Weekly Bulletin: Staying connected as a church - 17 December 2023
Kia ora St John’s whānau,
This week we celebrate the Third Sunday of Advent with a Carol Service, featuring some of the ‘Top Ten’ carols we love!
All ages remain together for the whole service, and there will be a special Christmas musical offering from the Choir.
After the service there will be barbecued sausages as part of our shared Morning Tea.
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.
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…
CHRISTMAS IN THE COURTYARD
Thank you all for your support of last Friday’s Christmas in the Courtyard.
It was great to see so many people enjoying themselves there. Altogether we raised over $1,000 for DCM.
CWS CHRISTMAS APPEAL
We are dedicating our offering of money on Christmas Day (once again) to Christian World Service (CWS) whose annual appeal is working to Share Food This Christmas.
The poorest people are already experiencing the challenges of the climate crisis. Our offerings will help small-scale farmers learn how to grow food and improve their livelihoods in these very challenging times. With the help of our local partners, they will be able to prepare for the more intense natural disasters that come with climate change.
There will be special envelopes provided during the Christmas Day service to make a donation; you can put your details on the envelope to receive a receipt from CWS.
NEW YEAR LUNCH
Come and celebrate the start of a new year on Sunday 7th January 2024.
After the morning service, we would love you to join us for a special New Year Lunch in the St John’s Centre.
KOHA : $5
Fellowship, Fun, Delicious Food …...and Ice cream!
Hosted by the Building Community Vision Team
YOUTH & FAMILIES PASTOR SECONDMENT
Next year Hannah North is expanding our ministry to young people by making connections directly with school students.
One of our goals for our St John’s ministry with young people is: Build numbers of youth and children attending and being reached by our programmes.
To build relational connections with school students and encourage non-churched young people to join in what we do at St John’s, next year Hannah will be at Scots College 10 hours a week working with the Chaplain Rev David Jackson. This secondment is just for 2024, while the Assistant Chaplain Rebecca Wilcox is on 12 months parental leave.
Working within a community of over a thousand young people is an expansion of the St John’s youth ministry, and we will find ways for Hannah’s ongoing ministry to be further supported by others.
Are you (or someone you know) interested in working part-time with our Youth & Families ministry team? Let us know if you want to know more about this.
GIVING ISN’T JUST SOMETHING WE DO AT CHRISTMAS
To keep all we do going strong we have budgeted for an overall increase in congregational giving of 10% for the coming year, and asked to discern God’s guidance for our personal/household giving.
Giving by regular bank transfer expresses an ongoing commitment to be part of our mission and ministry, and details for setting that up are available on the ‘Donations’ page of the website: https://www.stjohnsinthecity.org.nz/donate
If you are already giving regularly, you may want to decide if your giving can change to reflect our goal. We know it is hard times for many, so if you are already giving what you are able, please know it is deeply appreciated.
SERVING ON GOVERNANCE BOARDS
There are currently two opportunities for nominations to positions serving in governance roles for two community-facing organisations that work closely with St John’s.
The BGI Board – the Boys’ and Girls’ Institute is located in the top floors above the St John’s Office and their mission is to stand with young people to build great communities and help them to live meaningful lives. https://www.bgi.org.nz/
The DCM Board – Downtown Community Ministries was co-founded by St John’s to serve those in our city with high and complex needs. https://www.dcm.org.nz/
We are inviting expressions of interest in these opportunities to contribute in this collective way.
Perhaps this is something to think about over summer?
Please speak to the Minister, Allister; The Session Clerk, Rob Anderson; or the Chair of Council, Pamela Cohen.
May our hearts be open to the coming of Christ.
Allister