St Mary's Ten Year Anniversary

As you know I recently headed to London to fly the St Pauls Symonds Street flag at the St Mary’s ten year anniversary celebrations. I was really looking forward to going and seeing some old friends and telling some of the amazing stories of what God has been up to here at St Paul’s. As you know back in 2004, Bex and I and a team from St Mary’s came to St Pauls to replant the church at the invitation of Bishop John who was then the Bishop of Auckland.

I left Auckland and jumped on Air New Zealand (the best airline in the world) nearly three weeks ago. I anticipated watching at least twenty movies but actually just sat for most of the way staring mindlessly in to space having rushed around frantically packing and sorting out all of the loose ends that have to be sorted out on a trip like that.

I stayed a night with James and Janie Cronin and Chris Jones some of you will no doubt remember who were around in 2004. It was great to catch up with those guys and be back in my old flat (I lived with them from 1997 for a couple of years). They all send their love and are great form and James and Janie are due to come out in January next year.

On the Friday night, the St Mary’s crew had put together a fantastic party in a house in Little Venice for the church plant leaders and some of the key people who have supported St Mary’s over the years . A couple from St Mary’s called Hugh and Sinora hosted the evening and it was great to catch up with John and Jenny Peters and Barry and Mary Kissell again.

On Saturday night there was what can only be described as an amazing banquet at St Mary’s. All sorts of people who had been involved over the last decade were there.  It almost felt like a school reunion. I had not seen some of the people since the early Nineties and I found myself telling people how they had not changed. Sadly this was not reciprocated with more than one person telling me I looked smaller and balder. Richard Chartres the Bishop of London was there and he spoke incredibly well about the importance of blessing what God is doing. All in all it was a great night of celebration of all that has happened through St Mary’s over the last decade.

On the Sunday there were celebration services at St Mary’s. Andy and Emily came along as did Mary and so we had a little reunion which was fun. It was amazing to hear news from all of the churches that St Mary’s has planted over the years including The Exeter Network Church, “KXC” in Kings Cross London, River City Church Jacksonville, City Church Charlotte and The Garden Longbeach California.

I also managed to spend an afternoon with Rich Johnson who travelled down from Worcester. We had a coffee in the British Museum and swapped news. He sends his love to everyone and misses New Zealand enormously. He is doing some great stuff in All Saints Worcester and the church is going really well.

I also caught up with Graham Tomlin from St Melitus College, Simon Downham from St Pauls Hammersmith Simon Ponsonby from St Aldates Oxford Mark Melluish from St Pauls Ealing amongst others.

It is great to be back with Bex and the boys and all of you.

Change A Life

I hope you’ve had a great weekend. Wasn’t Mark Melluish’s ’s talk fantastic last Sunday? Call me bias, but I also thought Bex’s talk in the evening on how we can speak about Jesus was also really brilliant.

Don’t forget to invite as many people as possible to the Life Banquet tonight. It was so inspiring on Sunday morning to hear Ben and Laura’s story who came to faith on the Life Course last year and the extraordinary difference that Jesus has made in their lives. My promise stands firm, I will buy a meal for whoever brings along 20 guests or more and so get inviting! If you can think of nothing worse than having a meal with me then aim for 19!

I was away with Dino last week at a New Wine Leaders conference in Wellington where Mark was also speaking. It was a very inspiring time and a great opportunity to hear about what’s happening in Churches around New Zealand.

Also, whatever you do don’t forget to buy your mum some flowers this weekend! We are going to celebrate all mothers in style on Sunday.

What An Utterly Fantastic Easter!

I hope you had a fantastic Easter weekend.  It’s been great having Barry and Mary with us.

The Maundy Thursday supper was superb; it was really great getting everyone together across all services. It’s definitely an event we’ll be doing again. Mike Templeton’s testimony was my highlight at the Good Friday service, isn’t it incredible hearing how God changes lives? Also big congratulations to Mike and Sue on their recent engagement. Combining the morning services on Easter Day made for a jam-packed congregation but it was fantastic seeing so many people celebrating the resurrection. I loved Simeon’s drama too and lets be honest: Mary’s performance was worthy of an Oscar.

This week we have a midweek break but an event-filled weekend. Mary Kissell is speaking at our Sheer women’s event for Emerging Leaders on Friday 7pm in the Crypt and on Saturday from 10am-12am we will be joining in in more worship and ministry again in the crypt. Barry is leading our services on Sunday and Matheson Russell will be speaking at the 3:30pm.

Bex is away in the UK for 2 weeks for her sister’s wedding, please pray she has fantastic trip.

Easter Week/ Theyr'e Here! / Sheer Brilliance

Well I can’t believe that Lent is drawing to a close and Easter is nearly upon us!

As a church we have a great week planned as we remember the last week of Jesus’ life and celebrate his amazing resurrection from death back to life - the consequence of which has touched all of our lives.

