Our Church, Our Place, Our Community
Kia ora, welcome to St Paul’s in the Park Anglican Church.
Kia ora, welcome to St Paul’s in the Park Anglican Church.
Christmas Eve: 6.00 pm Carols in the Park
11.00 pm Holy Communion
Christmas Day: 9.30 am Holy Communion.
Please note: Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday. It has been decided not to hold the usual Sunday 9.30 am Holy Communion service, but to focus on the 6.00 pm Carol service. The 11.00 pm service offers the opportunity for communion. It was felt that the size of our congregation did not really warrant four services in 24 hours.
On Thursday, November 16th about 60 people gathered at St Paul’s in the Park, Flat Bush, for the blessing of our build site by Bishop Ross. This is a project that has been many years in the making and it is with a sense of excitement, aligned with some degree of relief, that we congregated on a warm morning for this significant occasion.
The building will include a new church and also a community centre. The facilities will enable us to host a wide range of programmes which will be of benefit to the growing and diverse local community. It will be an opportunity for our church to reach out to our community and hopefully make a difference.
Following the blessing of the site and the turning of a sod of turf by Bishop Ross, we moved into the hall for speeches, a song by our music group and a wonderful and customary spread provided by our church ladies.
The speakers included our Deputy Mayor, Desley Simpson, who stated that this project is so very important, not just for the community of Flat Bush, but for Auckland as well.
In attendance were representatives from Auckland Council, the local Howick Board, the Diocese, BSM Architects, Foundation North, the construction company (McMillan and Lockwood), donors and church members.
We are most grateful to Bishop Ross for presiding at this important occasion, which marks the beginning of the last leg of what has been a long journey, and also to the Diocese for their support of this project.
Rev Warner Wilder
As of this coming Sunday (18th June), we will be holding just one service at 9.30 am. This service will be a combination of our usual 9.00 am and 10.15 am services and will be held in the church.
Find out more about these services here.
Every week we also upload our services to Youtube. Click below to view our Youtube channel.
Our present day church, although placed on the edge of Barry Curtis Park, is surrounded by a mushrooming community. This growing community is a melting pot of culture, ethnicity and faith.
A few years ago it was decided that a new building was needed to meet the demands of this growing community. A design is now completed and our initial estimates indicate that we are challenged with raising 7.5 million dollars to build our new church.
Update on Building Project
It has been quite a journey but the end, or should I say the beginning, is in sight. We are at the point of finalising the contract with the construction company, McMillan and Lockwood, and it is envisaged that construction will get underway in just a few weeks. Alleluia!
We are so very keen to make a start on this exciting project. It is a project that will be of great benefit to our Anglican community, but just as importantly, is much-needed by the wider Flat Bush community. The facilities will enable us to host a wide range of programmes which will be of significant benefit to the growing and diverse local community. It is an opportunity for our church to reach out to our community and hopefully make a difference.
We look forward to the blessing of the site by the Bishop of Auckland, the Right Reverend Ross Bay, on Thursday 16th November. This will be a significant occasion for all sorts of reasons, but especially because it marks the end of what has been quite a challenge to get us to this point and the beginning of the exciting phase of the build itself.
If you have travelled down Chapel Road recently, you will have noticed earthworks in the park adjacent to our church. This is the laying down of the wastewater and stormwater drain, and this is due to be completed by the end of this month.
For vision and plans, click on FIND OUT MORE below.
God bless you.
Rev Warner Wilder
9th November 2023
Selwyn Seniors is a group for over 65’s. A morning of gentle exercise, fun and friendship with a varied programme.
https://www.selwynfoundation.org.nz/selwyn-village/residential-care/
Make Moments – a creative art partnership between The Selwyn Foundation and Connect the Dots
SPACE for you and your baby is a parenting programme aimed at mainly first-time parents of newborn babies. Sessions are held over 3 terms in a relaxed, baby-friendly atmosphere.
Our vision for SPACE is “empowering and encouraging parents to support the development of the whole child in their first year of life”.
During our 9.30 am service, our Sunday School runs during the school term. Children can share special items of news they may have, and say a prayer/sing a song together. Bible lessons are presented through varied activities such as stories, video clips, pictures, crafts or a game.
Influence of the Bible
A Russian teenager, living in Paris around 1930, was aggressively anti-Christian and hated everything to do with God. After listening unwillingly to a talk by a priest, he decided to read a Gospel to check whether the priest’s picture of Christianity, which the young man found repulsive, was supported by the gospel account.
Not to waste time unnecessarily, he chose Mark, the shortest Gospel. Before he reached the third chapter, he suddenly became aware that on the other side of the desk stood the figure of Jesus. His hostility crumbled and he became a disciple of Christ. He became the Metropolitan Anthony, the Russian Orthodox Archbishop of London.
We may not have such a dramatic experience when reading the Bible, but it is good practice to ask God to speak to us before we read the Bible. It is surprising how often he does speak to us if we are open to his word and his presence.
Service
A motorist drove into a ‘full service’ station. Three attendants charged out to meet him. The first washed the windows, the second checked under the bonnet, the third checked the tires. When they had finished, the motorist paid for the 30 litres of petrol he had ordered and drove off.
Three minutes later he returned. Once more, the attendants charged out. ‘I’m embarrassed to ask you this,’ said the motorist, ‘but did anyone put petrol in my car?’ The attendants looked at one another rather sheepishly. In their rush to serve, they had forgotten the rather important petrol.
As we rush through life, it is important not to forget what our priorities should be – to serve where the need is greatest.
‘Dear friends, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions.’ 1 John 3:18
Welcoming our King
As the story goes, Queen Victoria was out walking one summer afternoon near Balmoral Castle in Scotland. She wanted a rest and a drink of water. She passed a couple of houses and knocked on the door of one of them. There was no answer. The woman inside was busy and could not be bothered answering the door. The Queen walked on home.
The neighbour across the road saw all this through her window. In the evening, the two women chatted as they pottered in their gardens. With more than a hunt of jealousy, the neighbour said, ‘I see that the Queen called at your place today.’
The other woman had no idea and was bitterly disappointed at missing this opportunity of having the Queen in to her home. So for the rest of her life she waited for the Queen to return. She never came.
On Palm Sunday the crowds welcomed their King. At any time of the year we need to ensure that we are not too busy, too preoccupied with day to day distractions, and so neglect to let God into our lives. You will not be disappointed.
‘As the scripture tells us, “Anyone who believes in him, will not be disappointed.”’ Romans 10:11
Values
In ancient China, the people desired security from the barbaric, invading hordes to the north. To get this protection, they built the Great Wall of China. It’s 9 metres high, 5 metres wide and 2,400 kilometres long!
The Chinese goal was to build an absolutely impenetrable defence. But during the first one hundred years of the wall’s existence China was invaded three times.
It wasn’t the wall’s fault. During all three invasions, the barbaric hordes never climbed over the wall, broke it down, or went around it; they simply bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right in through an open gate.
The purpose of the wall failed because of a breakdown in values. Any society or community can be ostensibly rich in materialistic terms but if the values of righteousness, honesty and charity are not adhered to, then that community will fall apart. The Roman Empire is an example, albeit on a rather grand scale. We have seen religious organisations/communities falter and fail because the very values they promote have not been abided by. We are human!
On a personal level, integrity, compassion and humility are invariably the hallmarks of a person who has mana and is held in high regard, not the size of their bank balance or any power they might wield.
‘Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body of armour of God’s righteousness.’ Ephesians 6:14