The quiet before the storm

 

It is my conclusion that we are now sitting – globally – in ‘the quiet before the storm’. From a prophetic point of view, this could be significant. The question is, what should a Christian (or any person with insight – noting there are many non-Christians expressing concern) do when they see a storm coming?

Here are TEN ‘bullet points’ on what I see – coming from my own study of what is going on across our planet in these times.

For clarity – the below points are NOT things I desire to communicate widely on. My reason for doing so here is stated below. It relates to need for clear thinking amongst leaders – which is needed to be a ‘prophetic voice’ for (a) faith and (b) good in this world. 

Regarding what is important: To know our times sufficient to them adapt in the way we lead!

The questions for at the conclusion of the reflection are as follows:

• What does it look to prepare our hearts for these times? 
• What kind of faith do we need for these kinds of times? 
• What kind of character do we need? 
• What kind of community might we need? 
• What kind of communication and conversational skills might be needed? 
• What does the education of children look like in a changing world, where the education system might be used for ideological purposes (‘propaganda’), rather than the core of reading, writing and math? 
• What skill sets, and even economic arrangements, might we need to help Christian individuals and families to best position for a coming season of change?
• How do we help God’s Church (people) to THRIVE through this time – shining as lights, full of hope, full of faith, bringing hope, sharing faith? What are the responsibilities of church leaders? (A link to the article, ‘Pulpit themes for the global reset’ is at the bottom)

In all cases I suggest a time for courage is drawing nearer!

 

In no particular order…

Here’s what I currently see and consider in global news

1. WEST VS EAST

The West is being divided from the East. The tragedy of this is that it was avoidable. As one example, American engagement with Ukraine wasn’t needed – while involvement guaranteed a significant divide. There is a saying, ‘know your friends, and know your enemies better.’  A wise person should ‘keep their enemies close’.  Biden chose an approach that gave excuses to China (from whom he and his family are proven to have received millions – as also from Ukraine), while sustaining a narrative that paints Russia as as ‘the greatest threat to American freedoms’. In truth, China is the greatest threat to America – vying for the #1 position as global superpower. This ‘Russia’ narrative was entrenched through Hillary Clinton’s games – also evidenced through the courts.

A devastatingly bad decision was Biden’s to limit Russias use of their own money – in US dollars. The US dollar has had the privileged position of being the ‘retro-dollar’ for about 70 years. In one decision, Biden undermined the security of that for nations who aren’t strongly aligned to American values or favourable towards its claimed dominance. He undermined their security – and in a moment, multiple nations turned to find a way to be free of the American hegemony. It was excessively stupid!

The above shows the brokenness of the system – and the nature of our times.

• Whatever the truth of all this is (because it has all been politicised in our media) – Russia has been pushed into the arms of China and others. Global alliances are shifting at pace – noting the Shanghai Coalition, and the more recent BRICS alliances.

 

2. WAR

NATO has broken agreements made with the USSR after World War Two. While this has rare mention in Western media, our own (Western) civilisation is not without guilt here. Russia had kept its promises (with the USSR ‘power block’ disbanding – and no expansion of territory toward Europe sought) – while the NATO nations have broke the agreement twice. Russia has warned them. A quick search online can easily find Nigel Farage (amongst others) as far back as 2008 warning the EU Parliament that, if they continued to break the agreement, they would create war with Russia.  All that has been needed to avoid this war is an agreement from Ukraine not to join the NATO alliance. This is about border protection for Russia from a ‘power block’ who are known to look out for their own interests first (that being our own culture / wider ‘Western’ civilisations).  This war was an easy one to avoid – and maybe it can yet be stopped? (The longer it goes, the more complicated it will become).

