2024 minister’s Report for AGM
Awatere Christian Joint Venture Ministers report for 2024 AGM
A big thankyou to everyone who is involved in our parish! It’s a real joy to see you all week by week. And a special thankyou to everyone who serves so faithfully.
God is revitalising us!
At Synod 2022 Bishop Steve alerted us to symptoms of decline in our Diocese and called for revitalisation.
In response, I preached a series on revitalisation, ‘When God comes to Church’.[1]
The main points were:
· We have grieved the Holy Spirit; we have worshipped idols and God has turned against us. But He is the redeemer.
· Spiritually speaking our nation is a dying vine. But God can heal us.
· True seekers worship the one true God. True seekers value the teaching of the word. True seekers obey God.
· There is a revival cycle: remorse, revival, opposition, victory and faithfulness. Where are we in the cycle and will we participate?
· And most important of all, will we humble ourselves and pray? Will we do the mahi, will we pray and wait for the Lord?
In 2023, I see signs that the Lord is revitalising us. The bluntest measure of all, attendance shows that attendance increased across the parish (by about 10%). However, the most important metrics are the most difficult to measure, for example, what is going on in people’s hearts. Are we enjoying God more? Are we seeking him more? Are we serving one another and the community? Are we sharing the good news about Jesus? As your minister I have the great privilege of seeing what the Lord is doing in your lives. I am seeing growth in enjoyment of God and in unity as we worship at our Sunday services. This is a real joy!
I also get to spend time with people during the week. I am filled with gratefulness to God for the work he is doing in our hearts. God’s Spirit is changing us and helping us to put on Christ.
In 2023 Bishop Steve’s message was, ‘There’s hope in the boat’. There’s plenty of hope as we sail our Awatere waka to our destination.
My challenge to us now is, will we say, “That’s good enough,” or will we press on? If we are in a race, and the Bible says we are, then it’s time for us to dig deep and press on.
Good things are happening.
· In 2023, we changed our service times. Attendance has increased as a result, and we have had to move into the Kēkerengū Community Centre.
· I am delighted that we have more musicians involved in our services, especially on the East Coast.
· I am also delighted that children attend at all three sites.
· Fellowship after our services is warm and open hearted.
· We continue to have an open door to Bible in Schools (please pray the door remains open).
· We continue to enjoy worshipping with our brothers from the Pacific who call Seddon home when they are in New Zealand.
· Our church events are well attended and full of fun.
· The management team continue to be united and hard working.
What’s next?
The change to a 9am service in Seddon has resulted in a drop in attendance at our monthly prayer meeting, so we need to re-think when we schedule this essential meeting.
This year I will be working on discipleship (followers of Jesus growing followers of Jesus), and evangelism, (sharing Jesus naturally and effectively).
The diocese will continue to encourage revitalisation, particularly through training.
May God richly bless you! Keep on praying for this church and for one another. God delights to answer our prayers and build his Kingdom.
- John Phillips
[1] (Based on a book by Ray Ortlund of the same title)