Richard and Karina Mulvad would like to invite our East whānau over for lunch on Sunday 22nd October - everyone is welcome!
The address is 37B Puriri Street, Miramar (end of the driveway). People can just head over straight after the service and Richard and Karina will get lunch ready for around 1pm. No need to bring anything at all - and the lunch is for anyone who's keen to get to know each other better and share a meal. If anyone needs a lift, let us know, and we'll try and organise that.
We are very excited to let you know that we have now also appointed Location Pastors for Porirua. Please watch this video to hear Simon and Jenny share the news.
To celebrate being in our new venue, please bring some kai to share and stay for lunch after the service on Sunday 15th October!
From 15th October we will no longer be meeting at 56 Hobart St, but instead will be in the chapel at St Patrick’s College in Kilbirnie. A new venue always takes a bit of getting used to so give yourself some extra time to get there and please let’s have lots of grace with one another while we iron out any wrinkles!
Due to being in a new venue there are some things to be aware of:
Father Crawford and the leadership team of St Pat’s have been very kind to allow us to use their chapel. The altar (the large table on the stage) is a special part of the chapel and we mustn’t place anything on it. If you have children, please keep them away from the stage area, thank you.
There is no food or drink allowed in the chapel
We are no longer in any hurry to get out of the building after a service so we will return to having morning tea after the service instead of before. We will have this in the staff room (there will be signs to point the way!)
Kids Zone School-Age will be in one of the nearby classrooms, and Kids Zone Pre-School will be in the Staff Room for their programmes. The check in area will be by the chapel for you to check your kids in when you arrive.
There is parking onsite and you can find photos and instructions for how to get there in this information sheet.
It's go time! We are so excited to welcome our first refugee to Wellington in the coming weeks,
Thank you so much for your generosity over the last week - you have so generously donated almost the full $10,000 we were hoping to raise in order to support these men when they arrive in New Zealand. If you’d still like to contribute by purchasing items for the house you can find a list of items needed here. (please purchase and then drop off to The Life Centre during office hours). If you have any questions please contact Jerram.Watts@thestreet.org.nz
Sunday 8th is our last Sunday in this venue, and we need to clear it out of all of our things. We need help, please!
We have a van, but we will need people to help clear things out of our cupboards and load them into the van. We also need people who can go and help unload it at Hania Street. We think we should be able to do it in two trips, or maybe less if we have some cars that can help too.
We will also need help on 15th October to move what we need into St Pat’s College, where we will gather until Term 1 next year.
There will be a sign-up sheet at the service on Sunday 1st October - if you can help on either/both dates, please add your name to the sheet. Or you can email me at east@thestreet.org.nz to let me know.
Over the past years, we have been chipping away at a series called "Pillars", where we look at some core doctrines of the church. We've looked at the Bible itself in our Bestseller series, as well as the doctrine of the church. Last year, we did Origins, and now we begin our next instalment looking at Salvation.
Check out this short promo video from our Teaching Director, Jerram, on what to expect in this next series.
Our last Sunday in Miramar Uniting will be Sunday 8th October. We are so thankful to God that we have just this week been able to confirm St Pat’s College as our new venue which we will use up until the start of term 1 next year!
We still plan to try and secure Miramar Central School from term 1 next year and we will keep you updated about those negotiations. Jenny will meet with the Principal again in October.
Due to three of our team recently becoming unavailable for various reasons, we’re keen to bolster this team. Caitlin will be shoulder-tapping some people, but if this is a way you think you might be able to contribute to our Sunday services, please get in touch with Caitlin to find out more: caitlin.ormiston@thestreet.org.nz
Next Sunday we have the CEO of Christians Against Poverty; Sam Garaway, coming to help us celebrate 10 years of our CAP Debt Centre. He will be speaking live at East and we will be celebrating the impact of CAP in our city, and also hearing how we can support this incredible ministry. We hope to see you there!
For CAP Sunday next week, we’d love to have a cake to help us celebrate this 10-year anniversary. If you love to bake and would be willing to make a simple cake to help us celebrate, please email east@thestreet.org.nz.
Missions is a big part of who we are as a church. We love to support missionaries who have answered a call to go out and make disciples full-time. One of the missionaries we support is Sally Hong who is serving as a full-time missionary with Student LIfe and Tandem Ministries to reach university campuses across New Zealand with the Gospel. Sally is based on Victoria University campus, where she shares the Gospel, disciples students and equips them to take part in the great commission. Please be praying for her in the following ways:
For more students to have a desire to share Jesus with those around them. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few”
Summer Missions trips - to Auckland, Nelson, and Sally is leading an overseas trip to Thailand. Pray for Sally as she leads that trip, that students in Thailand would come to know Jesus.
