Aukland, New Zealand
In ea
rly 2011, Paul and Melanie Partlow and sons Rylan and Kason will join a church planting team already on the field in Auckland, New Zealand. The Buckingham Road congregation is partnering with the Partlows both spiritually and financially as their sponsoring church.
The Partlows will be the fourth family in the church plant team focusing efforts in a middle class area of Auckland. The other families have been in Auckland for a time.
Paul and Melanie grew up in strong active Christian families and environments: Paul at the Buckingham Road congregation and Melanie at the Leander, TX congregation. Paul and Melanie are graduates of the Adventures in Missions (A.I.M.) program at Sunset International Bible Institute (SIBI); both also have been students in the full SI BI program. Paul currently is completing his undergraduate degree at Austin Graduate School of Theology.
In their 12 years of ministry (beginning two years before they married) Paul and Melanie have worked with the Sunrise Church of Christ in San Diego, CA; with the Sunset Church of Christ in Lubbock, TX, and with the Georgetown Church of Christ in Georgetown, TX. Paul and Melanie have completed training with Mission Alive, a church planting organization, and will finish additional training with Missions Resource Network before their departure
Buckingham Road and the Partlows are joiningin this work based on spiritual and physical reasons, including:
--God is a missionary God. He desires that all men be saved and come to knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:4). Jesus came to seek and save what was lost. (Luke 19:10) As Christians, we have been commissioned to do the same thing. (Matt. 28:18-20)
-- Through their educational background, ministry experience and training, God has groomed the Partlows for the difficult task of reaching out to a people who do not consider God to be a priority in their lives.
-- Auckland has a population of 1.4 million people, (about 3 times the size of New Orleans). Yet, the city has only three congregations of the Lord’s Church with a total membership of 200. Auckland is a gateway city, home to representatives from every island in the South Pacific. Reaching Auckland for Christ opens the door to reach the other 35 million people in the South Pacific.
-- Planting one ore more new congregations of the Lord’s Body in Auckland will not be easy. However, Paul and Melanie’s talents and temperaments are well suited to the task. With faith in God’s power and providence, Buckingham Road anticipates that the Partlows—partnering with team members already in place and existing congregations of the Lord’s Church—will prove to be capable, caring workers in fields that are white unto the harvest.