We will be a thriving church, responding to God s grace and passionately living out our faith, wherever we live, work and play. Together we will work

Transcription

1 We will be a thriving church, responding to God s grace and passionately living out our faith, wherever we live, work and play. Together we will work alongside others to develop thriving communities, where people feel connected, known, loved and valued.

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3 Table of Contents Notice of AGM 2 Table of Contents 3 Leadership Report Highlights 8 Our Ministries 10 Our Ministry Team 11 Our Eldership Team 12 Stats at a Glance 13 Ministry Stories 14 Ministry Excerpts 15 Audited Accounts 16 Statement of Service Report Budget at a Glance 34 1x1=1,000 Challenge 35 Christmas Eve 2016 Adults 3

4 Leadership Report July 2016 June 2017 Leadership Report July June 2017 Vision: Our vision is for a thriving church and thriving communities. What does thriving look like? It is a vision for growth and health. It means dreaming big dreams with God and taking courageous steps to see these dreams come to fruition by God s power at work in us. This annual report will look at different areas of our church life and mission and whether we are thriving there. Worshipping God: Our whole life is to be an act of worship, but it is special when we gather together to worship God in one of our 5 church services (10am, 2pm, EPIC, FUEL and Coast Community). You will see from the statistics that overall attendance at worship is similar to last year. We thank all those who preach, lead music, show hospitality, pray, operate sound and visual technology, minister with our children, and carry out all the other activities needed for a healthy worshipping community. The relational strengths of FUEL, the afternoon tea after 2pm, and the small fellowship at Coast Community continue, as does the enthusiasm for the youth discipleship focus at EPIC. In October 2016 we surveyed the overall church health of our 10am congregation. Inspiring worship service scored lowest. We have prayed, talked with worship leaders and a range of others about creative steps into the future to see the inspiration levels grow. A new pre-worship gathering at 9am sought to prepare our hearts for worshipping God, as well as encouraging each other in following Jesus generally. It will be fascinating to see where God leads us with this service. In February we focused on God s generosity to us and our response of being generous with our time, talents and spiritual gifts, and our money. We called this church-wide series Abundant Generosity. In June, with the help of James Beck from the parenting centre we tackled the challenging topic of Following Jesus in a Digital Age. Sunday morning, EPIC and a workshop for parents looked at this topic from a positive Christian worldview of having Life to the Full and developed strategies for internet safety, smart phones, social media, etc. Responsibility for 2pm was transferred to Seb and Joy took over exploring new fresh expressions of church which will reach people who don t currently come to church. With help from Heather and a range of other people, Joy is leading our steps toward our next fresh expression. Always looking for opportunities to serve 4

5 Reaching new people with the good news: Coming back from study leave, Martin launched 1x1=1000. This is a bold vision for God multiplying what each of us does to impact the Taieri and beyond. It aims to inspire us and lift our eyes to the possibilities God has for us. One application of 1x1=1000 was growing our Alpha Dinner. We aimed to invite 500 people, recognising that many might say No thanks. This meant developing our culture of invitation to the point where everyone could invite at least one person. In May we ran The Alpha Experience as a 10am service, giving people a taste of the new Alpha Film series, so they would know what they were inviting people to. Apologist Ravi Zacharias and team visited Dunedin in February/March including one of the largest Christian gatherings in Dunedin for many years held in the Forsyth Barr Stadium. Invitational Culture: Christmas Eve is one key time East Taieri members invite their friends and neighbours to an introductory Christian event. Alpha is another setting, and this Easter a creative and thought provoking Easter Unwrapped display was set up in the Hub. Pastoral Care: We have continued our approach of having pastoral care through life groups, and through a pastoral care team, with crisis visits as required. Pastoral care and worship services were provided in rest homes and retirement villages. Thriving Communities: A whole range of community engagement contributed to our vision of working alongside others to develop thriving communities and continued to develop our credibility and reputation in the community. This activity was both formal involvement as a church, and individual church members living out their faith. It included: providing assistance with refugee settlement, Business Breakfasts at Aurora Café, our mid-winter lunch for seniors, Neighbours Day events, Chaplaincy in schools, prison ministry team, exploration of the need for a community hub, strong leadership and engagement in the Mosgiel Resource Group, working with the RSA to provide Christmas Day Lunch for around 100 people, and a significant role in developing the new Emergency Response Plan for the Taieri area. Our focus on parenting led us to train 10 toolbox facilitators and run 2 parenting toolbox courses. Holiday programmes at the Hub are gaining momentum and connecting with new children and families, some from our Mainly Music ministries or Sugar & Spice (craft group for girls). The Hard Questions Café was established providing a space for people to talk over hard questions of life and faith. Jenny Begg finished up with Turning Point Christian Counselling to focus on other areas of interest and Joc Phiskie moved to Christchurch. We were pleased to welcome two new counsellors Elaine Gough and Deborah Taylor. Grief care counselling was established in partnership with Campbell & Sons Funeral Services. Fresh Expressions We have continued to explore new kinds of church that will connect with people who don t currently come to church. FUEL is going well in Fairfield. At East Taieri, we are seeking to connect more with families from Sugar & Spice. Ministry Conference 2017 Your Prayer for Life 5

