Our Mission

  • To stimulate the development and co-ordination of MOPS groups within New Zealand
  • To establish local groups chartered through churches
  • To support, train and develop leaders of MOPS Groups within New Zealand
  • To assist Churches in providing a Christ centred ministry for mothers with children under school age, led by MOPS women

Our Aim

  • To provide ministry concepts, resources, leadership support and training to Churches who aim to reach out to their community providing support to mothers and families and impacting lives within their community.
  • To support Churches to help MOPS women develop friendships, creativity, leadership, training and personal relationships with Jesus Christ.
  • To train leaders to develop other leaders to sustain groups long term.
  • To recruit and retain experienced MOPS leaders to serve as Regional Coordinators to support groups. These field staff are key contributors in establishing new groups and supporting existing groups.

Our Structure

An elected Board provides governance to MOPS NZ. Operations are directed by the General Manager and Regional Coordinators who work with the groups in each region. MOPS NZ is an Incorporated Society, registered with the Charities Commission.

Our History

The MOPS (Mothers of preschoolers) concept was introduced to New Zealand in 1990. Jo Sadlier heard a radio interview by Dr James Dobson on the programme 'Focus on the Family'. She approached her local Minister and in 1991 along with Laurel Smith formed the first MOPS group in Hamilton, Holy Trinity Anglican Church.

Negotiations were conducted with MOPS International to make the MOPS concept more available and culturally relevant to New Zealand, and MOPS (NZ) was officially incorporated in 1997. By 1998, there were 4 groups flourishing from Auckland to Invercargill and the first issue of the leadership magazine 'Connections' was published.

Publication of the MumSense magazine commenced in 1999 and by 2002 the first 'MumSense radio', a 2 minute mothering encouragement slot, was aired on Radio Rhema.

In 2006, the first national conference was held in Auckland, with 80 leaders attending from groups all over New Zealand. Conferences are now held annually.

The establishment and operation of MOPS NZ has been driven by a small team of dedicated and passionate people that have believed in the MOPS mission and values. These people have been willing to invest generous amounts of time, financial resources and energy into the organisation because they have believed in the value of the programme.

Better Mums Make A Better World!