Weekly Bulletin: Staying connected as a church - 18 September 2022

Kia ora St John’s whānau,

This Sunday there is a Church Camp in Otaki, AND there will be a worship service as usual in the City at 10am.

Rev David Jackson will be leading the morning service at St John’s.

If you want to read the Bible reading before Sunday, it is Luke 16:1-9
And if you want to hear this week’s Rev’s Ramble on the Bible readings, click here https://www.facebook.com/KhandallahPresbyterianChurch

With the Church Camp, there will be no youth and kids peer groups on Sunday morning.

If you can’t get into the city, and you want to join the worship service via Zoom, here are the details to access the live-stream:
 
Zoom Meeting ID: 370 260 759
Passcode: worship
 
The link to join the Zoom worship service is below.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/370260759?pwd=b2ZkajZ5d28rTy9EN1VKZDJUM3N4dz09 
 

If using your phone: dial 04 886 0026 (Meeting ID: 370 260 759#, Passcode: 1560107#)

This is the link to the printable Service Sheet 

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT...

FAITH THINKING EVENT

The University of Otago Theology Programme has been partnering with local churches for several years to offer Faith Thinking events. The format, involving faculty and other knowledgeable teachers connected with the Programme, offers five hours of engagement, over a Friday night and Saturday morning. Faith Thinking events offer introduction to a wide range of areas related to Christian faith: the Bible, theology, pastoral realities, church history, spirituality and mission, ethics. Over the last nine years over 800 people have attended Faith Thinking events hosted in Dunedin, Invercargill, Timaru, Christchurch and Queenstown.
This month we have the first Faith Thinking event in Wellington: Living Faithfully in the Anthropocene: Theological Imagination and Ecological Practices for the Church
Surrounded and daily reminded of the ‘ecological wounds’ of our current reality, how might the Church live faithfully? This short Faith Thinking course explores how the Christian tradition might awaken our imagination and nourish new (ancient) ways of inhabiting the world – offering theologies and practices (beyond ‘activism’) that respond to the ecological challenges we face.

Dr Andrew Shepherd – Lecturer in Theology and Public Issues.
Friday Sept 23rd (7.00pm -9.00pm)
Saturday Sept 24th (9.00am -12.30pm)
St John's in the City Presbyterian Church
170 Willis Street, Wellington
Cost: $20 per person
To register, go to: https://www.otago.ac.nz/continuingeducation/index.html

CWS PAKISTAN APPEAL FROM THE MODERATOR

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rt Rev Hamish Galloway is encouraging us to give to the CWS Pakistan Flood Appeal. It is estimated that 33 million people have been affected by severe flooding; one third of the country is under water.
Click here to give to the CWS Pakistan Flood Appeal <insert button “Give here” https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/christian-world-service-emergency-appeal-for-pakistan-floods

RAISING THE STANDARD OF GIVING

We are invited to reflect on how our giving is an important part of living out our faith. ‘Raising our standard of giving’ – describes the thoughtful re-examination of our giving as an important expression for our faith. Together we are thinking about our values, re-examining our giving habits accordingly, making carefully thought-out decisions, and re-arranging our priorities in using money to enable us to carry out these decisions. We give meaningfully, not because the Church needs it (it does, of course) but because as Christians we need to give for our own sake spiritually.
More information will be provided in the coming weeks to help us re-examine our giving.

VISION TO ACTION

Our Vision: We explore and share the gospel with our dynamic neighbourhood. We create safe spaces to be, to belong, and to navigate the tough stuff. Getting to know God is a team sport – that’s why we do this together, not alone.

How to get involved… Join a project team – everyone is welcome!!

