Missions Newsletter - October 2026
We are counting down to The Street’s second mission trip to Thailand to see and experience what God is doing through various missionaries and mission agencies in different parts of the country.
We’ve intentionally called this an ‘exposure trip’ as our team is going with the humble posture of learners and observers to what God is doing, rather than the ones going in to have a meaningful impact. We hope and pray they will be a blessing to the people they meet by encouraging them and praying with them and, when invited, working alongside them.
The team will spend a few days with The Street’s missionaries Ben and Bekah in Bangkok, doing campus outreach alongside them. They will also spend a day with an anti-trafficking organisation, meet some local Thai Christians, visit Southeast Asia’s largest red light district in Pattaya and see outreach organisations at work there. After that, they head to the far north to see some trafficking prevention work, community development projects and possibly some agricultural outreach too!
It’s going to be a packed two weeks, but we are excited and expectant for all that they'll experience and all that God will do. Please pray for the team; for travelling safety, for meaningful encounters with non-believers in Thailand, and that they would be a refreshing presence to all they meet.
If you’d like to subscribe to future newsletters, please register your interest by emailing missions@thestreet.org.nz
Merrie Reddington
Missions Pastor
Nick and Sarah
The Way
A movement of missionaries, multiplying disciples & churches for the glory of God.
Training continues, to equip people to share the gospel, make disciples, plant churches and train others to do the same.
We’re currently running what we call, “5 in 12 Training Rollouts” (five trainings over twelve months). In June we ran these trainings in Wellington and Queenstown. Some of those attending the training came from other places around NZ and, as a result, the next training was run in Timaru, Wanaka, Queenstown, Wellington and Taupo. We are training approximately 100-150 people across these 5 centres. The fruit of this training is gospel sharing, Bible studies with unbelievers, stranger-evangelism, discipleship of new believers, and many people now training others to share the gospel.
Our next training will be in all five centres on Saturday 31 October and Saturday 7 November.
Please pray for those who will travel to each other’s towns to help run trainings, and for the locals who will host and run trainings in their own towns.
Please pray for more key leaders to emerge during these trainings.
Please pray for leaders and trainings in all 16 regions of NZ.
In the last few weeks a door has opened into the Samoan community.
A wonderful woman, Lise, has begun to pass the training on to this community.
Lise also has the desire to reach Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga and Samoa!
Please pray for many Samoans in NZ to be trained in sharing the gospel, making disciples, planting churches, training others.
Please pray for Lise.
Please pray for doors to open into Pacifica nations.
Finances: as the work increases, our funding needs also increase.
In real terms, The Way needs to raise an additional $5,000 per month.
Please pray for us to be effective in fundraising.
Please pray for provision of necessary money for the mission.
Good Stuff Parenting continues to develop and we are currently creating content for the 5-9yr olds course. Recently there has been an opportunity to speak at a conference, and two churches; along with an opportunity to have a presence at the Forum On The Family conference in Auckland.
Please pray for key connections with churches and educational institutions.
Please pray for groups of families to run the courses.
Please pray for the Lord to use Good Stuff to equip parents right throughout NZ.
Please pray for wisdom and creativity as we continue to create the 5-9yr olds content.
Thank you for being faithful in prayer. This is what we need!
Ester
Wycliffe Bible Translators NZ
We believe in the universal access to God's Word.
Praise God for the opportunity to share updates and prayer requests face to face with Porirua and East locations as well as with Vivian St Gospel Hall. I thank God for His provision and the joy of meeting new TSC staff and members as well as people I already met before. Praise God for His Help in my time of need - especially speaking publicly .
Please pray for:
Our new Wycliffe NZ leadership team with our new director, Mark Penny, who directly supervises me in my current work using the PTXprint software. He now only has 20% time available for his other duties as Language Technology Consultant and the rest is for his new role as director.
For the other duties of Mark in promoting the work of WBTNZ nationwide and the membership committee in screening WBTNZ candidates. Praise God for a young couple who are now studying linguistics in Canada in preparation for translation work.
