Vicars Letter 1st august 2025

Rev Guy Benton

Kia ora, All Saints

I have been reflecting over the history of All Saints this week, due to a number of factors, and it never ceases to amaze me the power of a faithful group of people, whose lives were completely sold out for Christ, one another, and their local community. 

There have been many patches throughout our history as a faith community where times have felt hard, oppressive, or wobbly, as well as times of real fruitfulness or "Glory days". Time after time, as we reflect back, there is always a group of people who have lived their lives both publicly and privately as living sacrifices for Christ, either in service of the church or as disciples of Christ in their homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods. 

We are finding ourselves in a season of growth, both in the people gathering and our biblical, missional, and prayerful discipleship. We are staring down the barrel of a building that's costing us. We are extending our youth ministry discipleship with our leaders. The number of kids coming is growing. Bible studies are starting. Weekly discipleship of young people has increased. Our children's ministry is on the cusp of developing some more. This all comes at a cost! To our lives, the time and skills we offer, and our finances. 

We have just come out the back end of our giving series, and Parish Council is beavering away in the background to help steer us faithfully into the future. I hope that our hearts continue to be stirred in a real and powerful way in all that we do as followers of Christ! Christ did not come to condemn the world but to save it! It's in the recognition of Christ's incredible generosity to us that he is always with us that we, in turn, want to participate with him in all we do, our lives, our work, our families, our resources, we offer the best of it back to him in response to the generosity he has given us. 

I encourage us all (Summer and I included) to prayerfully consider our giving to this community. God is undeniably moving. People are finding Christ, growing in their faith, and being inspired to reach out to others. Those are wonderful stories to join in on! Let us join in together as we continue to see God move here in a real and powerful way. 

God is with us! he is the generous giver! Let us join in on what God is doing by joining together to offer our best and worship him! 

Love in Christ