Ben Edwards—Youth and Families Pastor at Gateway Baptist—has helped Miramar Christian School organise a fair early in term 4 for the last few years. It is an opportunity for children and families from the local community to have a fun day, and it’s also a chance to promote the school and raise some funds. This year’s event is on Saturday, 4 November.
Another goal is for the Fair to be an opportunity for the churches in the area to bless the community by putting on a fun, quality event to demonstrate our creativity, skills, passions, and love for others. Ben would like to know if anyone in our church would like to get involved in some way.
There are lots of ways you could help:
Set up and pack down.
Running games and activities or welcoming.
Putting on an activity of your choosing - live music, face painting, outdoor games.
Donations to the silent auction or a cake for the cafe.
Run a stall selling crafts or goods (there would be a small cost to do this).
Helping promote the event with letterbox drops.
Pray for good weather and that people would be blessed and connections made.
If you would like to help with any of these things, please contact Ben by 22 September at youth@gatewaybaptist.org.nz or 022 401 5720.
Karina Mulvad Cole from East works for an organisation called “Hapai Taumaha Hapūtanga” or “Crisis Pregnancy Support” and she would like to invite you to an evening to find out more about their valuable work:
Thursday 28th September at 6pm
Willis Room at Life Centre, 21 Hania Street, Mt. Victoria, Wellington
“We would be delighted if you would come and learn more about our organisation, the work we do, and ways you can support our Vision. During the event, we will provide an overview of Hapai Taumaha Hapūtanga and our mission to help women facing crisis pregnancies in the Wellington and Lower Hutt region. Refreshments in the form of canapés and drinks will be available throughout the evening. We kindly request you to RSVP by September 22nd to lowerhutt@crisispregnancysupport.org.nz”
Hopefully, you are aware by now that we have been asked to find a new venue for our Sunday services, and our last service at Miramar Uniting will be on Sunday 8th, October. We have approached Miramar Central School, but their hall has work being done on it, which means it isn’t available until February next year. It could potentially be a solution next year though. Please pray over the continuing conversations with the Principal about that.
In the meantime, we are continuing to make enquiries with all the potential venues we can think of, but please do let us know if you have a helpful connection anywhere. And keep praying! We’re trusting that the Lord will come through for us like he always has done before.
Caitlin moved here from the UK to work for Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship which is an organisation that supports students to share the Gospel with fellow students and help them explore their faith. Caitlin is part of our East Leadership Team and a special part of our East Location. Check out the video to hear her update and please be praying for her as she serves the Lord in this way.
Over the last month, you’ll have heard about our good friend and gifted speaker, Brad Carr, coming to share his Panorama Bible Seminar on Saturday, 16th Sep. Brad will also be with us on Sunday the 17th to open the Word and teach us on the important topic of “When We Feel Inadequate”. We are so grateful to have him share his heart and understanding with us. Registrations close for Panorama on 7th Sep, so register via the APP today.
Watch a short message from Brad about what he’ll be talking about that weekend. Click here.
We want to be a church constantly learning to love one another like Jesus has loved us. This is the hallmark of Christian community. In fact, the term ‘one another’ comes up around 60 times in the New Testament so it’s an important theme we’ll continue to revisit again and again. Loving like Jesus loved us can’t be practised if church is just an event on Sunday. This has to go deeper than simply a shared faith. This can only be worked out in the intimacy, joy, and mess of real church community. In this series we begin the journey by looking at three areas that need to be informed by a sacrificial love for one another: hospitality, conflict and singleness. Join us from 27th August for this important new series.
Our missionary couple in Mexico, Rachel Duff and Nelson Carreño need to increase their financial support for the coming year. This is for a number of reasons, for instance, the exchange rate has dropped by 20% since 2019, which has had a big impact on Rachel's budget. Their living costs have increased with them now shared between 2 people, not a group of flatmates as previously. Also, all outreach expenses are covered by Rachel and Nelson themselves. Rach is involved with the Medical Ship ministries and when the ship is deployed, it costs her up to USD$20 per day for ten-day voyages.
If this is something you would like to do, either as a one-off or as regular support, get in touch with Merrie at missions@thestreet.org.nz and she can pass on the details for GC3, who manage their funds in NZ.
Hopefully you’ve caught up with the news that we will lose the use of the Miramar Uniting Building after 8th October this year. We have begun to make various enquiries and don’t have anything to report so far. Please keep praying for this process that the Lord would provide the right place for the next season for us as a Location.