That the Lord will raise up men and women in NZ to His mission field so that more people will have the sword of the Spirit, God’s Word, in their heart language for salvation and discipleship.
That the typesetting of the interlinear / diglot Yiddish Old testament will be done well and completed this year. The plan is to print it in 3 volumes.
For the full recovery of Linda Goble, the wife of Phil, Yiddish missionary / translator. She underwent a kidney transplant operation in June this year and the road to recovery has been long and arduous for the 80+ year old couple.
For more Wycliffe NZ-related news, go to wycliffenz.org - our website.
Paul & Barby
Auckland
It is a joy to be writing to you so soon after Paul’s visit to The Street, earlier this month. We value ‘the ties that bind’ us with you as much as ever. At the last minute, Barby was not able to join him, as planned, because she rushed to the USA to see her precious eldest sister, who had been admitted to Intensive Care. There has been some recovery, but it will not be a full one.
2026 will be remembered by us moving house—finally. It was worth the wait! We just love our new home with all its possibilities with gardening and hospitality. Barby is now so close to her work at the Refugee Centre. Paul joined her for a recent Open Day. It was amazing to hear first-hand, from multiple people, how well she represents Jesus in her workplace. One of her colleagues has come to faith in Jesus and we sit in church together most Sunday mornings.
While we may live in New Zealand, Paul’s entire life is focused overseas in his work with Langham Preaching. It has been a rough few months with a serious funding shortfall followed by Ruth—with whom he shared the leadership of the work for 12 years—deciding to move into other employment. But God has been so good, with people from within the ministry stepping into the (significant) gaps and the ministry has hardly ‘skipped a beat’, under God’s hand. Give thanks for Maggy (Cairo), Slavko (Sarajevo) and Benji (Banglore) who have all ‘stepped-up’ to help.
As far as the work is concerned, here are five encouragements from recent months:
Two “C-in-C” booklets, written ‘by our people for our people’ as a reminder—and a resource—that the work must be about preachers, not just preaching. Preachers need to have Confidence-in-Convictions and be Christlike-in-Character.
The heritage of biblical preaching is challenged by ‘oral preference learners’, of whom there is a multitude amongst Langham’s grassroots, heart-language preaching movements. A pilot project started among the Quechua in Bolivia to meet this challenge, under the leadership of Wilfredo (see photo).
After 2025’s Global Forum, gathering people from across the world to focus on Locally-Raised Support, Claudio took the initiative to develop a manual to equip people in this area. Incredible! The 90 page booklet goes to the press in the next few weeks.
Rebranding the weekly prayer bulletin. Currently, it goes out to 6000 subscribers by email—but it is a work-in-progress as it receives a new name and becomes available on multiple platforms, including YouTube.
The engine that moves this ministry forward has two components: the small preaching group (1600 worldwide) and the local facilitator (1000). Tuning that engine, by helping them become active and effective, is the key. And in 2026, for the first time ever, there are global coordinators for each area—Dionisio (in Colombia) and Paul (in West Asia).
—and a little photo taken on a little holiday on the Coromandel in July—to celebrate our 44th Wedding Anniversary.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
Ben and Bekah
East Asia
We never know what small offering God will use.
We see this pattern all through Scripture. Five loaves and two fish, packed in some child's lunchbox that morning, became the meal that fed five thousand. The boy didn't do the multiplying. He just handed over what little he had, and God did the rest.
One of my jobs (Ben) on the Digital Strategies team is to take quotes from our livestreams and turn them into graphics. Most of them are gospel-focused, small enough to catch someone's eye as they scroll, simple enough to make them pause for a second longer. I make them, I post them, and then I rarely know where they go from there.
But every once in a while, God pulls back the curtain.
This is the story of Khun.
Khun had been wondering about Christianity for a while. One day she opened Google and searched for a church near her home, and she found the Facebook page of a local congregation. She was scrolling through it when a graphic stopped her… one of ours, from the Know God page, that the church had shared some time before.
That single image was enough. She followed it back to the Know God page and sent a message.
On the other end was Som, one of our teammates, who replied through Messenger. She talked with Khun, listened to her, and shared the gospel with her. And that same day, Sunday, September 6, Khun decided to put her faith in Jesus.
