Restoring Connections & Temps d’M
Journeying with people in healing and strengthening their most important relationships continues to be the great privilege of our lives. Actually, these days we spend most of our time training others to run the programmes we’ve developed with the team, which is an even greater privilege. Cora, with her ever‑increasing depth and breadth of experience in mentoring, is heading this up and I must say she is doing an extraordinary job. Between you and me, I think she’s the greatest in the world at what she does — it’s quite extraordinary to behold.
We now have 3 branches of ministry functioning between New Zealand, France, and most recently the USA. Each having its own local legal entity, these 3 branches function independently of each other, but with a common set of values, a common training curriculum, and the spiritual oversight of an international leadership forum. The structure is constantly morphing to continue to support the life that is emerging, but at the moment, it’s working well. Here are some testimonies from some of the people who participated in a recent Mentors Training course here in France. These have been translated into English.
“The team was wonderfully complementary; everyone brought their own unique touch and talent, and the use of personal testimonies was incredibly enriching. The program was well-structured, with a clear, logical flow.”
“What really stood out to me was how well the different approaches from the various facilitators complemented each other. You combined deep, intellectually stimulating content with personal, moving elements—all while incorporating practical tools, real-life experiences, and concrete examples. Thank you again for equipping and encouraging us to serve the people around us with excellence... though that’s the next step!”
“A profound yet accessible experience, with facilitators who truly listened. The sessions were well-prepared yet relaxed. The atmosphere was peaceful and fostered a sense of trust.”
“It was fantastic to revisit these themes from a fresh perspective, in such a delightful atmosphere and in the company of such high-quality people!”
Our Programmes, Explained
To help people understand what Restoring Connections is all about and what the programmes actually entail, we created a digital booklet that spells it out. We have physical copies of this booklet as well, and we'd love to send you some if you have people in your life that might benefit from any of these programmes.
Listen to our Podcast
Upcoming Events & Plans
I’m happy to say that there is now far too much happening with Restoring Connections and Temps d’M to be able to share it all here in this letter. With the number of trained mentors growing consistently, so is the number of foundations courses, mentors training courses, and personal/team mentoring engagements. Wonderfully, much of what takes place these days doesn’t require direct involvement from Cora and me. It feels good to be getting smaller and less significant within the life of the movement. Here are a few things coming up that Cora and I are directly
involved with.
November ‘26 - Mentors Training, Christchurch, Aotearoa NZ. I will be heading back to Aotearoa NZ for the first time since we left, 2 years ago. Naturally, there are a lot of feelings swirling around my heart as I consider what it will be like to have my feet on the ground back home [well, one of my homes] after so much time away. I absolutely cannot wait to be with precious friends and family that I’ve missed terribly.
I’ll be stopping through North Carolina to connect with some RC USA ministry partners, then spending a week on the North Island of NZ to connect with friends and family and manage some family admin, and then heading down to Christchurch for a week to support Tim & Rachel Hewitt, the new leaders of Restoring Connections NZ.
January ‘27 - Norway. Cora and I will be heading to Norway to spend time with some dear friends who have long held a dream of seeing an expression of Restoring Connections pioneered in Norway. We’ll be spending time together to seek the Lord and explore options strategically to get a first round of RC programmes up and running in their local context. We can’t wait to frolic a bit in the Norwegian snow as well!
February ‘27 - RC Foundations Course, Portugal. We will be heading as a family to Lisbon, where we’ve been invited to run a Restoring Connections Foundations Course for couples. Recently, my brother David and his wife Kati introduced us to the leaders of a retreat centre called the Silent Place in Lisbon, and since then we’ve been building a partnership together to serve and support people in their community.
February ‘27 - Mentors Training, Coulommiers, France. We will be running our second Mentors Training course here in our hometown. The first one, which was in July of this year, went incredibly well, but we came away with quite a few tweaks we’re excited to make to improve it. This is arguably the most important training that we run, so we’re excited to continually explore ways for it to be more helpful in training people to be agents of healing and reconciliation within their own families, teams, and communities.
April ‘27 - International Retreat, Hideaway Point North Carolina. This is very, very exciting indeed! We will be running our first [of many, hopefully] international gathering for friends and partners in the Restoring Connections & Temps d’M movement. Thanks to the generosity of our dear friends Ben & Liz, we will be gathering at Hideaway Point, North Carolina, to pray, worship, seek the Lord, have fun, and hopefully eat lots of delicious BBQ meals together. As Restoring Connections USA begins to gather momentum, we felt that this would be the best way to kick things off.
July / August ‘27 - Aotearoa NZ. We are exploring the possibility of coming back to New Zealand to connect with friends and family. At this point, it will have been 2 and a half years since the kids were in NZ. I must say I have to fight back tears as I write those words, as I have a sense of what it has cost them to make the move to France. We are just so proud of them for embracing this new season in Cora’s homeland.