• I’m no fan of Russia – but this war is a dangerous one in the way it’s shifting alliances.
• (Ukraine is a communist-styled dictatorship, ruled by a billionaire, with true religious persecution, with political opponents currently imprisoned – all in contrast to the ‘free democratic society’ it is implied to be in our own media. To have created narrative is in itself foolish – because fair-minded people are capable of understanding two points of view. To state one side untruthfully – as I perceive our culture to have done, backfires because it undermines trust in our news media).
• Turkey is choosing an alliance with the East. 
• Iran gets a ‘get out of jail free card’ – and all of their support.
• Saudi Arabia is choosing its allies, turning away from the West – even to partnership with Iran (their religious enemy within Islam). 
• The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, Saudi Arabia) is emerging as a global super
  • The SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) stands  as a growing military alliance – created as an ‘equal and opposite’ to NATO, Iran is now being allowed to join,
  • The OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) is also an increasingly functional body, with 56 member states.
• For scholars of Biblical prophecy, the nation’s mentioned in the ‘Gog Magog war’ have been in general alliance only this past decade (Turkeys shift of political alliances was the significant change). 
• While Israel sits there – cornered by neighbours, many of whose base-line view is that they should be “wiped off the map”. No joke! Openly stated!

The result is some rather significantly increasing geo-political instability in a day and age of modern weaponry. If the proxy war that the Russia-Ukraine war is continues, it could spill over.

 

3. GLOBAL FINANCES – AND CONTROL

And then there is the coming global financial crisis – which cannot be far off. We’ve been in recession for a year already – despite all manner of PC groups even going as far as to redefine the very word ‘recession’ (even its meaning has been politicised to maintain a political narrative – with its definition literally defined in many platforms, if any are unaware). 

• Our Governments have been printing money – this is at the core of it. Instead of letting those who did wrong leading to the 2008 crisis have consequences, they were bailed out (the perpetrators were rewarded). Instead of printing money for one or two years to ‘soften’ the blow of that crisis, they embraced a new monetary idea – and kept printing up to this very day. 
• Printing money creates inflation (its demand and supply). For the uninitiated- inflation is a tax on cash. (Instead of taking your money through increased tax, the Government prints the money they want – which creates inflation, essentially ‘taking’ that money out of the value of all the money you have. It’s the same thing – just a different mechanism for it).
• The scope of what we’re now in was certainly somewhat avoidable if the money-printing could have been stopped. So why continue – and in multiple nations – when all cases in history of the same show that this will lead to a currency crash?  (It’s not a pleasant question).
• Add to that the increases in fuel costs. These have been largely unnecessary also – principally created by Americas decisions (a) to hinder their own production of fuels, while (b) cutting Russia off (which increased prices – giving Russia more money than had they not done this). It’s simple demand and supply. The problem here is that – at the foundation of an economy is energy (diesel, petrol, electricity). Make it expensive – and you’ve made everything expensive (inflation).  To do this to energy costs – while also printing money – was crazy, or a choice.
• A ‘day of reckoning’ is unavoidable – except that some might see that ‘day’ as a good thing!

People are making decisions – that have consequences. Why make those decisions? These are our times!

We’re told a digital currencies will replace our current cash currencies. But ‘crisis’ might be needed to convince everyone to ‘make the jump’!

This, of course, positions all of us for an ID card – or implant, as noted elsewhere – the dangers of which (to personal liberty) are being warned against  politicians, journalists, economists, health officials and many others across our planet in these times – even if not often reflected in our public news media.

• Every detail of our lives could be known – and then controlled. With history in view, these various commentators suggest that, to think this wouldn’t be abused ‘for our good’, is simply naive. Even if well-intentioned at its outset, the suggestion is that it is morally wrong by the very nature of what it enables. In the present times (the time of writing), various US States are looking to pass laws to ban the use of any nationalised CBDC (digital currency) in their State – as a step to protect the future freedoms of the people (I.e. They view it as un-Constitutional).

 

4. CLIMATE AS A MECHANISM FOR CONTROL

The so-called global climate emergency is – in my assessment – principally about politics and power, not climate. When there is more carbon in the air, plants grow bigger. This is a very simple scientific reality. For example, NASA has confirmed that the world is 15% greener now than in the year 2000. A study of a long history of carbon also shows very little link between carbon levels and climate. 

