80 Years of Pioneering Spirit

It is now eighty years since a team of New Zealand medical volunteers arrived in a small Greek village to discover a pile of NZ dairy milk powder dumped and going to waste in the village square. The milk powder had arrived as a result of the generosity of New Zealanders who thought they were doing the right thing to
assist in recovery after WW2.

However, the local villagers could not make sense of it. Adding water to powder so they could make milk was beyond their comprehension. Furthermore, most of the people in the village drank only goats’ milk.

It was a Christian priest from the local Greek Orthodox church who had lived in the village since before the war, who pointed out to the team that the lesson was simple. Before assuming to help, consult the locals and take your lead from them.

That lesson has been at the core of our mission in Christian World Service since our founding in 1945. Now days it’s often referred to as the “partner-led” approach to aid and development, or even more trendy at the moment is the phrase “localisation”.

Our Commitment

Today our commitment towards the practical application of these values remains … and remains much needed. While great progress in eradicating poverty has been achieved globally over the last 80 years, the World Bank estimated that in 1980 around 40% of the world’s population still lived in extreme poverty.

Wonderfully, by 2024, this figure had reduced to 8.5%2. But this is still more than 700 million people – with the biggest proportion being children.

Our 80th Spring

As we enter what is the 80th spring for CWS, we embrace God’s ever-renewing blessing on us. Spring after spring in Aotearoa New Zealand, God has provided us with an abundance like “Springs of Living Water”.

CWS remains called to share that abundance and wealth with others for whom the blessing has been blocked for no fault of their own.

Supporters Newsletter

Read more about what has been going on at Christian World Service here –Spring 2025 newsletter 2