MESSAGE FROM THE PASTOR
A king's dream

Thank you all for your participation in the AGM last Sunday. A special thank you goes to everyone who had to write a report or present during the AGM. I hope that all of us have had a chance to understand what happens behind the scenes and what we are involved in as an organisation. Thank you for the support that you have all shown the Elder’s team, as well as our two youth workers.

Before the AGM, in the service, we finally had the opportunity to read Daniel 1. We said that if the devil can get us to doubt God and trust in our own inner intuition as an accurate compass for a good life, he has us where he wants us. Because, ironically, sin sabotages our capacity for happiness by appealing to our God-given ideas for happiness via deceptive ideas. That’s why having resolve is not enough. So, the definitions of resilience we had were:

• Resilience means making difficult choices wisely (with wisdom).

• Resilience is also intentionally pushing back on the ideas of happiness and fulfilment that the world gives us that are apart from God.

Such a poignant text reminds us that those who have gone before us, the fathers of faith, were faced with difficult situations and had to make tough decisions. A blueprint for us to do the same in a world that presents us with not only good vs bad decisions but also good and desirable decisions that lead us down a path that leads us away from God's plan.

This coming Sunday…

The world is in turmoil at the moment. There is so much distraction and death for us to take in and try to process. The biggest ones are the war in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. These, we thought, would be blips in the system, and they would be sorted, and life would be “back to normal”. This, however, seems to be the new normal.  

Daniel and his three friends found themselves in trouble because the king had a dream regarding the future. This had troubled him enough to consult his officials, who were unable to help because the king wanted them to tell him the dream and its interpretation, or they would be killed. The four were part of that delegation. 

• What was the dream, and how did it impact them?

• What was their response when they were faced with this life-or-death situation?

Join us this Sunday as we find out.

Have a resilient week, Mato.

COMMUNITY

Changes are coming…

It has been such a joy to watch our children during the services but also during their programmes. Due to growth and different dynamics and age groups, we have had to pause and plan for the future. So our amazing children’s ministry leaders met and some exciting new plans for our children’s church were made, which also affects our adults' service as well. Details coming soon.

Help us move church around

If you are free around 9am on Saturday, we would appreciate any volunteers coming down to HCC to help us shift the church building around. We will be moving things around to make things more family/parenting friendly.

More resources needed for kids

If you have any spare items to help us grow our kids' church, such as Lego, Duplo, games or toys, please get in touch with Margaret or Kirsten. Or if anyone can help us with the storage or transporting of these resources (boxes or containers to keep things in) as we look to be more portable to wherever we hold kids' church on the day.

Recapping BNO

We had an impactful time last Thursday at the Big Night Out. The biggest highlight was bringing together the three youth programmes we run. Our Thursday night group, Friday afternoon connections programmes and The Cashmere Project. The youth were very good at inviting their friends to this event. Please pray that we can build on that momentum and continue seeing growth, both in depth and numbers, for our youth group.

Coming up these last two weeks of term…

Thursday 19th – City Centre Chronicles – What happens in the city?

Thursday 26th – Bowling to end the term. (Need some money for this)

Please pray for our youth leaders as they continue leading this group of amazing young people.

COMMUNITY

Bishop Oscar and other upcoming events

On the last week of June, we have the Nairobi Chapel Bishop visiting us. For those who are unfamiliar with the Nairobi Chapel, this is the church I was in before moving to NZ, and Bishop Oscar ordained me as Reverend. We will also have an evening with Bishop Oscar on Saturday 28th June at the Vicarage from 6:30 pm (please note the change of time) that I would like to invite as many of you along to this as possible.

GIVING

If you would like to contribute to HCC

Here are the new banking details.

You can make a donation to:

Halswell Community Church

Account: 06-0601-0867216-00

Ref: Tithes/offering

Particulars: Your Name