You might have noticed that during July we're running a whole bunch of different events from football to boardgames, crochet to a cèilidh.
It could leave you wondering if City on a Hill have just turned into a social club or event organising machine!
There is a very clear purpose to these events: Connection. […]
'God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!'
I'm sure you've heard those words before. They are usually followed with the promise of a life that is rich with meaning, purpose, significance and influence.
Now these ideas are true and right and good. God does love you! He does have a wonderful plan for your life that is rich with meaning and purpose.
But we sell ourselves short when trying to understand what it actually means. […]
One of the massive lessons from the COVID season was the blessing it is to be able to gather together in person each week as a church whanau. When we it wasn't possible meet physically together many of us experienced a significant sense of loss.
Given the preciousness of God's church this shouldn't have come as a big surprise! […]
How aware are you of new people and visitors at our church gatherings on a Sunday?
Last Sunday we had 25 guests at Morning Church and 16 guests are Night Church! For most of those visitors it was their first time ever at City on a Hill.
Each week God presents us with a fantastic opportunity to welcome people into our church whanau. We don't have to go and find them by knocking on doors or meeting them on the streets or doing anything... they just turn up to church with us!
Nine years ago today we loaded up the kids and boarded a Qantas plane bound for Wellington. We came to this city because we were convinced (and we still are) that there was no place in the English speaking world in more need of Jesus' life changing message of the gospel.
Church planters are famous for overstating the needs of the place they happen to be going but Wellington is, by almost every metric available, the most godless place in New Zealand.
Whether is it to a partner, a job, a responsibility or even just to an invitation to do something on a Saturday night... we can have gamophobia. That is a fear of commitment.
They say we're the options generation living with constant FOMO and FOBO. Or we let the pendulum swing completely the other way and have JOMO (this one was new for me!) and retreat within ourselves.
But as the body of Christ we are committed to one-another and we have a shared responsibility to see God glorified in our midst as we serve together and advance the good news of Jesus.
As Paul writes to the Ephesians chapter 3,
'So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.'
Therefore there is no joy in missing out on that! Nor ought we fear what commitment to Christ and his people will cost us in lost worldly opportunities. Instead we give ourselves wholly and joyfully to Jesus, his people and his mission.
One way we express this is through our commitment to our local church - giving, serving & being served, being present, sharing, being accountable, allowing ourselves to be vulnerable and praying for one another.
A small part of this is, together, taking responsibility for the mission before us and resources that we've been given by God to see his kingdom grown in our city. And one way we do that is via our Annual General Meeting.
At the AGM we hear about how we are going in our mission, finances and other issues related to our life together. We appoint people to the Admin Team who oversee this on our behalf. And we pray for them and ourselves that we will remain faithful and committed to what God has for us to do in this place.
So, can I invite you to join us for our AGM this Sunday at 12:30pm at Te Whaea? We will have a quick lunch at 12pm before the AGM in Drama 1.
Grace & peace,
Andrew
