Featured Articles

As I am writing this, we are still in the middle of the Covid 19 crisis. New Zealanders have been looking to the government for leadership and direction through this difficult time. The Prime Minister has given us clear explanations about the government’s decisions and directions and why they have chosen the course they have. No doubt all of us have had our own thoughts on what should happen and [...]

I have been asked by the editor to comment, as a Christian medical practitioner, on gluttony and obesity from a medical perspective. I have agreed, with some trepidation, since the topic of people’s weight is a sensitive issue and I certainly do not want to contribute to any “fat shaming” or the labelling of people as “sinful” based on their dimensions! Gluttony is a very old-fashioned word. It was one [...]

Gluttony is not a word we hear much today, other than when we tease someone about being a ‘glutton’ for punishment. Have you ever heard a sermon on gluttony? Have you ever reflected on whether the sin of gluttony is one you are prone to? No-one has ever confessed to me that they struggle with the sin of gluttony. Are you reading this article and you’re quietly impressed you’ve made [...]

My favourite quote on burnout comes from Robert Murray M’Cheyne. He was an especially gifted man who graduated from University as a fourteen year old and was pastoring a Presbyterian congregation of over a thousand by age twenty three. However, he worked himself not just to the point of burnout, but until his health finally broke. Before he died at age twenty nine, he wrote: “God gave me a message [...]

1 Corinthians 5 – A case in church discipline being neglected In the best police forces there must be a tight cohesion in extremely dangerous situations. The awareness and responsibility for fellow officers are part and parcel of these operations. Nowhere is this more evident than when one of them becomes wounded to the degree they are incapacitated. Then the call will go out – ‘Man Down!’ – and immediately covering [...]

My husband and I have four children, aged 6 through 11, and we love books! The library is a prime destination for our household and I have bookcases at home full of a range of genres and reading levels. Many of these books are picture books as this was basically all we read when I had four children under five. Picture books are often undervalued as teaching tools for our [...]

I am blessed to live in the Wairarapa. In our neck of the woods it is always sunny and warm and the summer goes on forever. What is especially distinctive about our lives here is the hills. Not only the view of the sunrise as it illuminates the peaks, nor is it just the sunset as the reddish glow plays on the various slopes and valleys. It is also the [...]

In this series of dealing with false faiths, we have looked at two faiths that one might have knocking on their door – Mormonism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Now, what these faiths also have in common is that they would describe themselves as Christian, because they claim to believe in the same Jesus as the Saviour. In this article, however, we are going to be concluding this series in a [...]

The November 2017 issue of this magazine was themed “Bringing Christ to the Workplace” and featured articles by three young professional women and their approach to sharing their faith in three distinct work places – professional office, in the hospital and in the classroom. A common thread in all three accounts was that both “matter and manner” are important aspects of our conversations when it comes to sharing one’s faith [...]

Anything of value deserves to be protected – and your marriage is definitely valuable! To protect your relationship it’s wise to keep your eyes open, communicate well, and have some ground rules to stay on track and safe. We live in a fallen world and temptation often creeps up quietly. Every marriage has different circumstances and challenges, but there are common danger zones we are all exposed to. With those [...]