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.
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 6.1 million dollars to build our new church.
Update on Building Project
We had hoped to be turning the first sods on our site by now but due to a variety of factors, though primarily COVID and rising costs, the site remains undisturbed. Just prior to Christmas, we were presented with a revised tender from our construction company which quoted $400,000 above what we are able to accept. This meant we were unable to sign off on the contract for stage 1 of the build.
Since then, we have been working on getting that figure down to where it needs to be, including examining the quote detail, tweaking options, looking at alternative sub-contractors (some of which had extremely high quotes, to say the least!)
Meanwhile, we have continued to raise funds despite the best efforts of social distancing rules. As I write, we have secured $4,499,028 towards our target start figure of $5M. Although we have a generous underwrite of $600,000 securing our cashflow, that is based on the original budget and we still need to raise money to repay this.
We are so very keen to make a start on this exciting project. It is a project which 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.
So, we still need your help! Building seems tantalisingly close but we need to know we can finish what we start. If you are interested in helping, please visit ‘Our Building Project’ on our website. Information on the vision and shape of the project is there, including how to contribute.
God bless you.
Rev Warner Wilder
7 February 2022
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.
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