown Channel: 2144749

The groundbreaking impact of Kiwi Baptists’ Bible translation

A New Zealand-led team’s translation of the New Testament into a little-known language helped bring about a major cultural revival and gospel renewal.

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News
March 27, 2025 | Christine Stride Channel: 2144749

A match made in heaven

When an aging Bay of Plenty church with declining numbers handed over its leadership to a bigger church, the benefits were felt in both.

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Education
March 26, 2025 | John Tucker Channel: 2144749

What does God say about doing justice?

Our Christian God identifies with the powerless and the outcasts, which tells us a lot about God’s attitude to justice.

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News
March 25, 2025 | Catharina Siraa Channel: 2144749

About our 2025 Vice President nominee

Learn more about Brian Smellie, how he was nominated for Vice President, and the process for voting.

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Events
March 24, 2025 | Luke Kaa-Morgan Channel: 2144749

Hui ā Māori 2025

First details for this year's Hui ā Māori – save the date!