Mahurangi Presbyterian Church AGM 2021
Minutes of the AGM held on 14th November, 2021 at 11:30 am
This meeting was held on Zoom after a Zoom church service, due to Auckland still being in Level 3.2 Lockdown.
Rev. Nick McLennan chaired the Meeting. It was not a full AGM, rather a procedural meeting to action committees and Budget. People indicated their vote with a thumb up or down signal. AGM 2021 Reports, Budget and 2020 AGM Minutes were circulated prior to this meeting, and taken as read
APOLOGIES: David Elmore, Roger and June Turner
RECORD OF ATTENDENCE: 150 people remained on Zoom to attend AGM
MINUTES: Karen gave a brief summary of 2020 AGM Minutes, MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES: There being none, Moved Karen Jones/ Anne Wood “that the Minutes be confirmed.” Agreed.
IN MEMORANDUM: Karen remembered those of the church family who have passed away, and prayed.
Board of Managers: The AGM Reports for 2021 were confirmed. Moved Megan Boyce/Helen Dalziell.
Neville gave a brief outline of BOM Committees and their members. He thanked everyone for their involvement Neville moved “that the 2021 2022 committee members be approved ” Moved Neville Johnson/Robyn Fisher. Agreed.
Brian Dangerfield reported on last years Budget, which was positive and thanked Megan Boyce, Treasurer for her sterling work and for the audit undertaken.
Brian, went on to address the proposed Budget and explained the thinking behind the Budget Rates occur on the Mansel Rd property at present, however will be exempted once we worship there.
Brian noted the high level of integration between the Church and the Trust. The Trust is receiving grants from Ministry of Social Development, 85% of the Trust funds are from external grants.
Brian moved “that the congregation approves the Mahurangi Presbyterian Church Budget for the financial year 2021 2022 ” Moved Brian Dangerfield/Anne Wood Agreed
Nick closed the meeting at 11: 45 am with a Blessing.
These Minutes were confirmed at the 2022 AGM of Mahurangi Presbyterian Church Held on……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Signed Rev Nick McLennan
Oh, the places you’ll go is a story by Dr Suess, and oh did we all go places this year we never thought possible or even imagined a few years ago However, in the going, God was with us, for He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.
Who could have imagined that the answer to a question asked by the church family would be, “Elders will make that call.” Elders pray, that’s a given in the role description. Over this past year, Elders probably have calluses on their knees, as they have grappled with the situations that faced the church.
Waiting Listening Discerning praising making the call
Oh, the places you’ll go church gathered as pastorates, transitioning into Alpha groups
Oh, the places you’ll go … a sabbatical study, birthing into Monastic House/Intern Ministry, which will likely be planted in other churches in the years to come.
Oh, the places you’ll go … Foodbank supplies increasing to feed more and more needy in our community.
Oh, the places you’ll go … tenacious faith that sees a new church rise from the ground
Oh, the places you’ll go … when God sifts and shakes and has the Refiner’s Fire burning off the dross.
Oh, the places you’ll go … when the Elders and the church family get on their knees and pray and wait on the Lord.
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” Dr Seuss.
Karen Jones Senior Elder
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea Psalm 46: 1-2
While we might not always feel in control of the situations that are going on around us, our God is always in control
As I have started to reflect on the last twelve months, it almost seems like a really weird dream. So many things have happened in such a short period of time that it is kind of difficult to know where to begin.
First and foremost, I want to start with a big thank you to everyone in our church family. Not being able to meet together for eight months was challenging as far as church leadership goes, but it was made easier by the amount of people who stood up to lead.
Over this time, it was wonderful to see people exercising the gifts and talents that God has placed within them. I am so appreciative of all those who participated in pastorates, put together online material, led Alpha groups, and followed people up with pastoral visits or phone calls, it was such a great team effort.
On behalf of the Elders thank you so much for all that you have contributed over this last twelve months, we deeply appreciate your involvement as part of our church family.
However, it doesn’t stop here. It is also weird to think that in eight months’ time we will be worshipping in a brand new building. Even though I have been a regular visitor to the site, it is still hard to comprehend that we are so close to moving in.
Who would have thought that when we brought that section in 2019 we were buying a plot of land that would become the centre of the new Auckland Council plan for Warkworth? I certainly didn’t see it turning out the way that it has, and it certainly makes me wonder, what does God have planned next for us? It is definitely an exciting proposition.
