What's the new National Leader of the Baptist Union of New Zealand been thinking about lately? Find out in this video update from Chris Chamberlain – see the abridged transcript below.
Kia ora koutou Baptist whānau,
Children and young people have been very much on my mind recently. Statistics New Zealand recently put out their latest child poverty data and it is not good reading - in fact, those statistics show there's something badly wrong in our country.
According to those statistics, the number of children in New Zealand living in material hardship rose about 47,500, from 2022 to 2025. And the total number of children living in material hardship is 167,000. To give some perspective that total number is more than the entire population of Dunedin, Levin, and let’s say one other small town.
It's potentially one in seven children in our country who are suffering.
Now, I hope you’re aware of He Rito, which is the New Zealand Baptist network encompassing all the ministries for young people aged 0-25 in our movement. He Rito is a Māori concept describing the support of young people in a whānau. It conveys the idea that young people are like the young shoots on a flax bush and their whānau and the older people in their lives are the protective, supportive outer leaves.
New Zealand Baptists are really good at looking at what's wrong in this world and getting involved in fixing it, so I want to say thank you to you for what you are doing. Running food banks, counselling services, holiday and after school programmes, mainly music and e-Camp, getting alongside families in need.
We couldn't do what we do without Ethan Miller, our Baptist Youth Ministry (BYM) youth catalyst, Jan Ozanne, our National Children and Families Points person, and Maya Bradley the BYM coordinator. They're all based at the National Support Centre and after this little advert they're expecting their phones to start ringing as we seek to help children in this country.
We also have regional coaches who specialise in children and families, and I encourage you to reach out and seek help from them too. There is such a lot of need in our country but thankfully God's good plan is us - the Church. We are the ones who will attend to this need. We will bring the Kingdom as we serve God's purposes and as we help to change those statistics for the good of the Kingdom.
So thank you for participating! Until next time,
Chris
Find out more about the national leader role and Chris Chamberlain:
baptist.nz/our-team/national-leader
