I’ve had two separate days in the Christchurch region and have some very deep concerns for our churches and pastors. They really do need our prayers and practical support. There is a new term being used in the Canterbury region to describe people who are worn out by the events. The term is “quaked”. When you’re quaked you’re worn out emotionally, spiritually and physically. Our strategic coordinator William Driver-Turnbull completed his contract with us in early March. William did a good job of navigating our churches through the emergency response phase of this disaster. An advertisement for a new longer term role that moves into the recovery phase will be put to the churches in the next week. To keep this position going we’ll need more financial resources. So about mid year I’ll be asking our churches to partner financially with the Christchurch churches to ensure that this Strategic coordinator role can be extended for at least 2 more years. Once appointed we want to see the coordinator aligning

Christchurch churches with other Baptist churches around the country to build significant partnershipsfor the future. Meanwhile please remember these churches in your prayers. This next couple of years is going to be a very hard slog for our brothers and sisters in Christchurch.