6 Staff Ministry Team: We have an excellent staff team who give leadership and support to enable the whole people of God in our church to carry out their mission. This year saw big changes in our youth team. Youth Director, Jeremy Selfe accepted a call to be assistant pastor at North Porirua Baptist Church. Part-time Youth Worker, Roger Larsen-Hewitt moved to Christchurch to begin a social work degree (and be closer to girlfriend, now fiancée Kate), Part-time Youth Worker Carolyn Drinkwater moved to a tertiary student focus with Dunedin Elim. We prayed. We advertised. We talked to people. Thankfully God provided two new full-time youth workers for us in Caleb Griffith and Carl Aarsen. Nathanael Stock has continued his youth internship with us. Mission Facilities Group: As communicated to the congregation in December we see the East Taieri facilities being developed to cater for growth: A bigger worship space that allows for growth and caters well for our large events (500 seat auditorium) A space that better allows for more flexible, vibrant, creative worship. Facilities that serve our mission to all ages, especially the needs of children and families. Spaces that are welcoming, hospitable and attractive to people and our community. Good spaces for the many mid-week activities of our church. We are seeking God and consulting well to discern the way forward. We do know we will need to use our existing assets in creative enterprises to raise capital and generate ongoing income to achieve this vision. We began a helpful mentoring relationship with James Palmer from Christian Savings which is helping us consider how we can be better stewards of our assets. We have begun exploring potential partnerships and missional enterprises. Work has been carried out to subdivide the Fairfield Manse from the church site so it could be sold if the congregation decided to do so. We imagine a staged facilities development plan over a number of years, including addressing our earthquake prone buildings. Various projects were completed around our buildings to maintain and enhance their usefulness for God s mission: the family corner in the back left of the church was extended, a new monitor was installed in the church, faster fibre internet connected with wireless access points, computers in the Church and Oak were upgraded with faster (second hand) computers, the entrance driveway was redesigned and a new lawnmower was purchased for ET, At FUEL a new dishwasher was installed, the hot water cylinder replaced, the Rheem Zip in kitchen was replaced. At Coast Community Church the ceilings were fixed. Resourcing our Mission: The funding environment has been difficult with fewer funds available through grants for our community ministries. We experimented with contracting a funding manager. Wider Regional Work: We continue involvement in Southern Presbytery, General Assembly, and cooperating with other churches through pastors prayer meetings and combined events in Mosgiel and Dunedin. Martin continues as Interim Moderator for the Maungatua Parish (Outram and Middlemarch). Our South Island Ministry Conference was excellent and attended by 140 people, with keynote speaker Geoff New, and a range of good workshops. Global Missions: East Taieri has a global outlook and this year a team of young people spent two weeks in Vanuatu serving alongside people of Tanna Island. Tim and Beatrice Davis attended the 3DMission training school in Riversdale and went on mission outreach with the team to Tonga. We continued our support of missionaries in Malawi, Egypt and Thailand and had them speak while they were in NZ, updating us on their work. FUEL Breakfast Café Church in Fairfield Coast Community Ocean View 6

7 Finally we want to thank and honour the whole people of God who serve through East Taieri Church in a multitude of ways. You are amazing! We thank the elders, treasurer, property and finance committee and Saddle Hill Foundation Trustees for their formal work as office bearers in governance and management. Special thanks to Jane Wilden as she steps down from elders after many years of service. Thank you to the ministry team for faithful, committed work, showing their passion for Jesus. We give thanks to God for grace and power sufficient to thrive even in the challenging times we face. Martin Macaulay (Senior Pastor) Michelle Dean (Chair of Elders) Easter Unwrapped 7

