Whanaungatanga in the Eastern Suburbs
What does it mean for us to practice and embed our values in our parish life? A new initiative begun at All Saints Hataitai-Kilbirnie parish is motivated by our values of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga.
They are offering a series of three “Winter Warm-Up” soup and dessert luncheons that seek to breakdown barriers and build connections with manuhiri (guests).
Parish Administrator, Ginny McCarty, says, “We were encouraged and inspired by Rev Dr Rangi Nicholson’s Training Day workshop on our Diocesan values.
“We felt God’s prompting us to offer this to the community – it was just something we had to do.”
At the first luncheon, early this month, 24 people were fed in a loaves and fishes miracle from two soups and a delicious donated apple crumble. Twelve people attended from the exercise class that meets at the church centre each Wednesday and parishioners made up the remainder.
The outlay for the parish was just $17 for bread and cream. Leftover ice cream came from a previous event and tea and coffee from the parish cupboard.
Importantly, manaakitanga was offered to all. Bridges formed or were strengthened and all are looking forward to next month’s food and fellowship.
Ginny says, the Discipleship Pathway tool taught by Archdeacon, Gendy Thomson has been a helpful framework as parishioners are formed in mission through welcoming others.
“The church centre sees a regular flow of guests, mostly retired who aren’t currently attending a church,” says Ginny.
“My hope is we’ll see the parish open more spaces for offering generous hospitality to people seeking connection.”
Your next steps:
Start up a conversation with Ginny by email
Learn about the Discipleship Pathway framework
Visit our Diocesan vision and values
