With Easter weekend behind us many of us have a meaningful time remembering the cost that Jesus paid for us – and some of us may have had a bit too much chocolate.

What do sprained ankles, scoffing dry Weet-bix, cold showers, mosh-pits and lost voices all have in common? If you guessed a youth camp, you are right! Also in common with these are dumb dogs, night-vision goggles, strangler fig roots, and young people learning and leaning into Jesus.

Rev Di Woods is taking on an exciting new role as Dean of Waiapu Cathedral in Napier. Di will be moving on from the role she has held over the last six years in Wellington as Principal Chaplain, Class 2 (Wing Commander) for the New Zealand Defence Force. We caught up with Di about her time with Defence Chaplaincy and what she is looking forward to in her new role.

At 9:20am Sunday morning Patricia Cooper received a call from Jake at the Red Cross, “That family of five you collected for a little while back need to move into their new house on Tuesday evening. Can you do it? Oh, and they are now a family of seven!”

Two of our goals we have this year regarding our ‘out’ aspect of discipleship are to more closely tie our giving to relationships and be involved in a hands-on way rather than to just have the treasurer write a cheque each year, and secondly to integrate our children into our ministries of justice, mercy and creation care.

After 7 years of helping to resettle former refugees, Patricia Cooper is stepping down from her voluntary coordinator role. We talked to Patricia about her time as Refugee Resettlement Coordinator.

For over a decade our movement has made strides, through a variety of means, to better align with the fifth mark of mission, “To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.” With this in mind, we invite you to consider what it is you can be doing in this present day with your families, churches, and communities to limit your carbon footprint.

The Chaplaincy Team at Victoria University are making it count twice. University is a time where there's so much pressure on students to perform. It's also easy to feel a sense of lack; that they are confronted with these huge problems of the world in their courses, but don't have enough time or money to contribute, or don't know how.

Since the Omicron outbreak began, the Wellington City Mission has experienced a 400% increase of demand for food support. They are spending $20,000 a week on groceries to ensure the shelves of the Social Supermarket are stocked to meet that need.

Some years ago there was a cartoon which caught my attention. It was of a naval vessel showing the power of its guns, with its commander leaning over the stern looking down at the tiny overcrowded boat below filled with migrants. “Where are you from?” He shouted. Back came the response, “Earth.”

With a vision focussed on youth and young whanau, All Saints Hataitai are reimagining how their church facilities might contribute to wellness in their community.

Building has begun on Te Korōria, a community social enterprise facility, developed by Karori Anglican to support whānau through a welcoming community space.

The old Plunket car seat hire rooms in Ranui, Porirua spent several years vacant, and quite derelict, until our Porirua whānau stepped in. The building was comprehensively renovated to become a new community resource after the Porirua Anglicans successfully tendered for it in May last year.

Anglicans in our diocese and throughout the country have been a driving force behind the Free Fares campaign, which is advocating for free public transport for Community Services Card Holders, under-25s, and students nationwide. On 17 March the campaign group will present their petition of nearly 10,000 to the Minister for Transport, asking that Free Fares will be funded in this year’s budget.

As the noise of protestors on Parliament’s lawns echo around Wellington’s Cathedral of St Paul, the Cathedral whānau are offering a peaceful presence and word to those dropping by.

We’ve had to get a bit creative in order to have fun as a church family and here is how some of our Masterton whānau are doing that at the same time as helping to fund much needed projects.

Almost every Thursday evening between July 2020 and June 2021, I could be found in front of a Zoom call with people from every part of our Diocese who were current or budding small group leaders.

It was a totally mind-blowing year that continues to influence and shape me even now, eight months after it finished.

Thanks to generous donations made to Anglican Missions’ Tonga Emergency appeal, our Tongan whānau can find some small respite in the relief packages currently on route to the disaster-ravaged nation. But, we still have a long way to go.

Lent begins on 2 March this year, and as we wait to see what the arrival of the Omicron variant in our communities will look like, we’re encouraging our Movement to think about how to use Lent Studies as a way to continue to gather safely, build teams, care for one another, and continue to learn together about who God is and who we are called to be at this time.