8 Highlights It is no small feat to hold 5 different Sunday services where a whole range of people can gather to worship God. The Hard Questions Café was launched, offering a setting where people can talk over the hard issues of faith. East Taieri people assisted with Syrian refugees as they settled into their new home. FUEL continued to provide a highly relational worship space and engaged their community through a quiz night and planning another Barn dance for later Global Mission: A team of young people went on short term mission to Vanuatu in July, serving alongside people on Tanna Island. We launched 1x1=1000. A bold vision to reach many new people with the good news of Jesus. We carried out a Natural Church Development Church Health Survey for our 10am congregation and sought to learn from the results about inspiring worship. A community building Neighbours Day Event was run at East Taieri School. The prison ministry team held monthly services and introduced seasons of growth. Our community were invited to another excellent Christmas Eve. 812 attended. Christmas Dinner #6 was held in the RSA in partnership with the RSA, 77 adults and 4 children attended. God was faithful in raising up Caleb Griffith and Carl Aarsen as our new youth workers to pick up the baton from Jeremy Selfe, Roger Larsen-Hewitt and Carolyn Drinkwater as they were called on to new ministries. After saying farewell to counsellors Jenny Begg and Jocelyn Phiskie who moved to other things, Turning Point Christian Counselling appointed Elaine Gough and Deborah Taylor as new counsellors. 8

9 Highlights We contributed to leadership of the Dunedin visit of apologist Ravi Zacharias and his international ministry team, including thousands of people attending the Stadium event, many events on the University campus, and civic, business and community leaders attending breakfast events We wrote the Abundant Generosity series which challenged us to respond to God s generosity by being generous with our time, spiritual gifts and abilities, and money. Lots of creative people prepared the Easter Unwrapped display in the Hub for people to walk through, see and experience what Easter is all about. Alpha was inspired by 1x1=1000 to pray for 75 guests at the Alpha Dinner. We created the Alpha Experience in May so church people could experience what the new Film Series and the Alpha Dinner is like and so have confidence inviting people. Good leadership and networking at the Mosgiel Resource Group contributed to making Mosgiel a thriving community. It led to many referrals coming to East Taieri Church. The need for a community hub was explored. 140 people were refreshed and equipped through another great South Island Ministry Conference with Geoff New as keynote speaker. We faced up to the challenges of following Jesus in a digital age by addressing technology, cyber bullying, internet safety, pornography, etc, in our Life to the Full series with James Beck from the Parenting Place. The Mission Facilities Group compiled a brief for an architect to develop a master plan for future facilities development. They also began exploring potential partnerships and missional enterprises to generate capital and ongoing income to fund mission. Prayer occurs in a whole range of settings but one highlight has been the growing Thursday Prayer Breakfast. 9

10 Our Ministries Some of the ways we contribute to thriving church and thriving communities: FUEL playgroup Go Girls, Sugar & Spice Chaplaincy at Taieri College & Outram Schools Bible in Schools Mainly Music x 3 Youth Programmes: Ground Zero Summit R@ndom Plunge Challenge Dynamyte Community Garden Turning Point Counselling Alpha EPIC Global Missions Mid-winter dinner Hard Questions Cafe Friendship Network Business Breakfasts Parenting Course Mission Fellowship Kids Holiday Hub Painting Class Prison Ministry Kidzown & Pitstop Hospitality team Flower team Catering Team Craft Group at FUEL Fairfield Playgroup Wired 2 Serve Choir ET Cares Meals and Firewood One Only Group Pastoral Visitors Team Music Team Christmas RSA Lunch Prayer Ministry Lifegroups Marriage Preparation Courses Neighbourhood Events Services & Chaplaincy in Rest Homes & Retirement Villages 10

