Christian Home Schoolers of NZ (CHomeS)
World View Conference Report
The World View Conference of 7-12 April in Auckland, staged by Christian Home Schoolers of New Zealand, seems to have been more than just successful….for some it was earth-shaking, revolutionary, conscious-raising stuff! Barbara and I have staged a few national conferences in our day, but never one where every day people came up to us to say how they’ve never before been so thoroughly challenged, how these days rate among the best days of their lives, how we need to make it two weeks long, how it really should be required for every Christian in the country, etc., etc. Clearly the Lord was doing something in people’s hearts and minds…..we have a tiger by the tail.
It was such a privilege to rub shoulders with high-profile folks such as the guest speakers from Summit Ministries in the USA, Dr David Noebel and Chuck Edwards. The deputy leader of the Christian Heritage Party, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, was there most of the time, and CHP leader Graham Capill gave one of the addresses. Frank Grover an ex MP attended, as did Bernie Ogilvie of Masters Institute, and many of the students plus local church ministers. The South Island was represented by people from Christchurch, Timaru and even Queenstown!
There were moments of very sobering shocks. As we explored the thinking of Marxists, Secular Humanists and New Agers, we were stunned to be shown statistics revealing that children of evangelical Christians in the public schools as well as in most Christian schools are rapidly losing every last shred of Biblical thinking in many areas such as economics, politics, psychology, law, sociology and even theology! Many of us realised that we too held nonChristian beliefs in these areas without realising it. Contributing factors to this sad situation are that many Christians believe in a gospel that only has relevance for the life hereafter and that most Christians don’t appear to study the Scriptures much.
We also watched like stunned mullets as highly-qualified and articulate non-believers attempted to justify on the grounds of compassion the slaughter on demand of 16,000 unborn babies in New Zealand every year. Dr Zoe During, a medical doctor, and Dr Bill Cooke of Auckland University were debating “Should abortion be legal?” with Christians Chuck Edwards and Matt Flannigan, a PhD candidate in Philosophy. Though the nonChristians agreed that they could not know when an unborn baby became a person, they were happy to draw an arbitrary line at so many weeks from conception and appeared unconcerned should it be found that they got it wrong: if there is no God out there to Whom they must ultimately give account, why should they be concerned?
Most of us were pretty fired up to find ways we could bring the word of God to bear more consistently in our own lives so that we would think Christianly rather than secularly on issues with which we have to deal on a daily basis. Some of us went home with a renewed vision and desire to engage the enemy in the public arena: letters to the editor, email discussion groups, talkback radio, etc.
Some comments directly from conferees were:
“A total transformation in my understanding of most subjects discussed. Excellent information and analysis. The Worldview concept was transforming – and this at my age of 62years.”
“I think this has been a life-changing conference, opening my eyes to the real situation in our World today, and giving me a strategy to help me and other families in my Church, arise, equip ourselves for the battle for the mind and take the Hope of Christ back into our nation.”
“I have been greatly inspired by the conference. I just sense God is so much behind this. The presence of God was there each day. I am so excited and would love to have more of it. Our children need it. The teenagers need it – Christians in New Zealand need it.”
Masters Institute in Auckland appears poised to stage two-week world view conferences for youth on the model of those run by Summit Ministries. And the Christian Home Schoolers of NZ committee, Rodger & Christine Whetton, Mark & Carol Munroe and Craig & Barbara Smith are already wondering about another world views conference for families. Stay tuned!
From Keystone Magazine
May 2002 , Vol. VIII No. 3
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