After a year of Leadership Course lectures and huddles, I felt ready to embrace hosting a house church and we started last Sunday. In my local church huddle and home group we’ve been talking about mission, and I felt challenged to start sharing my faith more in a natural way. But where to start?

When Ralph Pyatt finally decided to retire from running the Waikanae Parish Foodbank in late 2020 Pippa was thrilled at the opportunity to take over. Ralph, and his late wife Ngaio, ran the foodbank for 22 years, delivering thousands of food parcels to those in need.

“Faith Space” is an emerging church group in Palmerston North with an emphasis on centring people’s lives on following Jesus. They are a rainbow-celebratory community.

Over this past week or so both of us have been reflecting on the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) and what it could mean in our present season. I (+Justin) have been revisiting social anthropologist Malcolm Gladwell’s book David and Goliath (he does a great TEDtalk summary here).

A fresh change for the youth of Wairarapa is on its way, with the appointment of Ella Brown to the Wairarapa Whānau Trust's position of project leader for the Mayor's Taskforce for Jobs. Since lockdown in 2020, the Trust has been engaged in a partnership with South Wairarapa District Council, through a contract to coach and mentor young people into their first employment in the local community.

Two Todman (run by our Brooklyn Parish whānau) is serving the community of Brooklyn in more ways than one.

While the team of five million have stayed home and donned masks to go outside, essential work has continued at St Peter's on Willis Street. The Freestore cannot operate under levels 3 & 4 (there are no cafes and bakeries open for them to collect food from) however, Freestore volunteers have worked to support EKTA (“unity” in Hindi) from the St Peter's undercroft.

Last Friday Stuff published a story about the Get one. Give one. campaign. With the COVID-19 vaccine available for everyone aged 12 and over, and vaccinations being strongly pushed by our country's leadership, spreading the news about the campaign is allowing even more New Zealanders to donate.

This week both Bishop Justin and I will take part in our third round of Bishop’s Conversations. These global conversation groups have been created as the pathway for the world-wide gathering of the Bishops within our Anglican Communion at Lambeth next year.

During last year’s lockdown, St David’s Naenae-Epuni began a rhythm of house church gatherings. We caught up with Priest in Charge Martin Robinson to talk about the impact of home gatherings and how they have been affected by the latest COVID-19 outbreak.

Kate and John-Luke Day live in Wellington, and are part of our St Tom's church whānau in Newtown.  When they were holidaying in a small South Island village last year, a wildfire swept through the area overnight.  Everyone was saved, but the village was destroyed.  The wildfire was caused by unseasonably warm, dry conditions - a symptom of climate change. Read / watch how they then chose to reduce their family’s carbon footprint.

Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. (2 Corinthians 4:1)

August was the month of the Wellington City Mission Winter Appeal. And it wasn’t long before we found ourselves unexpectedly in lockdown.

The Low Carbon Challenge involves three months of prayerful action to shrink our carbon footprint. So what action to take? Nice as it would be, not everyone can afford to shell out for “big ticket” items like electric cars, solar panels, and Tesla wall batteries, so what are some less costly things we could do?

God is always speaking so how might we hear better? Jesus said "My sheep hear my voice." If we are to join God in mission, how can we know where God is at work and what God is inviting us to join Him in?

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.