In Proverbs 3: 5-6 we are told to trust in the Lord with all of our heart, to not lean on our own understanding, and to acknowledge the Lord in all of our ways. It follows this up with a promise, ‘He will make your paths straight.’ While we do not always have the answers to the challenges we come up against, there is a great deal of strength and security we can draw from this approach to life
God has been good to us, so let us rejoice in this and look forward to where He is leading us next. God bless, Nick and Marie
This last year has been the year of ‘Adaptability’ if we have learnt one thing from running our programs throughout a pandemic it is how to be ‘adaptable’ at a moment’s notice. We have been ONLINE with Zoom, outdoors with limited numbers, indoors with limited numbers and social distancing, record keeping, sanitizing and mask wearing, along with cancelled camps and reimagined events. We have a new language we use and have learned the art of ‘Lockdown Online Programming’. However, despite all of these challenges we have seen God move within our New Leaders, Student Interns and Youth Group Whanau, with young people choosing to follow Jesus, and students reaching out to support one another.
Creative leadership who came up with awesome ‘online’ content when we were in Lockdowns. Student Intern Programme, 4 students in Year 12/13 stepping up in their leadership roles to take on more responsibility and deeper training.
Walk to Bethlehem Challenge Reflective Easter Prayer Stations Youth Alpha Mahu Youth Alpha/Winter Camp
OTHER:
We said Goodbye to Melissa, as she headed to Hamilton to do her ECE training, but she still pops her head in regularly. The new Monastic House with 2 interns and one staff member, living intentionally and serving the church
THANK YOU
A huge thanks to my incredible Youth Leadership Team, who have worked so hard throughout many variations of youth group this last year We have laughed, cried and supported one another through an incredibly challenging period. Our young people know that they are loved, cared for and supported by this amazing team. To our young people, who have had to face a very uncertain and constantly changing world but have always turned up for youth group, if it be online or in person. They have continued to support one another and helped create a ‘safe place’ for young people to land and call Mahu Youth Home.
By Sarah Crocombe
As we were not able to meet in large numbers, we needed a solution to enable us to teach kids and youth about God and the Bible, in an entertaining way.
Pastor Nick came up with the idea of having an online kids show. In November 2021, the Church hired Alisha, Aidan, Becks (me) and the star of the show…. Bo, to direct, write, produce, edit and host the show. After much brainstorming, script writing and painting a room, Alisha, Aidan, Bo, Becks and Moe, along with some special guests filmed three 10 minute episodes in one day. It was a long day starting at approximately 9am and not finishing till around 10pm that night, but we did it. The episodes were centred around the gifts of the 3 wise men brought Jesus.
After Christmas we started filming again, but learning from the last filming day we stuck to just filming two episodes per day once a fortnight. We started our new series looking at the life of Jesus, kicking it off with young Jesus at the temple. We also recruited two of our Student Interns to join the show (later on we recruited two more as well)
An average pre filming week would involve writing the script, pre making the weekly craft and buying the supplies, getting the packs out to the kids and youth and getting the film set ready. Then we had our filming days. An average filming day would take approximately 10 hours for two episodes. After a filming day the majority of us would head home to relax, except Aidan, her work had only just began as she began the process of editing. The episodes would then then be uploaded to YouTube.
Even though the process of making an episode was sometimes challenging and tiring, we really enjoyed the time we spent on ‘Mahu Kids Online’. We had such awesome people working on the show; our awesome Student Interns, our amazing guest stars, all those behind the scenes and of course everyone who watched and gave us great feedback!
I believe it was a great tool to reach our communities Kids, as well as our own Mahu Kids
By Rebekah Sheppard
The Mahurangi Church Board of Managers is a set of volunteer committees elected by the congregation to work with Elders, the Minister and all Pastoral staff to further the aims of the church.
The Board of Managers usually host three quarterly meeting per year to celebrate successes and new initiatives and to be guided by the latest vision statements from church leadership. Much of the work of the committees elected at AGM 2021 have continued despite the inconvenience of the covid 19
The Finance Committee of Megan Boyce, Brian Dangerfield, Neville Johnson, Bernie McClean, Nick McLennan, and Roger McKay has continued strongly under the effective leadership of Finance Chair Megan Boyce. Megan continues to manage a range of complex financial roles including Church accounts, New Build finances and the Mahu Vision Community Trust The church is especially blessed that income has not been seriously impacted by times when in-person services were not possible.