• Whatever the real climate matters are (noting all Christians are true greenies – believing we have an accountability to God to care for and steward the resources of our planet for good), what we are watching unfold internationally in relation to the climate and environment is political. It is a tool for power – being leveraged for the control of nations – directly affecting their economics, productivity and liberty.

 

5. THE RISE OF SOCIALISM

If we deny the idea of God we deny the existence of actual (fixed) morality – and also of the innate value of all human life. It is therefore about the survival of the fittest. Power is what counts – and the end justifies the means. This is the terrifying value system of socialism, within which the Government gets bigger and bigger – and the people smaller and smaller. As Anne Rand put it, socialism is ruling the people by vote (by controlling the narratives, media, education), while communism is ruling the people by force. Socialism is therefore merely ‘communism lite’ (the words of William J Federer). The difference is merely in the degree of control. Beyond a certain point the people’s vote isn’t needed – except, of course, for the purpose of making them think they’re still in a democracy, so they are more easily subdued to the wishes of Big Government. (Hence elections in Communist nations – for example).

• Our own prior PM has been a proud socialist – with other Cabinet members boasting of this also.
• The WEC is a group of unelected global elites, openly stating Communistic (not only socialistic) goals. (“You will own nothing…”).
• The ‘Global Reset’ is about an idea: Control – for your good – but within which they have all power and you have none.
• The only way this can work is through a cashless society, because a cashless society is a controlled society.
  • A huge number of individuals (the majority in many places) will otherwise refuse to participate.
  • There would be too many to control by force – through a police force or army.
  • Imposing a cashless system would therefore reduce that number – making it manageable by force.
• Would even Western Governments, built on the Christian idea of Democracy (coming from the Biblical value system), overrule their people? The trucking protest in Canada was a clear case to confirm how far things can go, and how quickly. Personal and business bank accounts were frozen for mere association with the protest – let alone participation. The Government exerted a huge injustice on participants in a just protest – as yet without any apology. In this context, the silence of public media on this has been deafening. It’s a sign of our times, and worth knowing about because Canada has been a seemingly free and Democratic nation.
• There are many cases in history of free nations can losing their freedoms = 55 nations falling to Communism last century being an example.

 

6. CONTROL THROUGH HEALTH

A concurrent dynamic is the World Health Organization. Set up for a clearly good purpose, it has become politicised and partisan (taking sides). There has been no accountability for a vaccine that didn’t work well, with vaccine injuries in under two years greater than all recorded vaccine injuries in the  prior 30. The most basic data is still ignored in public media – with negative innuendoes still made toward any daring to speak against the ‘mandated public view’, despite the clear science – with study after study. The ‘rabbit hole’ runs deep. Correlations in increased ‘all cause mortality’ to vaccination rates (which is the case in our nation in the vicinity of about 11% currently from what I understand) are direct. While the virus killed the medically vulnerable (average age of death in Australia was 84 at one point) – this ‘all cause mortality’ is spread across the ages.  The same pattern applies to increased admissions to hospital – as compared to prior to the virus and vaccinations. The fact that this is still not even mentioned in public media – leaving most(?) unaware of what is going on, is concerning. A health emergency was shown to be a mechanism for exerting unprecedented control over a population in a short space of time – with public media becoming something of a ‘public arm of  Government’.

• 2023 is the year in which the WHO wants a sovereign type of power over 194 nations, to tell them when they have a health crisis, and to tell them exactly what has to be done to manage it. We – the people – get no say in this. Western nations are willingly complying – while nations in Africa and Asia are protesting – which might provide a level of protection.  
• Health has now also been politicised – and globally so! A study of speeches by people at places like the UN and WEC quickly demonstrates the thinking and goals of our elite. Nothing is hidden.
• Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely (Lord Acton).  (Nothing is safe!)

 

Again – in case of any confusion – I remind any readers that I’m not saying all this from a desire to be a spokesperson on ANY of these issues. This is a reflection for Christian leaders – to know our times. We cannot bring clear-thinking leadership if we do not understand our cultural context. This is the purpose – with applications points yet to come. I believe being aware is important! (Read on).

