Our whānau at Peninsula Parish have been trying out a new rhythm of family morning prayers to help engage the whole family.

Dear whānau

Greetings to you all as you settle in to our latest lockdown, and as we all wait to see what the next few days will hold.

How and what are young Anglican social justice activists contributing to civil society in contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand? That’s what Catherine Rivera wanted to explore for her Anthropology PhD thesis.

The Season of Creation is an opportunity to reflect on our relationship with creation, and to consider how God may be calling us further into our Anglican Communion’s fifth mark of mission: “To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth.”

‘…he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus’ (Phil 1:6)

Over the recent weekends at our Diocesan Training Days in Wellington and Palmerston North, we have all been humble learners together, exploring what it means to be part of the Missio Dei in each of our contexts. As we gathered together to worship, pray, and learn, we were struck once again by the variety of expressions and needs, longings and anxieties that are represented across our Movement.

Many of you had the pleasure of meeting Sisi Fountain, the Diocesan Property Manager, at our training days recently so we thought it would be good to share a little bit more about her and what she does.

The Wellington City Mission relies on a variety of people and organisations to be able to make a difference in people’s lives, and together they are creating a better place to live. Including a gift to the Mission in your will is one way we can have a lasting legacy in our community. In this story, the Mission shares with us a story from one of their bequestors.

It was wonderful to gather together as a whānau on Saturday at Samuel Marsden. The weather was glorious and many made the most of it by eating lunch outside. We were blessed to hear from Bree Mills and our many workshop speakers.

Saturday marked the official launch of the Low Carbon Challenge. This year eight hundred Anglicans had their say on advice from the Climate Change Commission. Now hundreds of us are changing our lifestyles to care for the climate.

The Get One Give One campaign has been going for two months and has so far raised over $35,000. Parishes across the diocese have been getting inventive in finding ways to raise funds.

Friday 30 July 2021, marks World Day Against Human Trafficking. A global crime leaving no country untouched. As exploitation is often hidden, it is hard to know what to look for, and how to help. This is why working, and sharing information together, becomes so important.

Now that we’ve had confirmation about the closure of the Australian travel border, we are still going ahead with having Bree as our keynote speaker. She is pre-recording her sessions for us but we hope to have her live for Q&A.

As the Olympics in Tokyo are unfolding millions of people across the world are watching and cheering, commiserating, and embracing the glittering spectacle of sights and sounds, gasping in wonder at extreme human effort, as for a short time athletes come together to compete for their respective countries. Just for a moment time is forgotten as peoples of all cultures and countries draw a collective breath willing on ‘their’ person/s in the race for gold.

Dear whānau in Christ,

Many of you will have seen the article in this weekend’s news in which a person spoke of their experience of abuse from a member of our church who was subsequently ordained.

We want to affirm how grateful we are to the complainant in sharing their story, and indeed to all who share their experience, and are committed to learning as much as we can from it. Nobody should have such a story to tell.

We want to reduce the harmful impact we have on the environment and the Low Carbon Challenge one of the ways we can help make this happen. The challenge runs from Training Day on July 31st through to November, and during that time there will be tons of support to help you reach your goal.

Participating in the mission of God is all inclusive. We participate in the mission of God when we gather in our faith communities, and when we engage missionally in our local community. Between the training days, we are taking Rev. Bree Mills on a ‘roadshow’ to speak with Clergy, and with mission-hearted people.

Exciting news! Forty-two manuhiri (visitors) have been welcomed into Te Pā Pori, Wellington City Mission’s newest supported transitional housing facility.