Big Day Out with the Chief Apostle

Once a year all the Sunday School children in New Zealand get together for their so-called Big Day Out, a day with lots of sports and games and religious instruction. This year the date coincided with Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider’s visit there. On his way to New Zealand—situated 2,000 kilometres off Australia’s eastern coast—the Chief Apostle made a stopover in New Caledonia to visit the brothers and sisters there.

For the Big Day Out in New Zealand, the Church had secured a location in the foothills of the Waitakere Ranges in west Auckland. On arrival the children were registered and provided with a welcome pack which contained a bright yellow T-shirt with the slogan “Be about my Father’s business”. The Chief Apostle and his party were given a traditional Pacific welcome, followed by a Maori welcome song sung by all the children. They were accompanied by ukuleles and guitars.

Questions, answers, and a big birthday cake

There were tourists usually hike and surfers go to catch a good wave, the Sunday School children came to meet and get to know the Chief Apostle. They spent an hour asking questions and getting to know the Chief Apostle and the District Apostles and Apostles in his party. For lunch, the Chief Apostle and the visitors sat among the children. Although his own birthday was still six days away, there was a big birthday cake for him and the children celebrating a birthday in the month of September. Those children celebrating their birthday in September sat with the Chief Apostle.

When the news was delivered that the afternoon’s activities were open, everyone rushed outside “to enjoy the kayaks, water slide, water pool, flying fox, archery, air rifles, trampolines, and many other wonderful games,” Carley Love, our correspondent in Australia writes. “Shrieks of laughter could be heard emanating from the water slide area where kids covered in mud slid down slides, totally oblivious to the cold water.” The joy and memories will surely remain with them forever, one of the organizers says.

New Zealand, Australia

New Zealand, which is comprised of two main islands—North and South island—is a geographically isolated state in the Southern Pacific Ocean. The country cannot be assigned to any particular continent, either geographically or culturally. Part of it is situated on the Indian-Australian Plate and the other part is on the Pacific Plate, and the country is influenced by European and Polynesian culture. With only 4.5 million people the country is sparsely populated and much of its nature is untouched. New Zealand country is a constitutional monarchy and its head of state is Queen Elizabeth II.

Most of the Maori—the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand—are Christian today. About 1,200 profess the New Apostolic faith. They are cared for by 79 ministers in 20 congregations. On Sunday, 13 September the Chief Apostle conducted a divine service in Auckland, which we reported about.