Barry and Mary who are leading our services for us are finally here! Hooray! We’re thrilled to have them with us and weren’t yesterday’s services great?!  A real sense of God’s presence with us. Whatever you do don’t miss out on what they are going to be doing. Just in case you have not heard don’t forget the following:

Wednesday 4th April 7:30pm – This Wednesday Barry and Mary will be leading an evening focussing on worship and ministry in the Spirit

Thursday 5th April 6-8pm – Maundy Thursday supper with communion – a time of reflection, worship, communion and great food. $20 per person, sign-up by Tuesday 1pm here: http://www.stpauls.org.nz/Connecting/events/maundy_thursday_supper_rsvp.aspx

Friday 6th April 10am – Good Friday service that Barry will be leading. This is not suitable for children however there is a creche and activities for children downstairs.

Sunday 8th April 10am & 6:30pm – Easter Day – don’t forget that we will be having just one morning service at 10am although the 3.3opm and 6.30pm will be as normal.

Friday 13th April 7pm – Women in leadership, Mary will be running an evening focussing on women in all types of leadership

Saturday 14th April 10-12am – Worship and ministry in the Spirit

Sunday 15th April 9am, 11am and 6:30pm – Barry will be speaking at all three services

Phew! I think that’s about it! Please be praying for them and the church and please make them feel welcome during their stay with us.

I cannot sign off with out a big well done to Lou Grant and her team who organized Sheer. The word on the street is that this is the best women’s event that we have ever done as a church. And so be encouraged Lou and thank you for all of your hard work.

Welcome Barry and Mary

I don’t know about you but it definitely feels like this year is well and truly underway, there’s so much going on at church with the theology and ministry courses taking place and Easter is just around the corner.

However,  i’m really excited about Barry and Mary Kissell coming over from the UK to share with us. Barry, a kiwi is the Associate Rector and Mary runs the prayer and freedom courses at St. Mary’s, Bryanston Square. They have visited us before and we’re really looking forward to having them with us. They are arriving at the end of March.

Last week I was down near Wellington staying with Jenny and Justin Duckworth who lead ‘Urban Vision’. They share life with those who are struggling, homelsess, sick, poor neglected and otherwise marginalised. It was great to see faith being lived out in a different way and I really learnt a lot from their leadership and a real challenge to me as to how we at St. Pauls ‘do’ community.

Next week we have the AGM. Come and celebrate. I hope you’ll all be able to make it. It’s going to be great looking at all that’s taken place in the past year and our plans for the future.

And I am really hoping that the weather is going to be good for the “Big Day out” this Saturday. Don’t forget to check the website on Friday where we will confirm whether or not it is still on.

This weekend we are continuing out Lenten journey and I am going to be reflecting on what it means to worship…

Don't miss out / I won the iPad2 !!!

What a great Sunday last Sunday was!

Well done to Emma and the crew for leading us in worship and for all of you who took John Wesley’s advice so well to sing with great passion and thanksgiving to God.

It was great to hear from the Sundaes on Mondays cluster as well in the evening.

We are continuing our Lenten series this Sunday exploring the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt. Having thought about how we cope when some of our treasured dreams die last week, this week we are going to think about how to walk straight ahead and not go around and around in increasingly disheartening circles.

Now, whatever you do don’t miss out on the amazing Tuesday nights that are about to start on March 6th. These evenings will kick off with coffee and cake followed by times of worship. Then there are three different streams of courses on offer. The Story of the Bible with Andrew Shamy is going to be fantastic. Andrew is an amazing teacher and has a great knack of opening the bible in our contemporary context. Don’t miss out!

The Leadership Development Course that Richard is running is outstanding. If you want to discover how you are wired and what God is calling you to do whether for the first time or in this season of your life then this is the course for you.

Dino is running the Prayer Ministry Course. If you have never done this before do it! It is vital to the future of St Pauls that we all know how to pray for people. Dino, as you know is very gifted at this.

These are great nights to come to if you are new to the church and want to meet new people.

By the way, don’t worry I have not won the ipad2. If you don’t know what I am taking about we are taking a St Paul’s Census as we have a complete overhaul of the website and everyone who fills out the form ends up in the draw.

Have a great week.

Lenten Wilderness Wanderings

Happy “Shrove Tuesday” or “Pancake Tuesday” or “Mardi Gras” or whatever you call this day that falls the day before “Ash Wednesday”.

With Lent upon us (that 40 day period leading up to Easter not including Sundays) we will as a church be embarking on a series looking at the Israelite's journey out of Egypt and their time in the dessert from the book of Exodus. As you know, Lent is a time of reflection, repentance and preparation. Over the weeks we will be reflecting on who God is and what he has done in Christ with a view to preparing our hearts and minds to more effectively extend His kingdom together this year.

Newt has also prepared some fantastic Lentern resources based on the book of Jonah which I strongly recommend to you. They are available on the website on the home page.

I can’t wait to get home tonight and start munching pancakes with the boys and my lovely wife.

See you on Sunday.