Site and Space – Get involved in exploring how the St John’s site can be used in an outreach capacity. This could involve physical changes, projects, use of the Centre.
Current Project: Community Christmas Market
Contact Rob Anderson or Judi Ferguson      
 
Community Rebuild – Help re-establish and build back internal relationships and friendship in the St John’s community post COVID.
Current Project: Supporting Attendance at Church Camp and Talent Show
Contact: Margaret Gilkison or Jemma August
 
Caring for Specific Groups of Need in the St John’s Community – Help us intentionally build connections between generations and serve specific groups of need e.g. young, elderly, youth.
Contact: TBC
 
Whānau Night Extension – Get involved in building on the success of Whānau Night. Held each month during school terms in the St John’s Centre or in homes. Food, fun, faith and focus.
Current Project: Youth Lead Code Breaker Night, 20 November 2022
Coordinator contacts for 20 November Whanau Night: Antonia Milkop and Bronwyn Wood with St John’s Youth Group
What we need:  In order for the church to carry on running Whanau Nights from 2023 onwards, we will need to find a committed leader to help orchestrate and organise teams to run future Whanau nights.  Does this sound like you?
 
Vision Communication and Connections – Ensuring St John’s is communicating our Vision with the wider community and supporting the project teams.
Current Project: Improving Signage and Billboards
Contact: Elizabeth Gibbs
 
Getting to Know our Neighbours /Understanding Our - Eco System/Community – Building direct relationships with our immediate neighbourhood i.e. business and organisations, Victoria University of Wellington and Massey University, Kaianga Ora, building developers, WCC, neighbouring Churches, schools.
Current Projects: Follow-up event from Art Installation and Connecting with local property developers to understand future populations.
Contact: Pamela Cohen        

The St John’s Vision is a key focus for Session Leaders so feel free to contact any one of them about this. In particular you can contact the Session Clerk, Rob Anderson.

NAME TAGS

As we turn our Vision into action, one very easy and practical way we can build community is to wear a name tag.
Please keep your name tag on when you come over for Morning Tea in the Centre, and there will be a receptacle to drop your name tag into before you leave.

LEADERSHIP FOR OUR MINISTRY WITH YOUNG PEOPLE

We are looking for new paid leadership to support our ministry with Children & Families and Youth. These are important and life-giving ministries for us at St John’s and we remain committed to these ministries as an expression of our faith shared and grown together.
While we have existing position descriptions for these roles (half-time for the Children & Families role, and full-time for the Youth Pastor role), we are also wanting to be flexible and shape the responsibilities of these roles, where appropriate, to match a) the strengths of suitable applicants, and b) with the emerging needs at St John’s.
Our St John’s Vision is encouraging us to focus on being intergenerational, having safe spaces for people to belong, being flexible and responsive, with an open-minded and positive culture.
We are open to explore possibilities with anyone who has a passion and aptitude for these ministries.
If you, or someone you know, might consider these roles, please contact Rev Allister Lane for more information, including the current position descriptions (Ph: 021 466 526).
Applications close 23rd September 2022. including a CV and a covering letter that lays out your vision for the role.

FREE GAMELAN CONCERT

FELLOWSHIP GROUP

“Seeing the Invisible: Black Holes, the Universe and our place in it”
This was the title of a presentation given last month at a Science & Faith seminar at St John’s by Prof Jeff Tallon.
At this month’s Fellowship Group you can hear this presentation again, along with the wondrous images from the deepest parts of space.
Tuesday 27th September, 11am in the Hall.

ONE CONFERENCE

This leadership training conference for the Presbyterian Church is being hosted at St John’s in November (2pm 17th of November - 2:30pm Saturday the 19th of November).
We will have many folks travelling from out of town and many have asked if there any possibility of being billeted. Would you like to consider billeting out-of-town attendees to the conference?
Conference attendees will have all meals provided at the conference except breakfast. If you can offer billeting please fill in this form One Conference Billet Host Form or email grace@presbyterian.org.nz

WEEKLY ONLINE DEVOTION

We have Online Devotions every Thursday at 11am. You are welcome to join with others for fifteen minutes of spiritual reflection together.
The link to join via Zoom is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/150457018?pwd=OU55OXhDY2YvZFlIWmNNZkxVaVN2UT09
If using your phone, dial 04 886 0026 (Meeting ID: 150 457 018, Passcode: 333)

The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Allister