 

 

7. STRATEGIES FOR POWER

I think what many miss is how organised all of this can be.

I’m a student of change theory. The thinking of broad groups of people can be changed in subtle ways, through messaging via various means – to catalyse outcomes. This can be used positively – like parents through consistent reinforcing of certain values and consequences, or manipulatively – like by people who believe they have a mandate to ‘herd’ people like cows on a farm, leveraging media, education, libraries (book options) and more. This is pragmatic Darwinism. If there is no God human beings are just advanced animals. There is no such thing as freewill. Peoples choices are the product of their environments and prior expeirnces (not moral). Morality and law are just tools to be used to manipulate (care for ) the masses. And the end justifies the means. This is the substance of the ‘social sciences’ – considering Freud, Pavlov, Skinner…  and it guides the way the non-Christian elite think (because Christian thinking is the antithesis of this). It’s an all pervasive way of thinking

• Study the speeches of our growing ‘global elite’, and you’ll find people who are very intelligent. I believe they are also well-meaning, who are highly strategic, and well resourced. Study the strategies – or dig into the ideas mentioned regarding how they intend to achieve various things, and you will find there is substance to it. Money is being used to employ intelligent people who are gifted in strategy.
• To state that differently, some people really are smart enough and organised enough to create and pursue strategies at multiple levels, all concurrently, to augment human thinking and behaviour in nations – toward national goals. This includes multi-faceted, multi-media, multi-dimensional strategies to achieve goals through concurrently  gradually suppressing dissenting voices, elevating useful ones, creating tension and conflict to busy and distract people, financially challenging people to subdue them (as their focus is forced onto their own basic security and provision), while confusing people by confusing the issues (including ‘useful idiot’ issues – which are used for the purpose of chaos and distraction – even around issues that might otherwise seem and feel ‘big’ and genuine)… …to create an environment conducive to a quick changing of multiple laws, paving the way for the increased powers of Government… …that being a Government who will then submit itself to their own ’employers’ – the international strategists who have become their friends!
• What cannot be missed here is the weakness of human nature. Everyone wants to be liked – and peer pressure is powerful.
  • To illustrate, I want the approval of the teacher – until I discover the Principal; of the Principal – until I discover the Principals association and its leader; of that leader until I discover the Government department that oversees them; of that department until I discover the core members of a Government’s cabinet; and of that Cabinet until I discover the international movers and shakers that are influencing nations! 
• So – without Christian convictions to morally ‘bind’ us to do what is morally right and good, there is no solid basis for any genuine commitment to the rights, freedoms and wellbeing of the people as individuals, created in the image of God. So who or what do our politicians serve? (Why can they become so rich – not only after their terms – which is when ‘golden hand shakes’ are given for their compromises to do what lobbyists wanted them to do – but now, even while they are in their positions of power, and all without prosecution?)
  • Power easily corrupts – and internationally so.

My point here is that there are people in international roles capable of studying (in teams) all the laws of any nation, to lay out a pathway for changing laws – to position that nation to submit as a part of almost anything they want to see happen internationally. 

To think this hasn’t already happened is – in my opinion – simple naive! (Consider – it’s not even difficult to do – so long as you have money to employ 20 or 30 qualified people for the ‘noble task’ of ‘community organising’ (read Saul Alenski – who Obama was a student of, and whose teachings were the subject of Hillary Clinton’s Masters Thesis).

Broad changes can be coordinated – without people even knowing who you are, or what are you doing!

 

8. THE AMBITION OF POWER

While this point sits within the other posts – the human nature dynamic at the core of all of this is the love of power. It is clear that many of our ‘global elite’ have clear ambitions for global power, with themselves (as our self-appointed leaders) in charge. None have stated the future dynamic – in which global power needs concentrating in a small group of people’s hands, than  Prince Charles and Klaus Schwab.