She didn't stop there. Som arranged online follow-up lessons to help her grow, and Palmy joined the call for that first lesson. Khun has already finished it, and she says she feels confident and settled in her new faith.
Please join us in praising God for Khun, and pray for her as she takes these first steps. Pray too for the many others who are scrolling past our graphics right now, that God would use these small offerings to draw them home.
Rachel and Nelson
Mexico
Dear Street Church family,
The past few months have brought ministry, travel, joy, and grief. Through it all, we have seen God’s faithfulness and are grateful for your friendship and support.
We spent two weeks visiting churches in July and young-adult groups in the United States, teaching on missions and sharing the Gospel together in local communities.
In Mazatlán, Nelson has been discipling young people, helping them understand the Bible and follow Jesus in everyday life. He also leads our media team. Their SPEND IT campaign asks: “You only get one life. How are you going to spend it?” Its message is that true life is found only in Jesus, and our heart is to help young people follow Him and help others do the same.
Rachel helped organise the first three-day prenatal seminar, where many women came to learn how to prepare for birth and motherhood. It was a meaningful opportunity to offer practical care and share God’s love.
Our surf ministry continues to create opportunities for friendship and discipleship. Sadly, a young man we had been connecting with over the last 5 years lost his life to violence. Please pray for comfort for his loved ones and peace in Mazatlán as the local violence continues.
We are now in New Zealand, expecting our second baby in early November! Rachel is working to maintain her physiotherapy registration, and Nelson is spending lots of time with Lani. We are thankful for this precious time with family.
Please pray for:
For Rachel and our baby’s health, a safe birth, and our adjustment to becoming a family of four.
For the women who attended the prenatal classes, that they would feel supported and experience God’s love as they prepare for motherhood and for the maternity ministry.
For comfort for the young man's family and friends, and protection and peace for communities in Mazatlán.
For the young people Nelson is discipling, and those reached through our surf ministry and online content, to grow in their faith and help others follow Jesus.
Thank you for walking alongside us!
With love,
Rachel, Nelson & Lani
Sally
Student Life, Dunedin
Dear Church Whānau,
As always, there’s so much that has happened in the past few months since the last newsletter! Campus is pumping, and God is so at work in the lives of students across our cities - from Wellington all the way to Dunedin. It's nearing the end of the campus year, which is a really exciting time for us! I call it harvesting season. It’s the point of the year where we get to see the fruit of what God has grown in the lives of our students as they take bold steps of faith to go on Summer Missions, step into leading others, share the gospel with their families and friends, and for some, it becomes a boiling point where they put their trust in Jesus for the first time.
I would love to share all the things we’ve been up to the past few months, but to summarise the bible studies, evangelism on campus, retreats, conferences, and the one too many coffees - I’ll share one God story and something exciting coming up!
You might remember Christina from my previous update. She’s a student who has been exploring faith with me and another student, Avi, since April this year. Well, on August 12th, Christina put her faith in Jesus!!!
Here’s a snippet of what happened:
During the evening of our fortnightly connect event, Christina and I were chatting, and it was evident that God was moving her heart. Christina quietly shared that the student testimony that evening moved her. She said, “I was touched by how Jack prayed to receive Christ with someone he trusted.” A bit stunned by this, I asked, “Is that something you’d like to do?” She took a small pause, then said, “Yeah, I’d like to.”
The next morning, we met up at our usual spot on campus, and over the hour she shared her uncertainties, fears and unanswered questions. Then she said, “If being a Christian means being born again… what if I don’t change?” This question hit the heart. I think the question felt so close to home for both Avi and me - the struggle of striving to earn our way to God, but the apparent need for God’s grace in our lives. So we sat there for a moment, then shared the hope of the gospel once again; the hope that it’s by grace that we are changed. As we neared the end of the hour, we asked Christina if she would like to receive Jesus into your life. Christina replied, “Yes. I really want to.” In that moment, Christina, Avi and I bowed our heads and prayed.
Since then, we’ve met with Christina to read the Bible and help her in her first few steps as a Christian. We’ve been going to church together and finding community too!
