Blog Posts

Where is your church at this point in its history?

Posted on 21 Feb 2023 - By Gradon

Charles Handy who studies the life cycle of organisations, came to the conclusion that they all inevitably followed the bell-shaped curve to oblivion unless they did a mid-way pause and then headed in new directions. Many churches may have no idea that they are seriously further down the decline than they realise. A key indicator […]

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Can we learn from another time when the church was discouraged?

Posted on 13 Jun 2022 - By Gradon

There is a lot of discouragement out there in Churches. You could probably tell me stories worse than the ones I have heard! I have been networking with several groups of pastors over the past month and realised the situation is quite dire. For a while, I had been localising the problems of the church […]

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Houston, we have a problem ( article published in Mission Link May 22)

Posted on 26 May 2022 - By Gradon

Graph by economist Peter Crawford, based upon government population predictions… Houston we have a problem….. Without being a rocket scientist it’s easy to see that the NZ Church has a problem. It is slowly dying. Sure there are exceptions but the outlook doesn’t look good for the NZ church ( and by extension for us […]

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What Next?

Posted on 22 Mar 2022 - By Gradon

                     What a challenging time the church has been through lately. It is so encouraging that the government is now saying that there will be an end to mandates. It seems to me that now is the time to prepare for our new “normal” after a frustrating time of lockdowns and traffic light restrictions. But, […]

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Thriving as a church in the days of Covid restrictions.

Posted on 09 Dec 2021 - By Gradon

There is an element of irony out there as the church in the West has its first real taste of living under a government that seeks to limit church gatherings as it seeks to implement its Covid 19 “traffic light” system. I’m currently leading a Vineyard church (while we search for a new pastor) and […]

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Hope in uncertain times

Posted on 06 Jul 2021 - By Gradon

In 2019, I visited a rural town in Texas called Uncertain. The story regarding the name was that it was a cartographers note on a map and that he never got around to changing it. I felt that the sign that could apply to lots of churches as we navigate uncertain times as a church. This […]

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If I was a pastoring a church today …..

Posted on 24 May 2021 - By Gradon

This blog may look initially as a pessimistic outlook on the future of the NZ Church, but, after painting a bleak picture, I think that behind the negative landscape God is wanting us today to prepare for a revival here in NZ “ when the earth will be filled with the glory of God as […]

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There’s something seriously sad in the New Zealand Church happening

Posted on 26 Mar 2021 - By Gradon

If you look at the incredibly low number of children (0-4) being brought to church and then the young people (20-24) identifying as Christians, then imagine the church if these low numbers outwork themselves over the next 20-30 years without any significant move of God. It’s going to be more than sad, it’s going to […]

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Is your church confident in sharing its faith?

Posted on 19 Jan 2021 - By Gradon

A Pentecostal pastor told me of a conversation he’d had with his men’s group. He asked the 40 men present, how many felt confident about leading someone to Christ. The answer was none. He said “ I realised I had a problem but not only me, I think most NZ pastors feel they are doing […]

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After an election

Posted on 19 Oct 2020 - By Gradon

I was reflecting on the weekend election results, in the book, that I have been I was reading, on Sunday, there was this comment from Derek Prince, who was once a Cambridge University professor. “Thus, with all due respect to most politicians and their usual promises for a brighter future, they do not have the […]

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