All Articles for South Pacific

By Jayna Richardson As coronavirus began to spread throughout the world in spring 2020, FamilyLife live events everywhere were being postponed or cancelled. One question loomed in everyone’s minds: when will we be able to meet in person again? For New Zealand, that time came sooner than it did in most other places. In late […]

By Steve Hooper I received a call recently from a lady who had found our number in a Google search. She told me she wanted a divorce and was looking for help on how to go about it. I told her she had rung the right place. As we talked, I promised to send her […]

For six months our family lived in the South Pacific, specifically, the island country of Fiji. We were there serving on behalf of FamilyLife as volunteers with the Methodist Church of Fiji, to help them strengthen their marriage and family training initiative. Before leaving for Fiji, one of the elders at our church in Arkansas […]

Multigenerational homes are very common in Fiji. Children in particular often end up living with extended family or friends while school is in session so they can get a good education. This is how Save (pronounced “Sah-vey”) and Bui (“mBoo-ee”), key FamilyLife volunteers within the Methodist church in Fiji, found themselves with six students in […]

After ten years of marriage, I was in a place of discontent. We tried to fix or do things better and attended many marriage courses, but my discontentment and frustration only got worse as I learned more about how our marriage should be or how my husband should be. I became angry and bitter towards […]

Already this year, Power to Change (FamilyLife in Australia) has had many fantastic opportunities to reach out to hurting couples and point them back to Christ.  Amidst marriage conferences and small group studies, couples’ lives are being changed, and marriages are being redeemed. One of the recent highlights was a marriage evening held in the […]

On Saturday March 12th, 45 people crowded into the auditorium at Taree Baptist Church in Taree (a small coastal town north of Sydney) to hear how God could transform their marriages through Power to Change’s A Day Together marriage conference. (In Australia, FamilyLife is known as Power to Change.) Amongst the crowd were several unchurched […]

The phone rings: It’s a husband booking himself and his wife for a Weekend to Remember. They’ve been before and are keen to join us again. “I have to tell you this,” he says. “We thought we had a good marriage, but when we returned home after our first FamilyLife weekend our lives were changed. […]

Pete and Sally had been married for over 30 years. They’d raised their children together and worked extremely hard all their lives, but even so, they’d drifted apart and were living separate lives. Seriously considering divorce, relatives suggested that they try the Weekend to Remember® before doing so and even paid their way so they […]

During their early married years in Fiji, Kevin and Sala Sanders felt blessed. They owned a successful business and a house with a pool and were enjoying being financially comfortable. They connected with the FamilyLife ministry in Fiji (FamilyOne), and began participating in topical marriage studies with other couples. Having mature Christian couples around them […]

We have been married for 20 years, and there has been some tough stuff to deal with of late. Last September we had reached a point of knowing that if we didn’t do something radical, we would implode. We were relating to each other in pretty negative spirals at times. We made the hardest decision […]

We recently held a conference in Invercargill, a small city in the South Island. We had a good-sized audience for such a small place (74 people). As usual we wanted to give each couple a rose when they arrived—one of the extra small touches we offer—but when the roses were delivered, they didn’t come with water […]

Andy and Nikki Bray, FamilyLife directors in New Zealand, were recently honored with a special award from the New Zealand Christian Network. The Unsung Heroes Award “is to honor the good work of individuals and groups which has gone largely unrecognized, to encourage others, and to give glory to God who inspired and empowered them.” […]

  If you’ve ever visited the bustling Bay of Plenty town of Te Puke in New Zealand, you know there’s no mistaking their main industry: kiwifruit. They’re everywhere—on road safety signs, on the “Welcome to Te Puke” greeting, and marking the entrance to the attraction Kiwi 360. The small furry brown fruit is a mascot […]

We’ve just returned from another absolutely awe inspiringly special Weekend to Remember®, and these words were from a delightful 77-year-old lady we met and had several conversations with over the weekend. As we said goodbye at the end of the conference, she could hardly contain herself as she blurted out, “I feel like I did […]

We recently returned home from speaking in a movie theater in Christchurch. Popcorn not included. Last year we were approached by a local pastor in Canterbury who asked if we’d be able to come down and run “A Day Together” marriage seminar. He had secured some funding and wanted to encourage local families who had […]

FamilyLife Australia is a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ focused on reaching families with the gospel. Recently a radio listener in rural Western Australia called the office to say she heard a “Marriage and FamilyLife” interview with Lyn Denton on sexual abuse. She said she knew two Christian teenagers—ages 14 and 16—who had suffered […]

The divorce rate in Australia has steadied—that’s good news. However, 75% of Australians under the age of 35 have never been married, over 900,000 couples are cohabiting rather than marrying, and almost one third of our nation’s children are being born to unmarried couples. Those facts are concerning enough, but consider this: 60% of Australians […]

A couple attended the Weekend to Remember in Rotorua, New Zealand, in July who attracted a lot of interest because of the beautiful, friendly Labrador they brought with them. They stationed themselves at the very back of the auditorium—my guess, to “be out of the way.” Everyone, including our team, wanted to pat the luxurious […]

Although the first couple of years of marriage were at times a little turbulent, Steve and Leanne Hooper settled into a comfortable relationship that they felt was pretty good. They had been married for two years when they attended a Weekend to Remember® in Auckland, New Zealand. Although they had a good marriage, the conference […]

A recent singles conference in Fiji was a huge success! 28 students Prayed to receive Christ 21 Rededicated their lives to Christ and prayed to receive the Holy Spirit 50 made commitments to purity Comments from youth conferees: “I need to think first before opening my heart to someone; to pray for my life and […]