Projects
Past, current and future projects by Shining Lights TrustThe below projects exists to fill gaps in the Christian outreach of our nation, from a strategic point of view.
The Christian Church is not always good at telling its own story. Its presence remains, however, the primary origin of our cultural values and benefits related to freedoms, limited government powers, prosperity, charity and equality.
We serve in this space to help the stories of history and faith be better known. This involves both direct public engagement – and also engagement with churches nation-wide.
Funders with ‘entrepreneurial vision’ invited to enquire: Our work is pioneering and innovative by nature. Please contact us for conversation via our website, or for donation details see here.
Current areas of work:
Hope Project: A public Christian voice of hope
Purposed to help the history behind our public cultural festivals of Christmas and Easter stay known – three media efforts were envisaged, two of which now exist.
- Hope Project Christmas speaks to the history of the occasion – keeping something of the ‘Christ’ in ‘Christmas’. Over 30% still identify as Christian in our nation. Our values as a nation are categorically ‘Christian’. The history matters and visibility matters because the values matter. Beyond national promotion to church communities we also engage directly with wide-reaching audiences via social media.
- Hope Project Easter is our biggest annual effort. This has included a national booklet delivery eleven times. The booklet component is now biennial, the booklet delivery now being volunteer-based in about 210 cities and towns. An extensive web media campaign is annual.
- HeLP Project is the third proposed media effort. Paused for a number of reasons – including insufficient wider vision and therefore funding for the innovation, we see potential for some of the goals to yet be accomplished by a different means. We are awaiting timing and technologies for this.
Public-facing websites include HopeProject.co.nz, 10DayChallenge.co.nz & WhyChristiansBelieve.nz, plus various social media channels.
Helping churches build outreaching CULTURE (All Together Consulting)
This is the most important part of our work. This is also the most undervalued and underutilised part of our work.
The objective is to help church leaders perceive how they might better enable their members to engage in everyday spiritual conversations. Perspectives are only changed if conversations are had. The challenge is that outreach is commonly reduced to the status of a programme in a church, rather than perceiving how meaningful conversation might become the instinctive culture. Almost every connection we have with local church leaders is leveraged to speak into this matter in some way.
Find out more here.
Godtalk – helping Christian youth ministry
CONTEXT: We estimated church youth ministry in New Zealand to be attending about 25% of what it was 25 years ago. Concurrently, about 85% of those who come to faith do so before the age of 20. The primary demographic of church attrition is young adults – with as many as two-thirds leaving. The reasons are largely known.
A solution – Part I: Godtalk.nz is a video-training resource including 12 five-minute videos for new youth leaders, and 16 five-minute videos, with discussion guides, to then help those leaders give conversational outreach training to their youth. The average youth leader only lasts about 18 months to 2 years in the role. This resource is created to fill a gap in a fast-changing arena. About 480 youth leaders, or youth ministry reps, are currently connected to it.
A solution – Part II: There are some things that can only be changed as a wider body as people come to agree on a new direction together. We have been proactive, alongside others, in bringing toggle rout nation’s denominational youth reps and also the leaders of ten national youth outreach organisations. These have come to a united vision, with practical steps forthcoming. The collaborative vision of these leaders now has its own website here.
10 Day Challenge – a unique discipleship support resource and app
This simple series of 10 devotions exists to help those interested in the faith to discover a little of what it is about – while listening to local Kiwi voices. It can be found at the website here, or accessed via the YouVersion Bible app where the majority of its use now happens. The wider resource includes Faith Q&A, stories of faith triumphing life’s challenges, the core Christian message and a ‘find a church near you’ map.
‘Why Christians believe Christianity to be true’ (Video and booklet series)
As our largest video projects to date, the ‘Why Christians believe’ series was created to fill an identified gap. It is a 7-part video series, with discussion guides, and also booklets – free as PDFs (read on the phone), while also available in print.
The entire resource is free to use online – other than the print-option for the booklets.
The series is being widely used church small groups, young adults groups and youth groups across New Zealand, while also internationally via our partnership with RightNow Media.
AllTogether Equip: A ‘production house’ for innovative equipping resources for church
If empowering all church members to engage conversations is the best strategy for expanding faith – support resources are needed. We have focused on identifying gaps in resourcing, to focus only within those. All resources sit as a subset of a wider vision to augment thinking, understanding that beliefs lead to thinking, which leads to behaviour. (Resources created are not an end in themselves; each is instead viewed as a tool and stepping stone in a wider process.)
- The ‘Because we care’ conversational outreach equipping videos include three series – with a fourth likely to be created 2027 or 2028(See here).
- ‘Equipping sermon series outlines’ related to outreach have been created for pastors and their churches. This unique resource also includes matching small group discussions, and usually also PowerPoints – all without our own branding on them. (View here)
- The ‘Reaching people you don’t know’ series is less well known, suiting ‘outreach groups’, fronted by Stu Millar (a New Zealander) of Train To Proclaim in Australia. (View here).
