In June of 2023, we hosted our Oklahoma Bike Ride for the youth of New Zealand. There we learned that New Zealand was one of the most unchurched and secular nations in the world and has the highest teen suicide rates per capita globally. Young people there need a place to feel safe, to belong, to be in community and to find their God given purpose. Our partners there, Shore Youth work hard to offer a place where young people can hang out, find community and where Jesus is presented in a non-threatening way.
They do this through providing a fun environment where young people can bring their friends. While also providing a place where young people can go deeper into the Word, where they can be challenged and where they can do life together.
The 14 cyclists and 19 support staff from the 2023 Oklahoma Bike Ride raised prayers and funds that helped enable Shore Youth to provide Bibles, send youth to camps, host leadership & personal development training, outreach events and organize and take youth on a mission trip.
Here is one such story!
Thanks to the support of Ends of the Earth Cycling our church community was able to take a group of young people to Denpasar, Indonesia. In partnership with Compassion New Zealand our group was able to visit multiple program centers in the city including the child survival program our church supports (which supports Moms and babies through age 2). The seed planted through the Ends of the Earth Cycling funds dared us to take a step of faith and dream that our young people could have the opportunity to see firsthand the global work of the church. Exposing our young people to such instrumental community ministries that their church family supports was transformational for the lives and faiths of many of our young people on the trip. This experience was also new for our wider congregation as our youth led the way for a deeper focus on the missional work of Gods Kingdom, challenging our congregation to follow in our young people’s footsteps.
The five days our team spent on the ground in the local community in Denpasar was filled with meeting the staff and mentors who implement the programs, attending a local church, as well as getting to join in several of the programs run in the different centers. Our youth had the opportunity to not only participate but also run several games with the children and youth supported by sponsorship.
Playing games and worshiping alongside the mothers in the child survival program was a highlight for our team. Our young people witnessed the initiative they had heard so much about in action, impacting the lives of so many mothers and their precious babies. Mums and bubs, as the program is also referred to, supports mothers and their babies throughout a child’s first two years of life. Providing nutritional food, medical care, pastoral support, parenting classes and provides a pathway for those children to transition into the child sponsorship program when they turn 3 years of age.
We were privileged to be able to visit 6 different homes of children involved in the Compassion programs. They were eye opening and confronting experiences for our whole team. We learnt that the local church is the real hero in all the community centers. Our young people not only got to hear firsthand accounts of how God has been moving in the lives of these families through this community ministry but also got to be used by God to bring about hope and answers to prayer in several of the visits. These moments and the testimonies our youth gained from this opportunity have stayed with them since returning home. Our young people arrived back home with a fire for Jesus and empowered and inspired by the work going on in the world. They felt challenged in how they live out their faith daily. As we have debriefed with the team since coming home, they have felt challenged in how they live their lives, spend their money, share the gospel and advocate for our brother and sisters in Christ working in Denpasar.
This trip to Denpasar was an incredible experience for our young people and would not have been possible without the incredible support of Ends of the Earth Cycling. Thank you to everyone who has prayed for and supported our young people in their ongoing journey of discipleship. Your partnership has truly been a blessing to the ministering and discipling of young people here in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
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Because
We are an active bicycling community impacting youth globally. We give people who want to change the world opportunities to use cycling to bring the hope of the Gospel to global youth through multi-day, Christ-centered bicycling tours.
New International
Attn: Ends of the Earth Cycling
2701 Cleveland Ave. #200
Fort Myers, FL 33901
