He went on to say that this hadn’t been just an average training course on missions, but one that had really stirred things up and got people talking about missions and engaging in prayer.
At an initial meeting with Helen Cowie from SIM NZ, Pastor Atu Lagi and the missions coordinator, Salote Kama, on March 14 2023 the ball got rolling for the Streams Church. They took up the request to host a MomentumYes course in their church. Six Friday nights in May and June were blocked out for the weekly 90-minute-long sessions focused on re-thinking their response to God’s mission.
During the course of MomentumYes, the class of 20+ participants explored their place in God’s story. This video-based course  interspersed with small group discussion times prompted a lot of re-thinking around six areas: perspective, missions, identity, involvement, opportunity and our lives. There was something new to learn in each session from seeing how God’s plan has been revealed throughout all history, to eye-opening moments inspiring everyday people to discover how they can fit into His still
unfolding story.  Session two on re-thinking mission grabbed their attention as they saw the state of the church and the work yet to be accomplished for Jesus to be made known throughout the world.
During the course, the Streams church was introduced to Ruth Davies, an SIM missionary from Tasmania working in the Faithful Witness team in Ayutthaya, Thailand. Speaking through zoom, Ruth connected with everyone immediately as she shared what missions is like, prompting much prayer for her and for the unreached people in Thailand. Her story was so compelling that the following Sunday one of the children reminded everyone in children’s church of the need to pray for Ruth.
Prayer has been the driving force behind the momentum of the church for centuries and prayer plays an integral role in this course as well. Watching the videos and entering into the discussion led to serious times of prayer for the nations during those Friday nights in Panmure.
As we met together to prepare for the series, Salote, the missions coordinator, explained how she presented a different missions prayer need in every Sunday service. She would draw on current world events to get the church praying for those urgent needs or would present a particular country or ministry for the congregation to pray for during corporate worship and throughout the following week.
Pastor Atu shared how the church included prayer and fasting times throughout the year as part of their church calendar. So this prayer focus in the MomentumYes course was seized with both hands and with boundless enthusiasm by everyone.
Re-thinking involvement in the MomentumYes series, led to discussions on what could be done at a local level. Local mission is equally as important as global mission and something that the church was already doing. The Streams church is committed to helping their members develop their role in God’s story, to come alongside those exploring missions and encouraging everyone to live out their faith right where they are.
We, as the church, are His plan to tell the world about Jesus. As we say Yes to Jesus, we start to see how we can be a part of Him transforming the world. MomentumYes explores the opportunities to make Jesus known in our own locality as well as across the world. – Helen Cowie

We’re here to help you learn more about MomentumYes.
Contact Helen at nz.personnel@sim.org to get any questions answered and find out how you can use this course in your context.