• They also (for their religious beliefs – to understand their value system) believe human nature is essentially good, and the planet is like god [sacred and to be served and protected].
• They believe in overpopulation – which is a bit scary when noting that they do not believe humans are the ‘pinnacle of God’s creation’ and therefore to be protected (like a Christian does). Unavoidably they therefore believe that the end justifies the means – especially if a ‘good’ objective, for people’s greater wellbeing, is in view.
• This kind of person also believes they are mandated (by nature of their positions, power or self-believed superior intellect and strategy) to guide humanity within their felt mandate (to protect the world, and make a better world). This is clear within their manner of talking (though not so much with Prince Charles as others – he’s just an interesting name to add, noting things he is saying).
• No matter how noble it sounds, it’s destructive – because at its core it has rejected the idea of God, fixed moral law, and the value of all human life. 
• The intentions of many are directly stated.
• We are looking at the biggest attempted power grab in human history! It is happening.
• The problem is – if it goes down the same path as every other socialistic enterprise in history has, the result will be suffering at a level unmatched in history.
  • A global power grab, with global populations as they are, and with the mechanisms of Governments to exert control that now exist, can only mean suffering at a level never before imagined!

 

9. ENVIRONMENT OF INSTABILITY AND CONFUSION

To put this simply, a society that does not know up is up and down is down, and that cannot call a boy a boy or a girl a girl, is one that is in trouble. The tools of confusion are in full swing, while the public discourse that protects freedoms and justice is already significantly undermined. 

• Fail to support ‘Black Lives Matter’ – because you happen to have some intelligence and actually investigated it all… …finding an explicitly communistic organisation, who did nothing to help Floyd’s family (Christians stepped in to do that), embezzling hundreds of millions – donating nothing to help black people – but killing lack people, killing black police officers, causing hundreds of millions of damage through violence and burning… …buildings owned by black people, and shops owned by black people… – and you might find yourself cancelled for simply saying “All lives matter”! 
  • While all lives do matter!  It’s the core fundamental truth that empowers the idea of the equal treatment of people irrespective of their economic status, race, gender, nationality or religion!
• ‘Postmodernism’ (a worldview that denies there is any actual truth – which is logical true if Darwinism is. Truth is what a person wants it to be)… ultimately divides everyone into subgroups – whether by class, race or gender.
  • We therefore can’t all just be New Zealanders, because you have an inbuilt racism if you are of one skin colour, and couldn’t possibly understand an issue like abortion if you’re of that gender etc…
  • Sometimes called ‘Critical Race Theory’, it fragments, confuses, divides, judges…
  • To understand the logic, it’s racism to fix racism. It’s sexism and confusion to fix sexism. It’s a complete lack of tolerance – in the name of silencing the intolerant. And it’s already all through our media and institutions – drawing out, pursuing and silencing dissenters (aka ‘cancel culture’).
  • It confuses everything and everyone – and it undermines the possibility of intelligent conversation!

‘Conservativism’ (preserving the good from the past) is the opposite, and is our great need – but it’s difficult when the history of great good in our nation is not being told. In fact, in the newly  written (‘constrained’) history of our nation prescribed for schools, it is excluded! 

• (Where did our freedoms of speech come from – or the end of slavery, the  equality of races, the equality of genders, our democratic forms of Government, capitalistic freedoms that enabled national prosperity for all [noting even the poor get given money for doing nothing here – being ‘rich’ by many global standards ], cultural concepts of charity, healthcare for all, education for all etc… This isn’t taught in schools because Christianity is the cultural root of all of these blessings in our nation. Values are preserved through story – while these are values that don’t fit the political narrative or objectives).

 

10. A SPECIFIC IDEOLOGICAL BIAS AGAINST THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

This dynamic is unavoidable.

• The values that breed human wellbeing, our concepts of charity, democratic freedoms, a ‘religious’ commitment to the wellbeing of individuals (aka ‘human rights’) and more all come from the Judeo-Christian ethic.
• This is the antithesis of the secular (humanistic) viewpoint – which is the belief and value system embraced by most of the current characters in the ‘global elite’ – as in the UN, EU, WEC, NATO and similar groups.
• Secular humanistic (Darwinian) views quickly lend themselves quickly to socialism (belief that the State is the greatest good – rather than the individual, with a whole set of values springing from that, then applied in law).
  • These are opposing views of reality!
  • While we in NZ avoid talking about a ‘culture war’ – this is very specifically a culture war, which those with a globalist viewpoint are engaging intentionally, and with strategy.

