New Zealand Christian Network welcomes the changes to the alcohol laws indicated this week by Justice Minister Judith Collins and urges MPs from all parties to support them. Ms Collins says the Government wants parents to give "express consent" for others to supply their teenagers with alcohol. Another new measure being planned is to ban the sale from off-licences of "ready to drink" mixes with an alcohol content of more than 6 per cent. NZ Christian Network national director Glyn Carpenter said the overwhelming majority of people involved with the Network would also support a planned amendment...

In a time when many people are feeling hopeless, New Zealand Christian Network is inviting people to check out their local church this Easter and rediscover what is the source of hope for many.

NZ Christian Network National Director Glyn Carpenter says there is a sense of hopelessness across a number of areas, particularly as the economy shows little sign of picking up, and families are facing all sorts of pressures.

"Some of these struggles include difficult finances, poor housing, strained relationships, and worry about the future," Mr Carpenter says.

"The...

The New Zealand Christian Network and the South Pacific Evangelical Alliance extend their deepest sympathies to the people of Tonga as they mourn the passing of King George Tupou 5. We honour the King's contribution, especially to advancing the cause of democracy in Tonga, and know he will be missed with great sadness by people around the Pacific as well as in the islands of Tonga. Spokesman Glyn Carpenter said, "Having lived in Tonga for four months, I have some understanding of how important the royal family is to Tongan people. On behalf of the NZ Christian Network and the South Pacific Evangelical...

New Zealand Christian Network says the Wanganui District Council is wrong to overturn an important tradition and stop opening meetings with a Christian prayer.
The threat of a costly legal challenge has brought about the decision.

"Some people seem to have a view that prayer and other aspects of religion need to be excluded from councils and other public forums for them to be truly public. But this is just not correct," says Mr Carpenter.

"For something to be 'public' you don't aim for the lowest common denominator. That's the path to mediocrity. What you should...

Greetings at the start of another year. We pray God's blessing on all who love the Lord and are working and praying to see His kingdom come here in Aotearoa New Zealand.

2012 is shaping up to be a big year for NZ Christian Network. Three strategic forums in February on key public issues (secularisation, marriage, and sacred life-abortion) will be followed by road trips around the North and South Islands in March and April.

These will offer the chance to update and hear from local ministers' groups around the country on these topics, as well as make progress on planning...

New Zealand Christian Network is urging people not to jump on the bandwagon of calls to liberalise euthanasia. Supporters of former Dunedin man Sean Davison - who has pleaded guilty to assisting his mother's suicide - are calling for liberalisation of the law. But New Zealand Christian Network says the public debate has too often focused on emotional personal stories and personal choice without considering the wider picture and the negative consequences for society. National Director Glyn Carpenter says New Zealand's Catholic bishops were right to point out recently that to legalise euthanasia...

The Global Ambassador of the World Evangelical Alliance has visited Somalia in a show of support as the country battles with widespread instability and one of the worst famines in six decades. Dr Brian Stiller was in capital Mogadishu on August 11 and 12, just days after African Union forces swept Al Shabaab from the city. The al-Qaeda-linked group led the country into ruin during its 20-year reign of oppression and violence, which saw Christian aid groups forced out of the country. Although Al Shabaab is in retreat, aid groups have not yet been invited to return, despite the urgent need to...

New Zealand Christian Network expresses its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Sir Paul Reeves who passed away this week. Sir Paul Reeves was an outstanding representative of the Church, and fully deserving of the state funeral to be held on Thursday. His many achievements speak of a life truly well lived in the service of God and people, in New Zealand and beyond. In all circumstances Sir Paul conducted himself with dignity and courage. He was a man known for standing up for what he believed to be true. We honour his memory and the inspiration he has given to so many people in...

New Zealand Christian Network regrets the passing of world-renowned Bible teacher and minister John Stott, who has died in London. National Director Glyn Carpenter says that, as noted by the Lausanne movement, John Stott impacted the church around the world in many ways, making an enormous contribution to the evangelical movement. Perhaps more than any other person in the last century, John Stott restored confidence in the authority of God's Word and in the centrality of biblical preaching and teaching. He was able to hold together a passionate commitment to evangelism along with a profound...

New Zealand Christian Network says if the "facts" of the TV One documentary Jesus The Cold Case were presented to a real-life judge, the case would be laughed out of court. Award-winning documentary maker and author Bryan Bruce, known for his series The Investigator, attempted to throw new light on the question who killed Jesus and why? The TV programme was based on a 2010 book of the same name.

NZ Christian Network National Director Glyn Carpenter says the two-hour documentary was riddled with inaccuracies and half-truths, and made glaring mistakes that even an elementary Bible student...

New Zealand Christian Network joins with Christian groups around the world in expressing its deepest sympathy to the people of Norway at this tragic time. Our prayers are with the families and friends of those murdered in Oslo and on the island of Utoeya. We also pray for the many people injured in the attacks. As Norwegians begin to deal with this national trauma, we join in prayer with Christians in Norway who will be playing their part in the healing process. We also hope that this reminder of the persistence of evil will not adversely affect the much cherished freedoms and social harmony...

New Zealand Christian Network says the views of a group of Malaysian Muslims attempting to set up an ‘Obedient Wives Club' branch in New Zealand should be strongly opposed. Malaysian businessman Zulkifli Hamzah is reported as saying for a Muslim, the man is the leader of the family or household. "If a woman is told to wear a burqa or hijab then she should obey. The issue is not whether it is a cultural law or religious law, it is the husband's law." NZ Christian Network National Director Glyn Carpenter says most NZ citizens will reject such views totally. "In our Christian-based society we...