Thank you for praying for Christina. God has used your partnership in the gospel to bring Christina from death to life, from unbelief to belief.
The exciting thing coming up for us is the OTAGO MISSION HOUSE!
For context: Last year the Otago team and Tandem partnered to raise funds to buy a house on the doorstep of campus as a dedicated space to foster community, train students in evangelism, and expand outreach. The vision was that this house would serve as a launchpad for mission work, equipping believers and creating a welcoming hub for faith and discipleship in Dunedin’s unique student culture for generations to come. Last year the team raised $800,000 to purchase a house near campus for ministry, and in April this year we purchased 71 Clyde St (the picture above)! It’s been amazing to see God provide for the ministry through over 200 faithful and generous partners who share in this vision.
Now, we are trusting God in the next steps as we work towards transforming a 100+ year old villa into a hub for mission that will have spaces to host large events, outreach, small group bible studies, host meals for big groups and overall be a place the students will come to know and follow Jesus. In a few weeks, we will be raising funds for the renovations and completion of the house project so that it can be used for ministry. Looking forward to sharing more details soon!
Please pray for:
Christina: Please pray that God multiply what has been sown a thousandfold as she experiences the transformation of the gospel in her life. Pray that this gospel that has changed her life would reach her friends and her whole family.
Young Christians & New Believers & Exploring Students: Please pray that God would grow each of them over the Summer break. Pray that the Christian students would walk well with Jesus and continue to share their faith with others. Pray that our exploring students would take that step like Christina to put their trust in Jesus.
Otago Mission House: Please pray with us for this project, that we would have favour with the council and for the coming renovations next year. Please pray that God would provide all the people, funds and resources needed to complete this project that will hopefully outlast us into the future generations of students.
Thank you for praying, giving, and partnering in the gospel with me and the team in Dunedin. What a gift that we aren’t alone in the mission to see people reached with the good news!
Hope to see you all soon as I visit over the summer!
Caitlin
TSCF, Wellington
Reaching students for Christ, changing students for life
Kia ora Street Church family,
Thanks so much for your prayers for TSCF! As the year comes into its final stages, there’s lots to give thanks for and pray for.
Mid-year, we hosted our annual student camp, Summit. This year’s theme centred around the Lord’s Prayer, and it was so encouraging to see students considering how prayer can impact their lives and mission on campus. It was wonderful to see these students praying for one another, and for others exploring faith, this was the first time they had learnt to pray!
After Summit, we were straight into Semester 2. Most campuses host Clubs Days again at the start of the new semester, which allows our groups to connect with new people on campus. This semester it opened up new conversations with people of various walks of faith, from converts to Catholicism, someone following Norse Paganism, and others who have intentionally walked away from the faith of their parents. Give thanks for TSCF students eager to reach out to their peers and guide the conversation towards the gospel and Jesus. Pray that through this they would be a gentle but bold witness to Christ.
There’s lots still to pray for as the year draws to a close. For students, we’re into final assignment and exam season. It’s also the time when TSCF groups will hand over to new student leadership. Around the country, TSCF staff will spend time over the next couple of months training these new leaders and helping them plan for next year, before they disperse for the summer.
The long summer break can be challenging, especially for those who might have come to know Jesus during the year, or found a new depth of faith and Christian community, and especially for those returning to contexts that are more hostile to faith.
Please pray:
For students who might be anxious about upcoming exams and assignment deadlines; for those graduating and working out what their next steps will be.
Give thanks for the faithful commitment of student leaders this year, and pray for those stepping into new leadership roles in their TSCF groups.
For students for whom community and network change over the summer, especially where they are away from Christian friends and church community, that they will keep going in the faith.
Finally, over the coming months TSCF is celebrating 90 years of student mission on campus in New Zealand! We’d love for you to join us at our Wellington event on Monday 2nd November. You’ll get to hear about student mission over the years, to give thanks to God, and to pray for student mission for many years to come. Sign up at tscf.org.nz/90years or via the QR code ↴
Thanks for your prayers, as ever.
In Christ,
Caitlin