Men’s Breakfast Paeroa 28.09.24

Hi, I’m Robert, part of the team at Family First. Thank you for inviting me to speak today.

This is our team, some are instantly recognisable like Bob and Simon, some you may recognise if you watch our regular shows. And others like me, working in the background. A few are part timers. We are just 5.1 full time equivalent. But we do have a voice for Families in New Zealand. 

I was born in England in December of 1965, my family emigrated to New Zealand in November of 1974 50 years ago, this year. I became a Christian in May 1977 when I was 11 years old. I went to Papatoetoe High School when Bob was head boy, so I’ve known him most of my life. I was married in 1992 to Mhairi and we have 2 boys, the oldest in London working for Christian Concern the youngest in Tasmania played for the Glenorchy Knights and win the double this season. He’s off to the UK on Tuesday ! I can tell you Bob is a solid character, from a very good family. I’ve known him since our days at good old Papatoetoe High School. That’s him as Head Boy in 1981. His passion was always football, his team, Liverpool. 

People see him in the media but they don’t see his private life so much. When we came back from England after 2 years there from 2000-2002, I felt that God told me to get in contact with Bob. He’s been working at Youth For Christ for a number of years and had recently started a church in Papatoetoe though we didn’t know that at the time. Soon after we got back from England, we were at dinner one night and friends of our friends told us they’d been attending Papatoetoe Community Church so we went along, found out Bob was there and soon were involved and are to this day, me as an elder and Mhairi as the administrator. Bob coached our youngest in football for several years and Joshua remains friends with Bob’s son Stephen. Bob

will claim credit for Joshua’s success at football. The reason I share all that is because sometimes it’s good to remember everyone is part of a family, even those we contend with that have completely different world views. 

Our former chairmen Ross Wilcox, who stepped down this year aged 84 gave a devotion at our Annual Retreat  from 1 Chronicles which stood out to me. Right after King Saul had died, the elders of Israel anointed David as King in preference to someone from Saul’s household. David had already been chosen by God and anointed by Samuel to succeed Saul so the elders anointing of David was like the official stamp.

There was a transfer of power happening but it could all still come to nothing without the backing of the people.

Israel had been defeated by the Philistines and David had to build the army of Israel again. Jerusalem was occupied, even his home town of Bethlehem was overtaken by a Philistine garrison. The enemy was in control of the country. You can imagine the situation.

As David built his army, no doubt the people had to decide, who they would align with to defeat the Philistines. Their enemy was common but the outcome would be different depending on who they picked. Would they be brave and fight with David or would they remain loyal to the House of Saul which had been defeated by the enemy. David’s position was dangerous, the situation could go either way. His own tribe Judah supported him of course, some from Saul’s tribe of Benjamin but not many. The support from the other tribes was mixed. The tribe of Issachar also had to make a decision whether to get behind David.

1 Chronicles 12:32

of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command;

It wasn’t the biggest tribe, there isn’t note of any mighty warriors like with the other tribes. But all the leaders, all the brethren it says got behind David. Why? Because they understood the times they were living in. They could see what was at stake was their very long-term existence. 

There is a culture war going on today in New Zealand. You are forced to decide who is on the right side of history. And it’s not a straightforward decision. You have church leaders on both sides of the fence. We need wisdom like the men of Issachar to decide which side we will be on.

A strong family gives you a head start in this tough world we live in today. Hopefully your own families are close, some may be gone by now, but they still remain with us in many ways, don’t they? If you don’t have a family to speak of, then the Bible teaches God is our Father and that on the Church you can have many brothers and sisters, so the family is actually much bigger and all over the Globe. A Christian can go to almost any city and the Lord has family there. Certainly, that is true in a country like New Zealand, we are very blessed here.

But we have all seen New Zealand changing before our eyes in the last 20 years and especially in the years since Covid. Many things we have known as New Zealanders growing up have been set aside for this new age we live in. Everything is online now and so fast but for us who remember those old days of face-to-face exchanges, the pre shopping mall days, we feel that human connection being lost. This technology was supposed to make our lives easier and sometimes I feel on top of it, other times it is overwhelming the number of plates we have spinning. People today are looking for an anchor that is found in family but can only ultimately be found in Jesus Christ. 

The problem Christians face is that our world view is diametrically opposed to what is generally accepted by the world today. 

And the number of people who want to be associated with Christianity is shrinking.

I researched the census results for Paeroa, they are similar to Papatoetoe.

In just 12 years between 2006 and 2018, the number of people who are Christian affiliated shrink from 55% to 35%, a drop of 20%.

At the same time, the people claiming no religion increased by  about 20%. So now you have a majority of people in the town who are atheist or agnostic in their belief about God. That suggests a different strategy is needed to Papatoetoe where the drop in Christians was filled by an increase in Hindus. Atheists have been a tough nut to crack for a long time. But it seems that in very recent times they are softening their stance after realising what everything they had spent their lives tearing down is being replaced with.  Even Richard Dawkins has recently said he likes to think of himself as a cultural Christian, that’s a surprise. Our own Rodney Hide was an atheist all his life but in the last couple of years he was converted to Christ as he became disenchanted with what was being forced on our kids, he came to see that what Bob had been saying all along was right.

The last census in New Zealand was held on 7th March 2023 and the results are being released from 29th May 2024 to August 2025 so keep an eye out for that.

These changes in demographic mean Family First are increasingly engaged in a war in the spiritual sense. We are often under fire for what is called its right wing extremist bigoted position. Particularly regarding;

1. Marriage is between one man and one woman. As a consequence, every child has the right to a mum and a dad.

The LGBTQ community obviously oppose this view. 

The theme of this year’s Forum on the Family was “Protecting the Next Generation”. 

Family First lost its charity status because of its narrow view on the definition of the family. 

2. Family First takes a biblical view of justice

God is very concerned about justice but we must understand the difference between biblical justice and social justice because they are not the same. In fact, they are diametrically opposed.

The key difference between biblical justice and social justice lies in how the two views define injustice. The Bible defines injustice as that which fails to rise to the level of the law of God. Social Justice defines injustice as anything that produces or allows an inequitable outcome.

First and foremost, we see that Biblical Justice is defined by God and God alone. Second, we know that true, final, and perfect justice will ultimately be rendered by God to each person one day. While man-made systems of justice may fail, nothing gets by God. Even though divine justice serves as a comforting backstop, God makes it clear he wants mankind to strive to render true justice, even in this fallen world. Thus, the delivery of the Ten Commandments and the Royal Law will always be relevant. These should serve as the moral baseline for all rightly structured systems of human laws and judicial enforcement.

We can use the Bible to help us discern what is true and good on many controversial topics like

1. Abortion

2. Euthanasia

3. Gay Marriage

4. Transgender rights

and so on. This is what the progressives hate. They don’t want to be tied to God’s law.

Take abortion. We know from the Bible it is wrong to shed innocent blood. Abel’s blood cried from the ground for justice. (Genesis 4:10-11). 

Family First opposes woke diversity and inclusion theology. It’s not that we are against individuals or groups because of race or gender. It’s because God has no favourites.

Romans 2:10-11

but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.

It is also God’s prerogative on how and when he distributes his justice and grace. In the parable of the prodigal son, the older son was disgruntled that the younger son was not treated justly. But the Father said to the older son that it was just.

Almost all of what Family First does is to protect the most vulnerable in our community.

Have a look at this weeks Pulse Point release. Once you strip it down, you will see it’s about protecting our children and  preserving their innocence. The challenge is enormous but not impossible. Our team is getting bigger and we need your support for the work we do.