Key Ministries
- Sending mission partners
We work alongside New Zealand churches to send their people to serve cross-culturally. This involves both mobilisation and ongoing member care. - Equipping churches
We equip local churches to both be aware of global mission and understand how to be missional. We act as a mission advocate and coach.
Spiritual Landscape in New Zealand
New Zealand’s spiritual landscape is changing rapidly. According to the 2023 census, 51.6 per cent of the population identifies as having ‘no religion’, a steady increase since 2006. Despite this, 81 per cent express some form of spiritual belief. A key reason many explore spirituality is witnessing others who genuinely live out sincere faith.
About 31 per cent identify as Christian, yet only 12.4 per cent attend church regularly, marking a significant decline from previous decades when New Zealand was known as a Christian nation with the highest mission workers per capita worldwide.
While the church’s cultural influence has diminished, vibrant faith communities remain, and there is opportunity for people to encounter Christ through friends, family, and faith communities. The society is multicultural and religiously diverse, making a clear presentation of biblical Christianity crucial. A renewed movement of the Holy Spirit (Wairua Tapu) has recently been observed in some churches.
SIM New Zealand supports the church by encouraging believers to build relationships across faiths and cultures for the sake of the gospel.
Please pray
- For new prayer groups to start that give all generations a chance to participate in praying for mission
- For our mobilisers as they focus on three New Zealand communities this year — Palmerston North, Christchurch and Dunedin — coming alongside church pastors and congregations to build mission awareness and engagement
- For four new long-term mission partners who sense God’s calling to serve cross-culturally outside New Zealand
- For our board as they work with leadership to refresh our next six-year strategic plan
- For strategic partnerships with churches to be developed through mutual relationships
Latest stories from around SIM
In Radcliffe, UK, children without father figures find hope through Sports Friends coaches. They are finding mentorship, love and learning about the faithf...
For many around the world, Christmas Day passes quietly unnoticed and uncelebrated. Faithful Witness asked what December 25th looks like in communities whe...
Raised Muslim in South Asia, Joel* longed to know who God truly was. Through SIM programmes, Christ brought light, joy and deep faith into his life.
How do you hold on to God’s word when you can’t hold it in your hands?
When Kamal and Sunita first came to Shalom Clinic, a Hope for Life ministry in South Asia, they were emotionally and spiritually exhausted. Poverty, addic...
After forty years of faithful mission service in Africa, a mission worker couple, based in the rural village of Nanjoka, Malawi, have now been called back ...
How do you hold on to God’s word when you can’t hold it in your hands?
How do you hold on to God’s word when you can’t hold it in your hands?
Read and share stories from SIM mission workers who are seeing Christ’s light shine in places that once seemed dark.
SIM has been involved in church planting among the Wolof—one of the world’s least-reached people groups—right in the heart of the city since 2021. Re...
American mission worker Tia builds friendships through English lessons and Bible study, sharing God’s love with women seeking faith in Japan. Click to re...
Mission worker Lane shares the gospel with Mexican migrant workers in Canada, planting a seed of faith that ripples from Alberta’s farms to families in M...