Vicars letter - 22nd September 2023

Kia Ora All Saints Whānau, 
We are coming into our last Sunday of mission month and I don’t know about you, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the conversations about how we engage those around us with the love of Jesus. 
Last week in our house church we explored the fact that the word mission elicits a vast array of emotion and response. For some, mission brings about a positive association of good that the church does in the world. For others, it may be associated with negativity or hurt because of its connections with things like colonialism or imbalanced power dynamics. And for many, the concept of mission, whether good or bad, feels scary as it threatens to push us outside of our comfort zone. 
I believe that mission in the past has been done both well and poorly and that the word does require some intentional reframing as we move into the future. 
It’s my hope that some of the conversation that has been generated this month has helped to reframe mission a bit for us all - from something (good or bad) that is a part of church we can opt in or out of, to an exciting opportunity that is central to the gospel, and not really all that scary. 
Regardless of how you’ve felt about the conversations thus far this month, there is another opportunity at our central gathering on Sunday that you don’t want to miss! We have a guest preacher from NZCMS, Jairus Robb, and we are having a gathering after the service to learn about an exciting and innovative (and definitely not scary) missional opportunity we have emerging. You don’t want to miss it! 
See you on Sunday, 
Summer