Weekly Bulletin: Staying connected as a church - 30 October 2022

Kia ora St John’s whānau,

This Sunday the Gospel of Luke introduces us to 2 people (people a bit like us - perhaps): a widow (whose name we don’t know), and Zacchaeus (who we know was short!)

Maybe from their encounter with Jesus, we recognise something in how we can encounter Jesus.

We have peer groups resume for our children and youth, so young people and their leaders will go out to the St John’s Centre part-way through the service.

If you can’t gather in 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...

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)

Our Annual General Meeting is this Sunday the 30th October 2022, in the St John’s Centre after the morning service and a shared lunch. Please bring some food to share!
There will be supervised activities for children in the St John’s Centre during the meeting.

The Annual Report of St John’s in the City for the year ended June 2022 is available on the St John’s website: https://www.stjohnsinthecity.org.nz/publications-and-archive
I know you will enjoy the collection of stories and experiences shared in the various contributions. The Annual Performance Report (financial) is included there also. Printed copies of the Annual Report will be available from this Sunday.

There are other supporting papers available ahead of the AGM: The Agenda, Minutes of 2021 AGM, Draft Budget for the coming year, Plain English Summary of the financial performance of last year.

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.

VISITING MATHEMATICIAN

We are delighted to be hosting Dr Gray Manicom* for a visit at St John’s in the City on the weekend of 12th & 13th November 2022.
There will be three opportunities to hear him: on Saturday at 3pm (for high school students), in the Sunday morning service, and an informal presentation after the service.

*Dr Gray Manicom is a mathematician with interests in dynamical systems. His PhD is in the study of memory effects in heteroclinic networks. He is a research fellow in the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland, modelling and investigating the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic on a network. He loves cricket, movies and talking about ideas.

Please help us share the Saturday event for students…

‘Uses of Mathematics today: How Mathematics helps solve the world’s problems’
Can 42 actually be the answer to the ultimate question? Can an equation take over the world? Can mathematics unlock lockdowns and quarantine pandemics? The next few decades of human development will depend on big data, AI, genetic editing, quantum computing, space travel and other fields that are, in essence, entirely dependent on mathematics. Quantum particles are too small, space too far, data too plentiful and AI too unpredictable to experiment on these things in traditional ways. Scientists in these fields typically no longer rely on experimental data to tell them what is true or not, instead, they rely on the language of mathematics' ability to describe the world. But is this trust justified? What are the differences between science and mathematics? And where does God fit in?

Saturday 12th November, at 3pm in the St John’s Centre at St John’s in the City

ONE CONFERENCE

There are 240 leaders travelling from all corners of the country to attend the inaugural One Conference at St John’s in the City. We are hosting this conference from 2:00pm Thursday 17th to 2:30pm Saturday 19th November. Please join in praying for this gathering to be a place for all leaders to re-connect, to be inspired and to encounter the Spirit of the living God together. If you would like to help with the hosting in some way, please let me (Allister) know. I would be pleased to have some help operating the sound system and lighting desks, and generally hanging around as a ‘local host’ to support what’s going on.

NEW WINE FESTIVAL

At this all age festival many voices worship the One. 19th-23rd January 2023 (Wellington Anniversary Weekend) at Wairarapa College in Masterton.
For more details and to register to go (along with others from St John’s): https://newwine.org.nz/

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.
If you don’t have a name tag, please contact the St John’s Office enquiries@stjohnsinthecity.org.nz and one will be made for you.

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