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.
Sundays 9.30 am
Praise and worship, including Holy Communion.
Singing is a feature of our worship at St Paul’s in the Park. If you enjoy singing, join us at the 9:30 am service.
Find out more about these services here.
Living in a world overshadowed by COVID-19 means we need to be flexible, so 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.
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 10.15 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.
He was born February 12 1809 in a Kentucky log cabin. His parents were poor, honest and devoutly religious. They lived enduring ideals of truth and honesty, and taught them to their son.
As a young man, he worked as a clerk in a general store near Salem, Illinois. One day, he inadvertently overcharged a woman six cents. After closing for the day, this conscientious clerk took the lady her change, a round trip of several miles on foot.
On another occasion, when there were more customers in the store than usual, the young man gave short weight to a customer. Upon discovering the error, at first opportunity he tied up the four ounces of tea due to the shopper and walked a great distance to deliver it.
The man, of course, was Abraham Lincoln, and he carried this same honesty into his law practice, politics, and ultimately the presidency of the United States. His character was so impeccable that he truly earned the nickname, ‘Honest Abe.’
‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.’ Matthew 5:8
Honesty earns respect from others and cultivates a close relationship with God. And a final word from another US president, Thomas Jefferson. ‘Honesty is the first chapter in the first book of wisdom.’
A traveling salesman was working in a rural area. One day he came upon a farmer sitting in a rocking chair on the porch of his rather rundown house. After introducing himself, he launched into his pitch, saying. ‘Sir, I have a book that’s worth its weight in gold. It describes how to farm your land ten times better than you’re doing now.’
The farmer continued to rock. Then, after a long pause, he said, ‘Young fella, I already know how to farm my land ten times better than I’m doing now. My problem isn’t knowing what to do. It’s doing it.’
Sins of omission (not doing what we ought) are as censurable as sins of commission (doing what we ought not to do).
‘Every wrong is sin….’ 1 John 5:17
Many of you will be reasonably familiar with the painting, ‘The Praying Hands,’ by Albrecht Durer as pictured below. Legend has it that Hans and Albrecht Durer, two French brothers from a large family whose father worked as a goldsmith, wanted to study painting. The only way they could afford to do so was for one of them to work in the mines while the other completed his studies. They then would change places.
So for four years, Albrecht went to Venice to study while his brother sent him the money he earned in the mines. At last, Albrecht returned, now a renowned artist. It was his turn to help his brother Hans. However, when the two brothers met, Albrecht discovered the full extent of the sacrifice Hans had made. His hands were calloused and bruised from four years of hard labour. His fingers would never be able to handle a painter’s brush.
In gratitude for the sacrifice his brother had made, Albrecht used the work-ridden hands of his brother as models for what became his renowned painting.
Sacrifice lies at the heart of the Easter message – surely self-explanatory. Sacrifice lies at the heart of giving. If there is no sacrifice involved, can we really call it giving? Giving lies at the heart of being a good person and also a long way to being a good Christian, along with faith, of course. Give, give, give, whether it be time, goods, money, a caring gesture, word or ear. It all amounts to love and compassion, and the world needs this in spades right now.
‘But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help, how can God’s love be in that person?’ 1 John 3:17