So here we are, one month away from our first preview service. Our website will be up soon, we have a logo, we have a venue secured, we have a service planned, we have begun marketing and we have people that we hope to invite.

This is the face of rechurch in Christchurch, New Zealand. Soon this logo will be all around the north east side of the city and hopefully it will direct people to our church or at least to start exploring what this ‘rechurch’ is all about.

Even though you are on the other side of the world there are a couple of things you can do to help us.

Keep praying- Our service next month officially kicks off  he beginning of rechurch. We are looking to build a launch team using our monthly services as a way to do that. Please pray that God will send people to our church who want to join us in our vision to help start a healthy and relevant new church.

Visit our website- rethinkchurch.co.nz We are trying to get a lot of hits on our website so that it is one of the first things that comes up when people are searching for a church in Christchurch. We have purchased the domain, but the website is still being designed. Please keep in mind that when you visit our website, a page has been displayed by FreeParking as a place holder until our page is designed. The content on this page has nothing to do with our church at the moment, but any visits to this page will increase our hits. You might even want to think about setting it as your homepage. 

 

Set up at The Fox

Last Sunday we had the opportunity to do a mock-set up and The Fox & Ferret, the venue that is looking the most certain for our preview services. We were able to go in to the restaurant before it opened and move everything around to what we thought looked okay for a church service. We were surprised by how much space we were able to make by clearing out all of the tables and setting up rows of chairs. 

Nate and Joe up front discussing plans 

                A veiw from the front/stage area

     A view from the balcony with Hamish and Laney up front

We are very excited about the potential of using this venue for our preview services that start next month. Please pray with us as we begin to negotiate the price and begin advertising for our first service! 

Lately

A Couple of weeks ago, we asked you to pray about our venue selection. As we have continued to research venue options, some doors have been closed, and we are now focusing on our final two possibilities. One is a popular restaurant, and the other is a movie theatre. Both are located at e Palms Shopping Centre, which is a hub for shopping and entertainment in northeast Christchurch. Both options present challenges as well as opportunities. Please continue to pray that God will lead us to the right venue through which we will introduce ourselves to the community.

It has also been cool to watch our staff members begin to work in their area of 'expertise' as we prepare to start meeting. As Outreach Minister at Rechurch, Joe  has been helping the Rechurch staff develop their personal evangelism strategies, as well as helping to provide encouragement and accountability. e staff is also going to be working together to get some practice in having spiritual conversations. e goal of this is to create a safe environment where each staff member will be able to build some confidence in this area, so that when opportunities arise, each person will already have an idea of how they want to share their personal perspective on

faith.

Building bridges isn’t easy. It takes planning, research, and extensive knowledge of the laws of physics. Fortunately, building relationships with non-christians doesn’t require physics, but it does require a lot of prayer and a bit of confidence. Practice helps. Talk with your Christian friends about ways to take everyday conversations with your non-christian coworkers, friends, and family to the next “level.” Practice with each other. Afraid you’ll feel silly? Of course you will! But what you’ll gain is an important dose of confidence that will encourage you to capitalize on opportunities as they present themselves.

“Always be prepared to given an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have...”

1 Peter 3:15

Just in Time for Term Three

Some of you may remember that it was about this time last year that my qualifications for teaching in New Zealand were approved and I was able to begin teaching. I had a great time relieving (or subbing) in a couple of primary schools in Auckland. When we got to Christchurch I went into a couple of schools to try to relieve, but I was unable to due to my registration. 

Apparently, after your qualifications are assessed, you are still unable to teach until you get registered with the Teacher's Council of New Zealand. For some reason, my information slipped through the cracks! I begin teaching in Auckland without being registered. Upon realising this, (after not being able to teach in Christchurch) I called the Teacher's Council to find out  what I needed to do. They also were surprised that I was not registered as they had all of my information on file. So in May, I began the process of getting registered with the Teacher's Council so that I could teach - legally!  

The students just finished their two weeks of winter break and started back to school today for term three. My registration came just in time as I received it in the mail on Friday. I was able to go into schools today and put my name on the list to relieve. 

I am looking forward to teaching in Christchurch and I am praying that God will use this opportunity to help me meet people in the community. 

Earthquake!

Thank you for your concern for us! Apparently the earthquake last night in New Zealand made world wide news. To read more about it (from New Zealand news) click here. 

Though it was a large quake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, we did not feel any movement. We live in the Canterbury region and the earthquake hit in Southland (which is further south) and in Fiordland (which is west).  

We did her of the possible tsunami but it was more of potential threat than a real one. There was a larger wave that was recoded hitting the southern most city, measuring at all of eight inches! 

I think we are safe for now. I read the article the CBS.com had and that story seemed a lot bigger than the news stories from New Zealand!

The Search is On!

                                                                          

Currently one of our most important tasks is searching for a church venue. We've viewed office spaces, schools, theaters, community centers, warehouses, and more. The pressure to find the "perfect location" can be overwhelming, as can the long list of needs we want the space to meet. One of our top priorities is to find a location that already has "pull" on the community - in other words, an area that people already go to regularly for shopping, family time, or just hanging out. A venue that is well-known by community members is much more likely to provoke feelings of curiosity and familiarity.

Please pray hard for our staff as we seek the perfect venue for RECHURCH. Monthly preview services begin this September!

Community Classes

One of the things I love about New Zealand is how easy it is to get involved in community activities. There are sport activities for all ages, book clubs, new mum's groups, coffee groups, and one of my favourites, adult community education.  The government subsidizes community education that takes place in the evenings at community halls and schools. Classes are offered for anything that you can think of and we thought it would be a great way to meet people. 

Joe and I decided before we moved here that we would sign up for one as soon as we arrived, since we arrived at the beginning of a term. We decided to join a "Photoshop for Beginners". 

Last week was our last night of class. We really enjoyed the class and learned a lot. It was harder to get to know people than we had expected, but we did connect with a few people. We really got to know and enjoy one of the gentlemen in our class and we look forward to connecting with him more- he has run multiple marathons, his wife is a teacher, and he is an awesome photographer so we had lots to chat about during class! 

We learned how to do many different things with photos, though most are just tweaking the picture to make it look better! I will eventually post some pictures up here, but the blog site is being slow!

Thanks for your prayers, and please continue to pray for us as we meet people in the different activities we are involved with.