From the Director’s Desk

As we enter 2025, I look forward to collaborating with you to advance our shared mission vision in Aotearoa New Zealand. Together, we can encourage one another, develop effective solutions to enhance our mission work and position Missions Interlink as a catalyst for mission.

This edition of MI link focuses on the theme “Empowering Change Across Generations,” highlighting how we can adapt to challenges and equip different generations. Collected articles cover:

• Changing Mission Landscape: Insights from the 2024 UK Global Connections Members' Survey reveal similarities with New Zealand's mission landscape, focusing on collaboration and flexibility amid demographic shifts. (Global Connections is the UK equivalent of MI).

• Social Investments: "The Emperor Has Some New Clothes," by Sandy Thompson and Garth Nowland-Foreman, discusses the benefits and challenges of social investment in New Zealand, promoting sustainable solutions and efficient resource management.

• Generational Giving Preferences: "Charitable Support Across Generations in Australia and New Zealand" emphasizes the importance of aligning with generational giving trends. Younger donors prefer online platforms and recognition, enhancing engagement and impact.

• Equipping Gen Z: Alexandra Lay's “Digital Dilemma: Why Gen Z needs books more than ever” highlights the need to teach Gen Z critical thinking through teaching them history and reading books.

Additionally, there is an advertisement from Australia promoting a free webinar series focused on the psychological and social aspects of cross-cultural missions.

I hope you enjoy MI Link and please share it with your network and encourage them to subscribe. If you would like to contribute prayer points for inclusion in MI Link, please feel free to contact Ben.

Blessings

Chris

Note: the following add for the Webinar series sponsored by Missions Interlink Australia is hosted from Australia and occurs at 3.30pm MELBOURNE TIME. 

Over the last few months, the Global Connections & MAP staff team has been having conversations with members from across the network to understand more deeply about the landscape of mission in the UK, the key issues facing network members and how members are engaging with Global Connections & MAP activities...

This article from LEAD gives a review of the establishment of the Social Investment Agency. 

  The Emperor has some new clothes 

https://www.lead.org.nz/blog/t...

The task of the Social Investment Agency is to implement social investment approaches in our communities and provide cross-sector insights for decision-makers. They describe themselves as being “focused on the operation of the system of government agencies, supporting agencies to comply with the Government’s directions (e.g. through standards and guidance), and monitoring delivery against the Government’s work programme and priorities”...

If you are leading an organisation that is not government funded, and/or does not deliver what you would consider a “social service”, you might understandably think that this does not concern you. Yeah, Nah. The embedding of Social Investment into the Aotearoa New Zealand not for profit sector is going to impact on the availability of funds for your organisation and how philanthropic as well as government funders shift their ways of working, as it becomes a mainstream approach to social development. Real life examples are presented in this blog...

To understand the current trends, drivers, and preferences of nonprofit supporters across generations, this report by the Blackbaud Institute does a deep dive into the charitable habits of Gen Z adults, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers. Findings from this report highlight key differences across generations, helping fundraisers identify how to engage and connect with supporters and prospects from each age group.

https://www.maxim.org.nz/artic... 

A 2023 study found that Gen Z encounters information through a lens prioritising social belonging over truth.

 We also demonstrate a tendency to curate “information ecosystems” comprising “short, emotionally manageable, [and] personally relevant” content...