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Kia ora All Saints.
Guy here. I have just returned from a week down south with the family, plus two other families! It was action-packed with four days of skiing, and the rest were filled with resting and some exploration of central Otago; we filled our tank with the wonder of creation and friendship with others. Summer and I both remarked on the way back home how excited we were to get back involved, connect with everyone, and crack back into what God calls us into here in our patch of the Kingdom. This coming Sunday, we are together in the room with our 9am and 10:30am Central Gatherings; Emily is back in the pulpit with the fourth week in our Romans series! If you have missed one or two, feel free to check this out here. We also have a special week next week with Aunty Hazel's 100th Birthday on Tuesday and a special Midweek service and morning tea on Wednesday, 30th of August. You are invited to join us on Wednesday at 10am for our midweek service and morning tea to celebrate 100 years of Aunty Hazel. We are wrapping up our first eight weeks of beginner Te Reo Maori classes at All Saints. We are planning our next steps in Intermediate level classes. There is a limited number of places on this course level, so if you want to loop in at the Intermediate level, please email me here and let me know your interest. We will continue to meet on Wednesdays 6-7pm (start date not confirmed) If you are interested in being involved in an eight week beginner course, you heard good things, or you feel like now is the right time to be involved, then email me here to let me know your interest. As Andy said last week, September is our Mission Month, where we lean into our Mission, the role of local and global Mission amongst us, how Mission isn't a side of fries in our call as disciples but it is core to who we are and what God is calling us to. We have a range of speakers from Clergy to NZCMS and others. We will hear updates from Missionaries that we are intimately connected with here and globally. Finally, following Mission Month and our Romans series, we have our next Go Sunday coming up at the end of October, which is our annual Light Party for our local community, an alternative to Halloween; this is always a massive event that gets us deep into the heart of the community, to connect, build relationships, be visible, and let people know we exist. Opportunities to engage in this missional outreach include hosting and running an activity, event hosts, sausage sizzle, bouncy castle, dishes / tidying, etc. So get together with your House Church or Prayer Group and work out how you want to serve together, maybe one or two different things, Pray about who you are inviting along with you to either help out or participate. I am thankful to be working this patch of the Kingdom with you all as we push and pull each other closer to Jesus. Aku Mihi, Guy Kia ora All Saints whānau,
I have heard great things about last weeks service run by the youth group. Rebekah preaching was a highlight for many. It is funny how these events have unintended results. For instance, young people asking about Baptism and young people wanting to come to church more often. So great to see this and a great chance to celebrate. Again God is moving and whats excellent is it has nothing to do with me! This week we continue our series looking at Romans and hopefully by now you have seen that Paul is communicating that the Gospel is for everyone because everyone is guilty of sin. This week we start to see what the answer God had for this fact and how he rescued us all from this entrapment. So what is the gospel and why should we care about this for our friends? Come this Sunday and find out or head along to a house church and discover together what this gospel is together. September brings for us Mission Month and so this will be an exciting chance to look at how mission plays such an important part here. From supporting overseas, to local mission and our part to play in it - we will take a focus here on all mission that we are involved in. May you have a blessed week. Andrew Spence Kia ora All Saints whānau,
I write this sitting in a motel room in Whangarei. I am here officiating at a New Zealand vs Australia Hockey Test series. You can watch it on TVNZ+ if you would like to follow along. It is to qualify for the Olympics and there is high drama and a seriousness about the test series. A seriousness to do the thing they were set about from their coach to do. I have been reflecting recently and Bishop Justin spoke about it at Training Day. All over the world people are experiencing the same things: tiredness, lack of hope and a complex world. These are making the gospel hard to live out and even more hard to share. The key is we need to be passionate disciples of Jesus (All Saints Mission Statement). If we are as passionate about the gospel as the Australian hockey team are about qualifying for the Olympics - what would change? So then it is about how do we become passionate disciples? Lets reconsider the gospel message - have we got it right? Lets pray to God to give us passion and confidence. Lets continue to push in and stretch ourselves to day by day try something that pushes our faith. We (as Co-Vicars) continue to hope that our rhythm here encourages spiritual growth and transformation (the next part of our mission statement). As we gather in smaller groups we can study the bible, discuss faith and help hold each other to account to press into God and his ways. As we gather for worship and communion we can be reminded of God's grace, his provision and that in the end it is his praise that is important. As we push into Go Sunday we can remember that our faith is not meant to be a holy huddle but is to push out into spaces and transform our city, community and others. So I encourage you this week to continue to take one step in your faith and ask God to help you again step into that. As we each do that, we will communcally do that and try and live out that mission statement: Passionate disciples devoted to Christ's kingdom transformation. Kia ora All Saints Family.