11 Our Ministry Team Louise Jamieson Martin Macaulay Senior Pastor Full Time Provides overall leadership of the mission and ministry of East Taieri Church Sebastian Murrihy Associate Pastor Full Time Gives leadership for the FUEL congregation, pastoral care and Fresh Expressions of Church Joy Davis Community Facilitator Full Time Builds relationships and partnerships in the community and gives leadership for the 2pm congregation Leeanne McKinlay Parish Manager Full Time Responsible for day to day management of staff, buildings and operations Pam Grant Pastoral Assistant 10 hours per week Leads the team which welcomes and incorporates newcomers and is active on the pastoral care team Jo Thorn Admin Assistant 20 hours per week Covers reception and handles church communications bulletins, website, s etc Louise Jamieson Finance Assistant 15 hours per week Looks after the finances of the church, along with the Treasurer Heather Moore Fresh Expression Children & Families Worker 20 hours per week Responsible for building relationships with new children and families not currently involved in church Youth Team: Caleb Griffith Carl Aarsen Nathanael Stock 11

12 Our Eldership Team Left to Right Martin Macaulay, Michelle Dean, John Cleland, Jackie Dickison, Robert Whyte Absent: Greg Hall, Lyndon Jones, Lisa Wells Lyndon Jones Greg Hall Lisa Wells 12

13 Stats at a Glance Average Weekly Worship Attendance 54 Weekly Services Believers Baptisms Youth Contacts per week Leaders at Ministry Conference Counselling Appointments Hospitality is a big part of who we are 13

14 Ministry Stories RSA Christmas Lunch 14

15 Encouraging Excerpts I felt I met with God in a very personal way Well organised and catered for I m inspired to delight in the word Really appreciate the hospitality Where else would we get the chance to network with everyone from local MP s to social workers, farmers and real estate agents. Youth Mission Trip to Vanuatu July

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29 Statement of Service Report East Taieri Church Performance Report for the year ended 30 June 2017 Entity Information (from the PCANZ Book of Order) East Taieri Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ) established under the PCANZ Book of Order dated 29 September 2006, as amended in October 2008, October 2010, October 2012 and November As part of the one holy, catholic and apostolic church, the PCANZ shares in the wider church of Jesus Christ throughout the world and is committed to sharing in God s mission to the world, and seeking to announce, with the promised guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, the good news of God s transforming love in Jesus Christ. East Taieri Mission Statement The stated purpose of East Taieri Church is to be: One people in mission for God s glory, growing in Christ and making Him known in love through word, sign and deed, because all people matter to God. East Taieri Vision Statement We will be a thriving church, responding to God s grace and passionately living out our faith, wherever we live, work and play. Together we will work alongside others to develop thriving communities where people feel connected, known, loved and valued. Activities Undertaken East Taieri Church consists of people from the Mosgiel and wider Taieri/Dunedin region who: gather to worship God; participate in God s mission to local communities and to the world; provide pastoral care for one another and the wider community; grow in faith and help others come to faith through a range of groups and programmes; communicate their mission and ministries well within the church and the wider community; and support this mission by providing appropriate and high quality facilities used by the congregation and the wider community. East Taieri Church seeks to love and serve others in local communities by connecting in active partnerships with a wide range of social service agencies and community organisations; caring for physical, emotional, spiritual and social needs and fostering community development. 29

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33 Budget at a Glance Our vision for a thriving church and thriving communities means we want to continue key existing ministries, as well as taking new exciting mission steps. We also want to ensure the facilities needed for God s mission here are in good condition. This document summarises our budget which is our prayerful plan for allocating resources to different parts of God s mission. It was prepared by the Property and Finance Workgroup in consultation with staff and other key leaders. It has been approved by elders, and we will bring it to the Annual Meeting for ratification. What are we aiming to do? Mission Facilities: Ensure our worship spaces are clean, well-maintained and well-resourced with audio visual, music and other equipment. Keep people safe in and around all of our facilities which requires some finances to be directed into the area of maintenance and health and safety. Global Missions: Support the work of our existing missionary families in Thailand, Malawi and Egypt. Support of a new project in Onga, Malawi and keep the profile of global mission high. Community Ministries: Enhance our engagement in the community by increasing our commitment and meeting at least 33% of the cost of the Community Facilitator role. Provide leadership support and well-maintained facilities for programmes and events that engage our community such as Alpha, mid-winter Seniors Lunch, RSA Christmas Lunch, Quiz nights, Neighbourhood events, Turning Point Christian Counselling, community engaging church services, Parenting Events and courses, Business Breakfasts, painting classes, and programmes which are led by volunteers ET Cares, Sugar and Spice, Go Girls, mainly music. Provide $50,000 contribution to Saddle Hill Foundation Trust s resourcing of Youth East Taieri s church and community youth programmes including: Ground Zero, Summit, School Chaplaincy, Challenge, R@NDM, Dynamyte, Plunge, Get Real, and EPIC. Discipleship and Evangelism: Provide leadership and resources for five different worshipping congregations (FUEL, 10am, Coast Community Church, 2pm and EPIC), and offer pastoral care to people. Provide for our Alpha Dinner and the Alpha Course, enabling people to hear the gospel message and commit their lives to Christ. Alpha also develops and trains new leadership. Provide for further steps to be taken towards starting a new Fresh Expression of Church, aiming to reach people who are already involved with some of our community facing ministries like Mainly Music, Sugar and Spice, and the Holiday Hub. Some relationship building events will be run this year. We will provide training and equipping for congregation members in a whole range of areas from leadership to sharing their faith to help with the new fresh expression of church. Provide for the equipping of congregation members to follow on from the success of the Easter Unwrapped display and run a similar sort of event in a pop up shop in the Main Street of Mosgiel before Easter

