Q and A with Newest NZCMS Intern

By Rose Newbigging, NZCMS Intern

Who do you call your family and where do you come from?

I was born In Christ­ch­urch, then when I was about 7 we moved to England and then back to NZ when I turned 16, set­tling in Nelson because my Dad’s parents live here. While the rest of my family still live in England, I needed a change so at 16 I left them to come here. My family are those who care for me and show me their love for me. From a young age my friends became my family.

Why did you decided to do the Mis­sions Intern­ship with Bish­op­dale Theo­lo­gical College (BTC) and NZCMS?

During Covid, when I was doing my level 5 intern­ship at BTC and St Steph­ens, we dived into what Mission looks like in our own back­yard. Due to not being able to travel, the idea around mission and how that was being taught shifted, while real­ising what mission looked like in Nelson I learnt how much love I have for ‘the last, the least and the lost’. Simply going out into the com­munity and talking to the home­less and the people strug­gling on the streets was some­thing that I found came quite nat­ur­ally to me and brought me joy. My goal was just to tell them Jesus loves them. When the boarders opened up I had the oppor­tun­ity to go to Kenya for a short-term mission exper­i­ence which allowed me to see mission in a dif­fer­ent cul­tural setting. I felt God was calling me to do this intern­ship to learn more before hope­fully one day going back over seas to do God’s works.

Tell us a bit more about the course. What will the average week look like for you?

The course is a level 6 diploma in Chris­tian studies with a focus around inter­cul­tural min­istry. An average week includes A LOT of read­ings, some assign­ments, part­ner­ing with the Inter­na­tional student min­istry (ISM) here at NMIT, build­ing rela­tion­ships with the inter­na­tional stu­dents and getting to a space to teach them about who God is. I also will be doing a dis­ciple­ship group with some of the younger girls who also came to Kenya at the start of this year. We also go to a NZCMS prayer meeting in nelson once a month too.

If you were to describe how you’re feeling about the mis­sions intern­ship in five words, what would they be?

- Enthu­si­astic
— Privileged
— Positive
— Content
— Ecstatic

What’s a top outcome you hope to get out of the next year?

The main thing would be to have the oppor­tun­ity and ability to serve God over­seas, in the way and loc­a­tion we discern God wants us.

And now, the most import­ant ques­tion – Rugby or cricket?

Rugby! I never under­stood cricket.

Learn more about NZCMS Mis­sions Internship