The trend is clear in which topics are selected for public debate that specifically alienate people with beliefs in actual (objective) moral truths… is clear.

• The concept of the ‘useful idiot’ is significant here. Governments can support issues they don’t even really care about or believe, simply because doing so is useful to their wider goals. The ‘useful idiot’ is the person who thinks their ‘pet little topic’ is the priority – not realising they are nothing but a tool in someone else’s hands, and will be discarded when no longer useful! (It’s a concept / teaching of  ‘socialism’. So how do you alienate the Christian? Attack anything related to their moral values – change public opinion – and they’ll either compromise and conform to your will, more become alienated by the culture of thinking you created for this very purpose).

This is a troubling prejudice – especially when seen alongside other trends.

 

To note it, this isn’t the future I want for my children – however, in my assessment, each of the above is a trend. Plot a line forward, and consider what their cumulative effect might be.

 

SUMMARY

These are some of the trends I see – all of which I suggest are a ‘storm cloud’ in the sky

• WEST VS EAST
• WAR
• GLOBAL FINANCES AND CONTROL
• CLIMATE AS A MECHANISM FOR CONTROL
• THE RISE OF SOCIALISM
• CONTROL THROUGH HEALTH
• STRATEGIES FOR POWER
• AMBITIONS OF POWER
• ENVIRONMENT OF INSTABILITY AND CONFUSION
• A SPECIFIC IDEOLOGICAL BIAS AGAINST THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

 

SO – WHAT IS A PERSON TO DO IF LIVING IN A STORM?

This is the question I think that needs more serious consideration. 

 

I wrote ‘6 pulpit themes for the global reset’, in many ways, to answer this question – with some ‘tongue in cheek’ in the mix. A link to this is at the bottom of this article – but here are some quick reflections:

 

For the Christian, listening to the whispers of the spirit is especially important. 

 

I believe we should avoid extremes. 

• I don’t think it has yet to time to run for the hills… 
• But I suggest the time is here to avoid too much debt, and to live a simpler life, avoiding the love of money etc… so we’re adaptable, and have our heads together.  

 

If the timings given in the Bible are predictive – and if they are close

• …I suggest we are awaiting the revealing of a global leader, who’s identified (2 Thessalonians 2:3) by his confirming of a seven-year peace treaty with Israel. 
• This may or may not then involve the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, which everyone recogniSes would take a miracle! (I don’t mind either way),
• That agreement with Israel confirms a 3 1/2 year long opportunity to prepare for 3 1/2 years of trouble – within which the power sought at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11 – people globally united to ‘fix the world’ but with no regard for God) will be permitted to exist, by God, for a very short (3 ½ years) period of time. (The inherent problem with our participation in that system is its religious ‘secularism’ – believing itself capable of fixing the world with no regard for God. It is the Tower of Babel all over again – at a time when the dividing that the languages given at Babel created have been overcome again).

 

It is a time for faith – not fear

• God can protect people from famine in the midst of famine. 
• He can protect people from war in the midst of war. 

 

It is a time for wise united action – to engage with public views.

• God can help us do things that point people to the good works of Christians within communities, or that tell the stories from history, that balance out the negative stories and impressions being (intentionally) built through public news media and education. We are not without power.
• Where public perspectives can be engaged with, the scope of prejudice built will be mitigated. This enhances not only freedoms for Christians – and the gospel, but also for all people, because of the wider culture (of values, human dignity and individual freedoms) this is all connected to.
• We are not without power – but our actions need to be strategic with the nation and public perspective in view. Continuing good deeds within communities is important – but the telling of that story has become arguably very important. This requires a different type of thinking from Christians and Christian leaders – to adapt, so we enable action steps that could mitigate the effects of some of these trends.

Thinking precedes behaviour.

…Responding wisely requires insight!

