Having run Christianity Explored in New Zealand for over six years Cam Gracey is convinced it is a fantastic resource to be used to reach Kiwi’s for Christ. Here he explains why.

To be honest with you up until about ten years ago, when I became a Christian, Jesus was little more than a swear word. Sure I’d always had a sneaking suspicion that there was something important about Him – but I never took it any further - I never really gave it that much thought – to me He was irrelevant.

My functional god was whatever got me accepted by other people – typically that alternated between beer, sports and my career.

And to be honest I don’t think my background is in anyway unique in this country – quite to the contrary - my observation is that there are a growing number of Kiwis with similar backgrounds to mine. We are not familiar with church culture yet on the flip side we have been brought up in a secular kiwi culture which values the freedom and openness to investigate all things.

For me this is where there is a gaping opportunity for the gospel in New Zealand – and this is where Christianity Explored could be so wisely used by many.

I can vouch for this first hand - a good friend of ours, who was a Christian, introduced us to the course when we were doing our OE in London. It was through this ministry a number of years ago that my wife and I became Christians ourselves.

Here is why I think the course ought to be picked up and run by more kiwi churches;

1) It lets the Gospel tell the gospel – In some ways (even with our good friend) I was quite distrusting of Christians giving me their interpretation on what the Bible is all about. I really enjoyed being able to read a sizable piece of it for myself, digest and process what it said then hear talks and share conversation about it – I think that to me is a real strength – it really does let the gospel tell the gospel.

2) It does so in a non threatening atmosphere – The catch cry is that there will be no praying singing or clapping – which was a great relief to me as I think I had a suppressed fear (like many kiwis) that I would be forced to wear roman sandals – eat quiche and wear a cardigan as well as clap and sing – thankfully that was not the case – rather the emphasis is on what is at the guts of Church – namely Jesus and investigating this account of him in Mark.

3) It enabled me to encounter credible, caring Christians – I didn’t really have many Christians in my workplace – nor encounter them in many other aspects of my life – the structure of the course aloud me to encounter many Christians who were to my surprise not “freakazoids” – but like our friend were credible and caring and by their lives backed up the truths we were hearing about.

There really is a lot more I could say about the course. We’ve been running it down here in Christchurch for over six years now – and still consider it one of the best resources around for faithfully presenting the gospel. If you want to know more about it I will be more than willing to help. I now work for the Christianity Explored team one day a week and am here to help.

Email me here: cam.gracey@christianityexplored.org