November Newsletter
From Chris Clarke, CEO
The Wilberforce Community Story
Jesus was a storyteller, and his stories continue to capture the imagination of people
of faith and of no faith to this day. Stories matter. They help ground us, inspire us
and challenge us, more so when these stories reflect what really happened and not
just what we hoped would happen. The act of capturing a story in writing, music,
dance, or video can also act as a powerful tool to help an organisation stay on
mission. Just as we cannot ignore our personal whakapapa, similarly if we neglect
our organisation’s story we lose our sense of grounded-ness and continuity.
By now you will have received an invitation to help us tell the story of the Wilberforce
Community of faith-based organisations. Chris Grantham who will be known to
many of you is compiling these stories and writing a book on the Wilberforce
Community which we hope to publish in late 2025.
I am very aware that for some Wilberforce organisations our change in strategic
direction may well be leaving you wondering why you should contribute and querying
have we got the timing right. I understand these sentiments, but I am also mindful
that throughout Scripture when leaders and communities were under siege, their
instinct was to remind themselves of their story – which of course is God’s story of
faithfulness.
Not all our plans are realized in our lifetime. Great plans fall short of what they
might have been. Sometimes we get in the way of God’s bigger plans. Sometimes
we just get it wrong. These moments are as much a part of our organisational
stories and our own leadership journeys, as the occasional triumphs along the way.
There is a humility in acknowledging this as part of our story. We do some things
well, some not so well.
Our hope is this book captures the ‘unvarnished truths’ as much as the triumphs –
for both act as testament to God’s faithfulness in Aotearoa New Zealand and hint at
what may lie ahead.
Chris Clarke
Do you have a story about your involvement with the Wilberforce Foundation? We would love to hear it! Please click the button below to share.
Lunch and Learn webinar: Faith and Action Report
The Faith In Action Report profiles the 3,200 registered church entities and 1,000 para-church organisations across New Zealand. For the first time, trends across denominations & geography over the last decade have been compiled to provide insights into where the church is growing and shrinking across Aotearoa.
Join James Stewart to discuss the recently released report, in particular the insights for the parachurch sector.
You can read through the report and gain more from the Faith and Action website or click the link below to access the report directly.
Get to know James Stewart in his bio below, and don’t forget to register for the webinar!
James Stewart
With a passion for evidenced based decision making, James led the team compiling the first Faith in Action Report. James has a background in working with the church and charities sector across Aotearoa to help them make sound investment decisions to further their mission.
Now working for Home Capital Partners, an impact investment fund in the community housing sector, James is responsible for stewarding the capital of the Home Foundation as it seeks to alleviate housing poverty across the country.
He also serves on a number of boards including Christian Savings, Baptist Resources Limited, Money Sweetspot and Chatham Islands Electricity. He attends The River Ōpāwaho church in Ōtautahi.
Lunch and Learn; The Fundraising Special
A huge thank you to Bruce, Jenny, and Sean for sharing their valuable insights and expertise in fundraising with us. If you missed the session, don't worry—you can catch up by watching the video through the link below.
State of the Sector Report
2024 has been a year full of sector-based analysis helping to identify trends and opportunities. The Faith and Belief Study and the Church Life Survey both contained challenging and useful information. Many, if not most, of our faith-based sector organisations are also charities or not-for-profit entities, so the recently released State of the Sector Report should also be something we engage with.
Led by Community Networks Aotearoa, this survey captures data and stories from across the community, iwi, and volunteer sectors about the challenges and successes these organisations face, helping us identify trends, gaps, and emerging needs.
Here is a link to download the report.
We’ve got more great recommendations to keep you diving into the best books and podcasts!
This month, Simon Cayley, a valued member of our Wilberforce team, shares three standout book picks. Each offers something unique and thought-provoking that will leave a lasting impression. Get to know Simon and discover his top reads!
Simon Cayley
Simon is also Chief Executive of The Bishop’s Action Foundation and has extensive governance experience. He is currently Deputy-Chair of Wild For Taranaki, is a trustee of the Access to Justice & Wellbeing Trust and is a Director of Catalyst Housing Ltd. At a national level, Simon was Co-Chair of Hui E! Community Aotearoa and Chair of the NZ Navigator Charitable Trust from their inception through to 2020. Simon is also an accredited mentor with The Mentoring Foundation of New Zealand. He has an MPhil through AUT which focused on governance in the community sector and also holds Post-Graduate Diplomas in Development Studies and Public Health.
Huia Come Home
I recently re-read this book because it really matters, perhaps more than ever in our current political climate. It matters for the future of Aotearoa New Zealand and for the future of faith within this land. Our future can be one of understanding, tolerance and unity wrapped in the love of Jesus Christ, but we have to want that and work hard for it. Reconciliation is the prerequisite for our flourishing nation and Jesus is a guide helping us to understand God’s hopes for what we can create together. Within Huia Come Home we find a powerful reminder that humility, not ideology, will help us succeed. As the author Jay Ruka so powerfully notes of himself “my allegiance is not to words on a page or to a religious structure, but to the living spirt of Jesus, who shows me what God looks like and how God acts in the world.”
The Lord of the Rings
I have just got to the end of The Fellowship of The Ring as I re-immerse in this adventure. Why am I reading it again? Because life and faith are both journeys which bring great joy, great excitement, but also challenges and sorrow and we need to be accepting of this and prepared for it. God never promised that our lives would be free of struggle or suffering, but He did promise that along that journey we would always be loved. Within these books we see all of the elements of a journey beautifully laid out. We see courage and the strength to keep getting up and moving forward and we see constant examples of how being loved, and being able to love, sit so centrally to our life and our faith. And of course, these books are one of the greatest stories of all time so its well worth reading again!
The Midnight Library
This is one of the greatest books I have read, its messages are powerful and relevant. Messages like stop asking What If? or looking for greener grass or wallowing in regret. Take hold of your now and if the present doesn’t feel like what you want start making the changes needed so that your future does become what you want - because the present is the seed of our futures. Perhaps the most powerful quote in the book relates to love - “To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three-parts dead”. The message is that giving ourselves the opportunity to experience love - to love and be loved – creates the spark for life. In the same way Evangelism should seek to open up the wonderful possibility of Jesus’ love entering peoples’ lives and as they feel this love so they open themselves up to the opportunity to offer love.
