About Bernie Townsend
My Christian Walk – with my wife
I have been a born again Christian, baptised in the Holy Spirit, as evidenced by tongues, for 30 years. Commenced in the Lord’s service in Roman Catholic tradition, serving on various Parent-teacher positions, Life group and (Charismatic) cell group leadership, and Catholic Education Foundation.
My wife and I are a one-flesh ministry raising eight children and serving together in a number of churches and ministries in pastoral care, parish council, and lay leadership positions. We were members of presenting teams for Marriage Encounter for deepening communication for married couples and also for engaged couples.
I was a Lay-Chaplain at Waikeria Prison with Hamilton Assembly of God. For three years my wife and I worked with a team of up to 6 volunteer people visiting monthly with groups of in-mates based in Waikeria Prison. We developed and delivered an 8-week course for sex offenders based on Christ’s desire for forgiveness, for all. The course helped these young men identify the wrong they had done and also the root causes of their offending. The course facilitated them to go through a process of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation that enabled them to move on. We also organised the Sunday services for the prison and worked with the Corrections service to ensure that we were delivering appropriate spiritual guidance and services.
Have completed a Diploma for Bible Study and Ministry from Evangel College at Hamilton Assembly of God. The went on to complete a Bachelor in Theology with New Covenant International Bible College, degree conferred in 2002. Dissertation was based on experience in cross-cultural communication as demonstrated in our short-term mission work in India (Hydrabad, New Delhi, and Siliguri), Nepal, and Northern China (Xian).
We were joint life group leaders in Vineyard church in South Auckland, and held a similar role in Elim Church in Porirua. Was a leader-member of a small home –church associated with New Frontiers when we first moved out to the Kapiti Coast. This involved the full range of preaching and ministry.
Currently Dawn and I fellowship with Gospel Faith Ministries (GFM) - a faith-based outreach Ministry under the directorship of Rodney and Jean Francis. The Ministry is dedicated to bringing the Gifts of the Holy Spirit to Church-going believers around the world, and developing and sharing the Holy Spirit's prophetic Ministry.
I am studying for post-graduate Masters degree with Tyndale-Carey wing of Laidlaw College.
All of my secular work has had aspects of pastoral care. Identifying the spiritual needs of people in the work place is something I do as a matter of course and I always am providing advice, support and encouragement to the people around me. I run a prayer-group within my current employment of Christians, for the management and clients of our organisation. I am a Staff support person within the organisation where I provide listening, counselling, and prayer support to staff who might as appropriate.
My cross-cultural experience has included work both overseas and in New Zealand. At Housing New Zealand my role was to provide financial and business analysis support to the rural housing team across New Zealand. This team consists mainly of Māori staff and I established a number of relationships where I provided pastoral and spiritual advice to Māori staff members as well as establishing relationships with Māori housing organisations and recipients of the Rural Housing programme services, the majority of which, are Māori.
In India, Nepal and China my wife and I mentored and taught lay-preachers and leaders from many communities. Our roles within these mission outreach excursions was to encourage, anoint and equip the local people o take the Gospel of Christ into their local communities. In the short time we had with these people we developed a wide range of presenting material and reviewing feedback. Most of the outreach work was conducted with persons all keen but with a wide range of literacy levels.
In summary; I have served and lead in a number of church denominations including Catholic, Baptist and Pentecostal as well as interdenominational ministries such as missions outreach in India. The roles ranged from leading a range home groups in a variety of Pentecostal churches, organising regional conferences and seminars and teaching and mentoring church leaders.
Career Highlights
I have been privileged to have been part of a very successful and productive time in the New Zealand Public Service. This has included work in Treasury, Land Management, Economic Development, Telecommunications, Education, Welfare, and Housing.
I have conducted my work activities with and for Regional Management, Political stakeholders, Boards, and Senior Governmental officials.
My work has involved the management and development of financial and administrative recording and reporting systems, writing financial reports for internal managers and external stakeholders (including Government committees), developing Business Plans and running regular budgeting and performance monitoring reviews.
I can also offer extensive hands on experience in Operational auditing and Risk Management.
I have spent time in the Tertiary Institute system, as Senior Tutor in Information Technology and also Accounting – Central Institute of Technology and at Manawatu Polytechnic. I developed course material for Diploma students in both disciplines. The courses involved self-paced learning, and required student work-placement and working closely with employers in industry.
I have recent experience working in cross-cultural situations.