Weekly Bulletin: Staying connected as a church - 20 November 2022

Kia ora St John’s whānau,

This Sunday is ‘Christ the King Sunday’.

Is Jesus Christ a Sovereign King …or a Suffering King?

If you want to read the Bible reading before Sunday, it is Luke 23:33-43

Our young people will go out part-way through to their peer groups.

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...

WHĀNAU NIGHT

5pm - 6.30pm, Sunday 20 November, BYO Picnic. The theme for the evening will be a youth-led Code Breaker night.
We started off the year with a picnic in the park, and we are going to finish off with a picnic in the hall. We invite you to bring your own meal to our final celebration.
This will be our LAST whānau night of 2022. And in order to continue whānau nights in 2023, we are looking for a committed leader to help orchestrate and organise teams, as Gordon Fitch is stepping down from this role.
Please get in touch if you can to help organise whānau nights.

RAISING THE STANDARD OF GIVING

Last week, we highlighted the slides from the AGM about the church finances.

These show that we are continuing to navigate a difficult financial environment with multiple pressures. Even though St John’s achieved an “accounting surplus” for 2021/22, a large deficit of $400,000 is budgeted for 2022/23. This arises because of:
• The need to inflation protect the Trust Fund – high inflation and low returns means very limited real returns are expected this year
• Insurance costs are $176,000 (plus GST) for the year – a $20,000 increase on last year and a 50% increase over the last 3 years
• Repairs and maintenance – painting the manse, washing the buildings on the St John’s site, and the repair of the Church reception roof have added to costs this year
• Higher salaries arising from market demand and the intention to fill the youth and children’s ministry vacancies
• A significant decline in annual congregational giving of about $60,000 compared with 2018.
Some of these challenges, such as insurance, will require a regional or national approach, as other Churches are facing similar cost challenges.

And some of these challenges are ours. Giving should be a joy that reflects our faith and enables our worship, ministry, mission and outreach. Jesus talked about money a lot. At least a third of his teaching was about money and property related matters – the incidents of the rich young ruler and the widow’s mite are forthright in their implications. Jesus did this because he knew that many of those he spoke to considered money more important than the Kingdom of God.

Let’s prayerfully re-examine our giving as an important expression of our faith and rise to the challenge of an additional $20,000 a year over the next three years.

DCM

Annual General Meeting …Monday 28th November. The DCM AGM is in the St John’s Centre. Refreshments will be served from 5:30pm with a meeting start time of 6pm. DCM’s Manahautū, Stephen Turnock, will offer a reflection.

SCOTS COLLEGE ADVENT SERVICE

At St John’s in the City 4pm Sunday 27th November 2022.

COMBINED ADVENT SERVICE

With St Mary of the Angels and St Peter’s.
At St Mary of the Angels 7pm Sunday 27th November 2022

FELLOWSHIP GROUP

The Fellowship Group meets for the traditional Advent Service on Tuesday 29th November at 11am in the St John’s Church. Please note this is the fifth Tuesday of the month.
The usual shared lunch will be enhanced by strawberries and ice-cream. And a koha will be invited in support of the work of Christian World Service.

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