Areas we next intend to innovate within

Continuing areas of work

We see strong merits in continuing the following areas of work 

• Hope Project Easter and Christmas 
• Godtalk.nz (which – if other goals are successful – can be ‘reduced’ to ‘just a resource)
• Why Christians Believe 
• 10 Day Challenge 
• Proactive national networking amongst city/town pastors’ groups
• Proactively remaining a ‘voice for outreach’ to pastors, via prayer partners, to youth leaders (networking – databases – communications).
• Sustaining a range of other support resources, primarily around outreach equipping and history. 

Within this picture ‘re-establishing’ Hope Project Easter will be a significant and endeavour, requiring clear thought. Sustaining a national effort, with scale, year upon year from a small team has maybe taken its toll. Without question, the effort remains needed, with the interests of the wider Church in view in a changing culture. The effort has been underfunded – and therefore understaffed. New partnerships are needed. These efforts are also difficult to pull off each time, noting the scope of networking and relational connection needed even just for the volunteer delivery component. The year off of the Easter booklet and TV components in 2025 is therefore with reason. (Online components will continue in 2025, pending funds).

Upcoming areas of work

Everything below is ‘God-willing’. We are not boasting in the claim we will do these things. We are stating our personal desire and intent – in the hope of God’s favour to do what we have a heart to do, and vision for how to do.

Regarding timelines, we are thinking 2030.

Action points 

• Our key role would be to try to find a team courageous and suitable to take this vision on, with ability to engage confidently with Iwi / hapu / whanau in an increasingly challenging space. This would be a volunteer team – joining the existing team – who continue to believe in the vision, and who are happy to relinquish all rights over the resource, to see it achieving its intended purpose.  
• About $50,000 to $80,000 more would be needed for ‘raw costs’ (print / stock). But finding a suitable team is the challenge here. Few have courage to play in this space currently.

3. HeLP Project

(…or any mixture of equivalent initiatives to INTENTIONALLY bring positive profile to the Christian faith

HeLP Project is the third part of our proposed Hope Project vision. We believe this innovation is needed. We believe that every day it continues not to exist is also to our detriment – as the NZ Church.

• HeLP Project is currently stalled, primarily for financial reasons. It needs a mere $300,000 to $400,000pa. Having shared the vision, we were stunned by the lack of response. 
• Our strategic assessment remains resolute in belief that this is needed.
• As strategists with 14 years experience playing on the national platform, what is proposed is the most efficient way we can see a range of outcomes being accomplished.
  • We note that others considering initiating something similar themselves seem to see only one outcome at a time. This is inefficient and unfortunate in our opinion.
• However, it makes no difference to us if these outcomes can be successful. Innovation in this space is needed – for the gospel – and at this point in time! 
• Work achieved: We have given almost three years of ongoing through to this initiative. This includes branding work, partnerships, the preparation of a highly considered survey, connected to a database systems, with complicated data-to-web integration all-but lined up.  (We aren’t building the website until it is needed.)
• What is needed: This is pending only its financing – after which we will seek its needed staffing.  
• Local offer to cities: We are interested in partnering with the churches of any city interested in testing this. They get all the benefits – for a fraction of what anything similar would cost them were they to attempt a component of this. (We are keen to test our system).
• If launched (nationally), the first year would be an enormous effort, requiring about $400,000 – and with almost no media spend. Beyond that one staff, a half time admin and a media spend would sustain the public engagement component (Ext. $300,000pa). 
• If launched, this effort would ‘over deliver’. We believe it is worth ten times the funding stated.

For now, no further work is planned until a door opens.

AllTogether.co.nz/helpproject

4. Some areas of intentional networking – with a future-looking national view

4a. Youth unity and critical mass for momentum:  

We are networking in the youth space with quiet intent, to see the unity and outreach vision outlined within the ‘Godtalk’ part of this report come about in our nation. We are up to ‘round three’ in this effort, with prior groups of leaders in national youth roles declining to have ‘unity’ as a united goal – much to our bewilderment and dismay. There is a current ‘change of the guard’ and a new strategic partner for this. Were the effort successful, our own name and brand (Godtalk / SLT) would not be present in what results.  

As a secondary matter, if the above vision came about, we would then reposition Godtalk itself as ‘just a resource’ – noting it is needed and unique. We would then try to see the Godtalk ’school outreach groups video series’ created – utilising key youth leaders in the current national picture, to give them mana – and the resource its needed subservient and yet known place. At that time, this would need about $15,000 to create via friends.

This would COMPLETE another of our proposed strategic solution to a recognised ‘gap’ in the outreaching efforts of the NZ Church as a whole. However, first things come before second things. The networking goals that can change the ‘rules of the game’ are what is most important here.

Godtalk.nz

4b. United church profile in cities and increased engagement: 

We are pursuing a background strategic outcome in the ‘family and marriage support’ space – for the sake of the gospel. This is about a networking of ideas – with no up-front leadership intended from us if possible. This initiative is in the interests of all national ‘family’ ministries. It is simple and sensible – and yet is the sort of thing that is consistently overlooked because each leader is busied trying to keep their own work alive.  

Were the platform for this initiative to come about – and the idea to then gain traction, we would again be invisible within that picture.

The simple idea is articulated here – AllTogether.co.nz/servingfamilies

• The ‘law of the 5’ we base much of our efforts around states that, only when a person hears something from five seemingly independent sources do they consider and conclude that it might be true. This process exists as a coping mechanism within our media saturated, information-overloaded society.
• A united promotion of this idea ‘as our own idea’ – by all – could see churches uniting in each city and town to apply it.
• Everyone would benefit – including the ministries supplying resources, pastors groups, local churches, church members, people in their communities and God’s Church and gospel by way of the the positive reputation this would bring to our churches.

Strategic solutions don’t get simpler than this. (And yet, human nature within us all makes this difficult. We work to see that change!) 

5. Engage Conference:

As at May 2024 we see value in running another national ‘Engage Conference’ sometime soon – with a range of purposes in view.

• Most ‘Engage Conferences’ we have done have been regional. E.g. we ran 10 regional conferences in 2021.  
• The content in these conference is unique – as far as NZ church conferences goes.
• Our work needs the profile – to help Christian believers see what we do rather than only ‘Hope Project’, to enable our work.
• The voices of the ‘outreaching practitioners’ we would give the stage to would catalyse great encouragement. Most would be current pastors.
• The vision of the ‘gaps’ we see in outreach – which we would share – might catalyse new innovation by others. This has immense value because, a goal far greater than innovation from the Shining Lights Trust is the releasing of a new spirit of innovation for outreach across the NZ Church! 

We make no promise to complete any of the above-noted new areas of innovation. Everything is, as we Christians say, ‘God-willing’.

Please support our work. Our organisation is currently like a car in second gear.

Dave Mann

021 271 7719

dave@shininglights.co.nz

DAVE MANN. Dave is a networker and creative communicator with a vision to see an understanding of the Christian faith continuing and also being valued in the public square in Aotearoa-New Zealand. He has innovated numerous conversational resources for churches, and has coordinated various national nationwide multimedia Easter efforts purposed to open up conversations between church and non-church people about the Christian faith and its significance to our nation’s history and values. Dave is the Producer of the ‘Chronicles of Paki’ illustrated NZ history series created for educational purposes, and the author of various other books and booklets including “Because we care”, “That Leaders might last” and “The Elephant in the Room”. Married to Heather, they have four boys and reside in Tauranga, New Zealand.