…and I don’t think this is about fighting against the power grab that is in play – as much as it is about thinking through how we best protect God’s people, and enable them to ‘shine brightly’ in these dark times, and fruitfully so!

 

We do not know exactly when the storm will arrive, but on more than half a dozen fronts I suggest we’re looking at some considerably unique ‘storm clouds’.

• It calls for a response.
• To continue as if this were ‘life as usual’ and ‘nothing is changing’ is to fail to lead. It is to abscond responsibility. It is planning for our failure – but nature of failing to plan.

 

FOR REFLECTION

• What does it look to prepare our hearts for these times? 
• What kind of faith do we need for these kinds of times? 
• What kind of character do we need? 
• What kind of community might we need? 
• What kind of communication and conversational skills might be needed? 
• What does the education of children look like in a changing world, where the education system might be used for ideological education (propaganda), rather than reading, writing and math? 
• What skill sets, and even economic arrangements, might we need to be best position for a rather uncomfortable period of time, even if short?
• How do we help God’s Church (people) to THRIVE through this time – shining as lights, full of hope, full of faith, bringing hope, sharing faith? What are the responsibilities of church leaders?

 

In all cases I suggest a time for courage is drawing nearer!

 

Read ‘Pulpit themes in view of the global reset’ here.

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For other articles by Dave on the same topic of – CHURCH UNITY

2024 – The LID of our unity is in what we can SEE

2024 – To further unity there is a needed context

2024 – SLT Leadership statement – Nest areas we intend to innovate within

2024 – Attitudes that sustain unity

2024 – How is the strength of unity to be measured?

2024 – Application from the Bible Society’s new data

2023 – A unity reflection: What if we were more strategic in our PRAYER

2023 – Roy Crowne – A voice for unity – Unity finding its voice in the CITY

2023 – Fresh vision for local Church unity

2023 – Invercargill’s Community Service Day – a unity story

2023 – Family relationships – an under-utilised gateway

2023 – The election is over – so WHAT NOW? (A specific strategic proposal)

2023 – For a united Church – there are leaders we cannot see

2023 – “Mistaken” – An offensive comical parable? Why?

2023 – “Mistaken” – A comical parable about unity

2023 – Four characteristics of leaders who take city-wide unity from talk to action

2023 – The quiet before the storm (Perspectives that shape how we lead)

2023 – STORY: How Gisborne churches united to serve their flood-affected region

2023 – STORY: NZ churches can shine when it counts (Napier flood report)

2023 – To think differently in times of crisis – like during the floods (How to ‘let our light shine’)

2022 – One Church? FIVE factors that enable pastors’ groups to turn theory into practice

2022 – A SWOT Analysis of the NZ Church in relation to its outreach

2022 – Four national goals that can be easy ‘wins’ together

2022 – A vocabulary we can agree on (This one is a particularly important FOUNDATION if coherent national discussions on unity are to one day take place)

2022 – Principles for managing necessary agenda in pastors’ groups

2022 – Introducing ‘HeLP Project’ (for pastors’ groups) – the what and the why

2022 – Key pulpit themes in view of the global reset (Finding direction in changing times)

2020 – It’s time to take responsibility to educate our own children and youth again (On united direction and strategy – for city change)

2020 – Kingdom minded  – It’s more radical than many think

2020 – STORY – The Auckland delivery

2020 – STORY – Miracle delivery where pastors declined (raises an intriguing question about boundaries)

2020 – A need for new media platforms – not more voices (How do we address the increasingly left-leaning and also anti-faith bias of public media?)

2020 – A vision for national Church unity (What might REALISTICALLY be within our reach to achiEve – if we merely thought differently?)

2019 – ‘In One Spirit’ – The purpose of the book (Written at the time of the book launch and press release)

2019 ‘In One Spirit’ – full book FREE online

2019 – United we stand (A blog just prior to the release of the above book, ‘In One Spirit’)

2017 – Pastors’ groups – a home visitation idea (best suiting smaller towns)

2017 – The call to influence culture (It’s about the way we think)

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.