Last Saturday over 100 ministry leaders from 20 Lower North Island CCCNZ/OBH churches gathered for the Regional Summit.
It was so good to have teams from The Lighthouse Church in Masterton (pictured below) and Heretaunga Christian Centre (Upper Hutt) joining us for the first time, what a joy to see your connections with churches and leaders across the region.
Last year, many leaders from the Hawke's Bay were busy caring for each other and their communities in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle. We were so grateful to see those who were able to travel over this year from Heretaunga Community Church, Onekawa Bible Church and Riverbend Bible Church, some of whom are pictured below.
In addition to these churches, we welcomed teams and individuals from Church on Ingestre, Church on Vogel, Church @ Cedarwood, Crossroads Church, Feilding Bible Chapel, Highland Home Christian Camp, Kingston Community Church, Onslow Community Church, Porirua Gospel Chapel, Queen Street Chapel, The Anchor Church, Tītahi Bay Community Church, Vivian Street Gospel Hall, Wainuiomata Gospel Church and York Street Chapel.
It’s so encouraging to hear what God is doing in and amongst your churches.
We loved hearing how God is drawing people from a variety of cultural backgrounds. For example, many South American families have joined Church on Ingestre in Whanganui, and a new South American women’s life group is starting at Crossroads in Palmerston North.
It was encouraging to hear about churches reaching out to their local communities. Church on Vogel in Palmerston North continues actively engaging its community with the good news of Jesus through The House Next Door ministry, and across town Kingston Community Church has just started a hub to connect with their surrounding community. It was great to hear that the two churches have been in touch to share info and learn from previous experience relating to community ministry.
I was deeply moved by the maturity and commitment of the volunteer ministry leaders present. Thanks so much for giving up a Saturday to be together.
Thank you to Anita and Nick Sigglekow from Feilding Bible Chapel for leading us in worship, and to Joel Birkin from Kingston Community Church for clearly pointing us to Jesus as we looked at Philippians 2.
Our vision is to see churches (and the regional campsites and national ministries that support them) working together to point people to Jesus through the gospel from the Scriptures.
I can’t wait to see the ways churches, ministries and camps will be working together in the lower North Island as a result of the weekend.
By Mark Grace, CCCNZ Ambassador