Guy here this week. There has been so much happenign in the church's life over the last week or so. Let me catch you up to speed; there is a group of 30+ people learning Te Reo Maori together each Wednesday; they are currently halfway through an 8-week beginner course. Last Sunday was Go Sunday up Mt Victoria tree planting, which was a magic day; the weather was excellent, the trees were ready to be planted, a massive amount of weed and trash was removed, and some significant exposure and connection happened amongst the community and people who we have invited to join us. If you want to read more about Go Sunday, click here to read all about it, plus pictures. Of course, we continue to gather as a parish at our central gatherings each fortnight to celebrate, pray, and gather around God's Holy Table. Using the other fortnights to gather in a more intimate setting in our House Churches to chew through the word of God together, pray, challenge, and spur each other along as we look to draw closer to God and out to our friends and family around us. We are passionate about what God is doing here at All Saints. Something that I feel God is welling up in us is a real call and identification of who we are as God's chosen people! And how we respond to that call with our whole lives. I was struck this week by one of the lectionary readings, which drew my attention to James 2:14-26 - Faith and Deeds; there are so many things one could highlight from this passage, but what stood out to me was the call of faith without deeds is dead. This, I think, shone through our gospel series that it's one thing for us to experience renewal in our hearts, and that is powerful, but it cannot stop there; that renewal must spur us on to lay our lives down for the kingdom (in many ways shapes and forms) so that others can be renewed in the same way through the Gospel of Grace. We cannot read and study the bible without putting into action the call of Jesus upon our lives; faith and deeds go hand in hand! My wondering went to how we as a community continue to call each other to be accountable for how we live our lives together for the kingdom. It takes a bit of grit, trust, vulnerability, and truth to continue walking that road together. How do we put our faith into action for the sake of others? There are so many ways we can do that, and I was thinking at this point in history, we need to try a bunch of different things to see what works and where God is calling us. Let's be people who are passionate to act, and learn from the "failings," and celebrate the wins! I would love to highlight several ways people put their faith into action in our parish; maybe you will find inspiration or encouragement from them.
Pray for these missional communities! Join the team with them. Gather a team and start something new! God is calling us first to submit and lay our lives down to him, and out of that reverence and obedience, lay our lives down for others! In light of Go Sunday, we are looking for feedback on how you engaged and experienced Go Sunday; We would like this feedback from people who did and didn't go! There is also one dinner for two voucher at Bambuchisun to win for filling in the feedback form. Click here to give feedback and go in the draw to win. This week is 9 am and House Churches; make sure you contact your House Church leader for all the information you might need. Ngā mihi Guy  To offer a reflection on Go Sunday is hard, as it's the culmination of a long journey for me. I feel it’s a red sea moment, and will always speak of God’s love for us, the strength of community and joy in doing hard stuff together. Waking up to a stunning day on Sunday for gathering and planting, I believe to be more than coincidence. The life giving rain on Monday to water the thirsty plants, I believe to be more than coincidence. For there to be a bbq for the morning crew and morning tea helpers where there were none signed up, I believe to be more than coincidence. For Micah & Luke to turn up at the morning shift and bring others, I believe to be more than coincidence. I believe God is moving, and I’m really excited and encouraged. The purpose of this Go Sunday was two fold:
There are now so many more opportunities to open up God conversations with those around us. My husband came, and is impressed by how generous community groups were in hosting us, and is amazed how many families and young people we have in our church. There were people from other denominations, parishes and another Diocese even, who are taking the good news back to their communities. Keep sharing your stories and let’s see what the Holy Spirit does! Co-Vicars, we are so grateful for your courage in daring greatly to snap us out of our comfort zones. And right back at you from last week’s Vicars letter… “YOU are the real deal and we are so proud to be a part of this family of God.” Now whanau, I invite you all to put the next Go Sunday, 29 October, in your diary, and get praying as to who you may invite to come with you. Trees Planted 295 People there 62 Invitations Extended 39 Invitations Accepted 12 Spades Broken 1 Sausages Eaten 76 Kia whakapaingia koutou, blessings to you all, Ginny McCarty  |
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