- ‘The Cornerstone Discipleship Series’ extended the ’10 Day Challenge’ – but only 3 of a drafted 18 topical series were created. (View here).
Seasonal resources are then being created to help churches understand our nation’s cultural heritage – to ‘lean in’ positively.
- Most have a summary page at AllTogether.co.nz – while public-facing articulations related to Christmas, Easter, Waitangi, Matariki and Halloween can be found at HopeProject.co.nz/festivals – with Labour Day to be added next.
- Halloween resources are a recent project (history video – children’s animation video – ‘fold out poem’ for children – booklet for adults – and website). Find all via AllTogether.co.nz/halloween
GO Movement (Previously ‘Global Outreach Day’)
We have been both involved with and connected to this international initiative for a number of years. We stay in the loop inasmuch as this serves good purposes for churches and pastors’ groups here in New Zealand. This represents one of a number of movements we are now connected with, always seeking to learn – while our interest is solely regarding our own nation.
Engage Conference (NZ)
‘Engage’ is our brand for conferences. We have run both national conference (three) and regional (30 or more). These have been undertaken with specific intent, whether for pastors, denominations, community ministries, ‘evangelists’, youth leaders or the general church population. Much has been achieved. In one era, uniting the leaders of 30 outreach organisations was a goal. This was successful, resulting in increased trust and connectivity between these groups to this day. We have usually run regional conferences in 8 to 10 locations only when travelling nationally, which we have done 6 times since 2011, spending 3 to 5 months on the road each time. Most recently, in 2021, we ran 9 regional Engage Conferences (NZ has 14 regions) – hosted by churches together in each location, as a subset of our travel to engage in strategic conventions with pastors’ groups regarding the wider mission to and welfare of their cities and towns.
Knowing our history (both bicultural and values)
Those who tell the history write the future. A people who are ignorant of their history are vulnerable to being misled, unaware. Our own nation has been significantly cut off from its own cultural history.
We have engaged in two key areas of this. Firstly, the significance of Christianity to our bicultural history. Secondly, the significance of Christianity to our values history – gifting us, for example, some of the highest levels of freedom, prosperity, equality and charity in the world today, as also in all of human history.
Our efforts have been multifaceted – including videos, travel, written articles, stories in booklets, stories in publications, conference talks, interviews, children’s stories for schools, and books. Our ‘A minute in history’ radio pieces are widely played on Christian radio in New Zealand. Videos of the same for social media were our most recent new initiative, with about 80 created and 200 yet to create as of late 2026. A 100,000 word history book comprised of 300 word stories relating to our nation’s values history is in process – due for launch in 2027. We believe this book will come to serve as an ‘anchor’ for many in seeking a wider understanding of who we are as a nation – especially with regards to the many cultural values, and systems of law and governmental, all of which were significantly derived from the Christian dynamic within our history.
For three links only:
Topical playlists of the ‘a minute in history’ videos – here
Encouraging the role of pastors’ groups in NZ cities and towns
Networking, and bringing encouragement unity space, has become a central part of all we do due to the nature of our work. It has been unavoidable and instinctive because we are in touch with churches, youth leaders and pastors’ group convenors continually. As a result, this has become an area of speciality – even while most of our work in this space is invisible. We never programme in a way that ‘draws people to ourselves’.
Our only webpage for this is at Alltogether.co.nz/PastorsGroups
A quarterly newsletter for the convenors of about 90 city/town pastors’ groups goes to about 130 different leaders in those locations.
We have travelled extensively, visiting pastors groups in over 60 locations eight times to serve and catalyse this conversation.
In 2019 Dave wrote “In One Spirit” – available as a PDF for free here. This was written to feed this conversation – not for sales, not for profits, not for same, and not to have a best-seller. It was gifted in person specifically to the approx. 1000 pastors who joined the strategic pastors’ group discussions we facilitated around the nation that year.
Various articles have then been written annually, each being based out of current experiences with or helping pastors’ groups in their local united mission.
A second book will be added, compiling the next 5 years of learnings, likely in 2027 – again as a gift to unity facilitators, feeding fresh thought and conversation. or soon after, encouraging new thinking in fresh areas, building upon existing conversations.
As unique networkers across this space nationally, one of our greatest laments is a lack of manpower capacity in our organisation to visit with groups – with a view to the DNA and Kingdom objectives we serve. This is the natural ‘water’ we live in. The historic outcomes of such travel have been significant.
A ‘second life’ for resources – to international audiences
While our goal is to serve the united Church across Aotearoa-New Zealand, various resource have found an echo to wider audiences overseas. From 2021 onwards a partnership with RightNow Media and the YouVersion Bible app saw a number of resources finding new audience. Various resources have been offered to Christian TV and radio in other locations also – while we remain unaware how much they are being used.
There is no financial objective or return for us in any of this. We are honoured that resources created can be utilised, or ‘borrowed with ideas duplicated, in other places.