Integral Alliance: Statement about East Africa food crisis Urgent action has been called for by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regarding the humanitarian crisis caused by drought in East Africa. After an emergency meeting at UN Headquarters on 12 July he told reporters, "I am extremely worried by the situation ... More than 11 million people need urgent assistance to stay alive ... We must do everything we can to prevent this crisis deepening ...The human cost of this crisis is catastrophic. We cannot afford to wait."[1] The worst affected countries are Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, N. Uganda...

Britain's Pakistani Christians staged a peaceful protest on 2 July calling for Pakistan to reform its harsh blasphemy laws. The march was organised by the British Pakistani Christian Association, representing Britain's estimated 8,174 Pakistani Christians, of whom half are Roman Catholic.
The march began  outside the Pakistan High Commission and then headed to the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street.
At these two addresses, demonstrators handed in two separate petitions calling for the UK government to press its Pakistani counterpart to revise its blasphemy laws, which...

An historic document on the ethics of Christian mission, produced by the world’s three main church networking organisations, has been welcomed by New Zealand Christian Network.

This is the first document of its kind in the 2000-year history of the Church.

The document is the result of a five-year collaboration by the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council on Inter-religious Dialogue (PCID).

This significant document, Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct,...

The politics of Hindu nationalism, which fuelled Christian persecution for over a decade in India, seems to be losing ground. With this comes the hope that India will never witness an incident like the massive flurry of attacks in Kandhamal district of eastern Orissa state in 2008 which killed around 100 Christians and displaced over 50,000 people. This wish is expected to come true, but the absence of mass violence may not ensure the safety of the Christian minority.

Since India did not see any incident of “mass violence” on Christians in the last three years, the issue of Christian...

New Zealand Christian Network says the latest Court of Appeal decision that unborn children do not have a right to life defies common sense and is at odds with reality.

The decision upheld a previous High Court ruling on a case brought by Right to Life that the right to life does not apply to unborn babies.

New Zealand Christian Network National Director Glyn Carpenter said the ruling goes against human experience.

"Every mother knows that the baby growing within her is a real person, and that the baby is born with an already developed personality.
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New Zealand Christian Network supports the government awarding of the parenting Toolbox resource contract to Parents Inc. The $2.4 million contract for the programme - in which parents of children from birth to 18 take a course that comes in a "tool box" - was contained in last week's Budget, but has attracted criticism because the contract was not put out to tender. "Anyone who looks at this course would see immediately there is nothing else like it in New Zealand," said NZ Christian Network's National Director Glyn Carpenter. "Furthermore, Parents Inc as an organisation is also unique in...

WEA-RLC Research and Analysis Report: Spurt in Christian Persecution in Algeria Needs Attention Three months after Algeria officially lifted its 19-year-old state of emergency following public protests inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has made it clear his regime will continue to impose restrictions. Last week, authorities in eastern Béjaïa Province ordered closure of all seven Protestant churches. And three days later, a court sentenced a Christian man to five years in prison and a fine of 200,000 Algerian Dinars (US$2,280) in western Oran Province. Mustapha...

New Zealand Christian Network applauds the announcement by Treasury that its measures of living standards now include social well-being. The department this week published the results of research on a living standards framework that now emphasises goals such as contentedness, the value of unpaid work and leisure time. NZ Christian Network's national director, Glyn Carpenter, says reliance on GDP has always been too narrow. "Fulfilment in life does not come just from acquiring money," Mr Carpenter says. "Quality of life has much more to do with such things as relationships, family connections,...

"Election after election, the Church has been confronted with the spectre of politicians outbidding each other on the let's-get-tough-on-crime bandwagon," says Glyn Carpenter, National Director of New Zealand Christian Network. "There is widespread support within the Christian community for a multi-party initiative on the reduction of imprisonment numbers, and a long-term criminal-justice strategy," says Mr Carpenter. "What we don't need is another election where criminal-justice issues are used as a political football. What we need is an agreement on the part of the political parties to work...

New Zealand Christian Network has written to the country's MP's in deep concern over the possible closure of the faith-based unit at Rimutaka prison. Prison Fellowship works closely with NZ Christian Network, whose National Director Glyn Carpenter has a keen interest in their work. "There is abundant evidence both in New Zealand and overseas that inmates who have had experience within faith-based units undergo improved disposition and character," said Mr Carpenter. "This improvement has a flow-on effect when they re-enter the community, with savings to the tax-payer in reduction of crime, harm,...

New Zealand Christian Network deplores recent letterbox drops in Christchurch and Auckland that refer to a so-called Asian invasion. National Director Glyn Carpenter says the leaflets - produced by a small extreme group called Right Wing Resistance - are trading on irrational fears.

While Mr Carpenter believes most New Zealanders oppose racist comments, history has shown such comments can create a climate that a tiny minority may latch on to. Extreme inflammatory views do nothing to encourage a thoughtful debate about our immigration policies and the changing nature of our country...

Reports that one Kiwi child in four is growing up in a single-parent home (Dominion Post 30 April) make for grim reading. Based on a study which shows New Zealand's rate to be the third highest in the OECD, the article also reports Children's Commissioner John Angus saying that Kiwi children were four times more likely to be living under the poverty line if they were being raised by a single parent. NZ Christian Network National Director Glyn Carpenter said this is not so much the fault of individual parents involved, as a failure of our whole society to recognise the importance of marriage and...

New Zealand Christian Network, the New Zealand member of the World Evangelical Alliance, strongly condemns the actions of Terry Jones in the US in burning a copy of the Qur'an. National Director Glyn Carpenter said we endorse in the strongest way possible media statements by our global body. Pastor Jones runs a church of only 30 people which is not connected to any denomination or any other body. His actions do not reflect the model of Jesus Christ, nor Christ's true followers. The WEA had already condemned the actions of those in this small group responsible for burning the Qur'an in March...