34 Budget at a Glance How will we Fund this? We are confident that our generous God will provide the resources necessary as he has given every member of the church family enough money, time and skills to contribute their share towards the mission of God on the Taieri. Our vision to be a thriving church also means being a growing church with more people joining in this mission. The majority of our funds come from Sunday giving. We are budgeting for a 5% increase in actual giving. Last year we achieved a 3.8% increase. A further 6.5% increase an overall increase of 11.5% would be needed to cover the deficit. Elders have agreed to release reserves to support the budget rather than reduce our mission activity by reducing staff or mission projects. Our staff have a key role in enabling mission. In addition to Sunday giving we receive funding from a variety of grants for our community work and other ministry. We are budgeting for $55,350 from grant funding toward the community projects described above, which is in addition to the grants the Saddle Hill Foundation Trust obtains for youth work. Please take the time to familiarise yourself with this budget update and to reflect and pray about whether you are able to increase your automatic payment or regular envelope giving. We want to be ambitious for the Kingdom, but we can only do it together and with God s blessing. We are thankful for God s provision to us, and acknowledge with thanks the generous financial support our church has received. God is generous to us so we can be generous to others. Above all please pray for God s leading and provision as we go about God s mission, remembering that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us! (Eph 3:20) Michelle Dean (Chair of Elders) Martin Macaulay (Senior Pastor) 34

35 1x1=1,000 At our Annual Meeting last year we were challenged to dream big God-inspired dreams. A number of people voiced their dreams or wrote them down. We have celebrated progress toward some of the dreams being fulfilled. How will we make further progress? First we are utterly dependent on God, so we pray. Second, some things require bold initiatives from me and other leaders, and we are fully committed to that. Most importantly however is the action each Christian takes which God magnificently multiplies. This is the vision of 1x1=1000. It is putting into practice Jesus teaching about how the Kingdom of God grows from small beginnings like a mustard seed, and spreads like a little yeast working through all the dough. (Matt 13:31-33). 1x1=1000 challenges us in the year ahead to: Grow our Invitational Culture Courageously share hospitality and your faith with another person. Invite them to explore more of God, faith and new life. When they trust in Christ, help them tell others so the multiplying occurs. The Alpha Course is one key, tried and proven way we can do this. Grow Leaders Leaders are people who can influence others. Growing churches develop leaders, not just followers. Who can you mentor and encourage to grow in their ability to influence others, build a team, and lead something? Grow our Mission Resourcing We want to use our existing church assets and resources in missional and business enterprises to raise capital and generate ongoing income to achieve our vision. This is putting into practice Jesus teaching on being good stewards so that we multiply the money and assets God has given us. (Matt 25:14-30) This will be led by elders, mission facilities group and other leaders, but we will also need creative, entrepreneurial people to develop and lead particular projects, and practical people to make things happen. Grow Thriving Communities You might be involved in a project led by East Taieri Church such as the seniors mid-winter lunch; or a community led project such as the new aquatic facility for Mosgiel; or something you do yourself to get to know your neighbours. God can multiply one Christian s contribution until hundreds of people feel connected, known, loved and valued! 35