Property Committees The New build committee has continued to have regular weekly or fortnightly meetings to guide the development of the new complex at Mansel Drive. This Committee has been chaired by Minister Nick McLennan and includes Kevin and Noelene Pyle and Floyd Thomas as key contractors and Brian Dangerfield, Megan Boyce, Roger McKay, Gary Caldwell, Neville Johnson, and Jonathan Lane as monitors of progress and expenditure.
St Columba 5 Pulham Road We are very grateful too to all those who provide their expert work in maintaining our church at 5 Pulham Road as a safe, user friendly place of worship. Maintenance of facilities has now been devolved to Office administrator Michelle Saleupolu, with support from volunteers and staff. We are especially grateful to Robyn Fisher who has always been willing to monitor and manage the church facilities.
The St Andrews Matakana Trust manages the maintenance and services at St Andrews, Matakana. This Trust includes Les Miller, Rudy Saleupolu, Esther Elmore, Gyndyr Johnston and Neville Johnson. Income from wedding bookings enables the Trust to pay all maintenance costs. The Trust promoted St Andrews at a recent town hall wedding “expo”. There are exciting outreach opportunities for the Trust due to the development of Sunday markets at the Matakana Country Park. Many people want to call in and view this historic church built in 1895.
The Mahurangi Heads Presbyterian Cemetery Trust manages the cemetery at Scotts Landing. This committee includes Les Miller, Roger MacKay and Neville Johnson from the Mahurangi Presbyterian Church, and Greg Kasper and George Ireland from the Mahurangi East Residents and Ratepayer Association The cemetery is in a very tidy state thanks to the excellent work of Bruce Quinn and Les Johnston.The Trust enjoys a good working relationship with MERRA (The Mahurangi East Residents and Ratepayers Association)
Sometime in the new year we will be moving house. There will be a need for a big team of volunteers to help move furniture, equipment and records to the new church. Can you help?
We appreciate all the work of our committees over the past year. The time is right to re build our volunteer teams for 2023. Is there an area of church enterprise that interests you? Please be in touch.
The Team of Bill Boyce, Rudy Saleupolu, John Keast, John Lewington and Jonathan Lane have each contributed to keeping Audio, Computing and Visual systems operating. Cherie Money has joined the projection team.
The Allen & Heath SQ 5 48 Channel / 36 Bus Digital Sound desk has been very well appreciated. While it looks small there is enough technical capability to carry us on to the new church facilities with add on modules to cover our needs.
The existing gear is being nursed along as needed
As needed Jonathan and Bill are working with Kevin Pyle on the technical aspects that need including in the new building such as in floor ducting for cables and power supply in the right places. This work will continue.
The team organised the necessary cameras and equipment to be able to record services and the Pastors messages so that they could be seen on line later that day off the website or on YouTube. This facility became especially relevant during Covid lockdown when extra Audio Visual staff were employed for extra programs available on YouTube. Thanks to the team for the recordings.
Websites also need continual maintenance as needs change and grow. Thanks to Hana and Bill for this
Anyone with a special interest and aptitude for technology is welcome to join the team and contact Bill or me We have welcomed John Keast who has much experience in the audio field to offer the team.
Jonathan Lane
‘In August the Mahu Vision Community Trust celebrated our ten year (plus one) anniversary.
Mahu Vision Community Trust was established in 2011 initially as a way for the Mahurangi Presbyterian Church to renew its commitment to love and to serve our local community.
The Trust is registered with the Charities Commission and has now grown and developed into a strong organisation serving the needs of the Mahurangi region. It is governed by a group of Trustees appointed by the Eldership of Mahurangi Presbyterian Church and is managed by a General Manager and a small team of paid and voluntary staff.
Currently, the Trust focuses on three specific areas within our community. Emergency support, New Immigrant Support and Youth and Children’s programs. In the last twelve months each of these areas has faced considerable challenges and as a result, Mahu Vision’s capacity has had to increase to accommodate the growing need within our community.
‘Over this time, the demand on the Combined Churches’ Foodbank has risen significantly with many people facing hardship due Covid isolation and rising accommodation costs. We have been able to respond to this need due to the generous support from local churches, government sources as well as individuals and groups from within our community.
During lockdowns our staff were kept busy sorting out and delivering food parcel and other types of support packages throughout the wider Mahurangi region.
Over the last six months we have been able to resume our normal programs and the demand for these has continued to grow We are continuing to build our relationships with the local schools and one of the highlights for us this year was being able to support the ‘Young Navigators of the Pacific’ concert at Mahurangi College. This was led by some the of children from our first Target program who are now Year 13 students. The night was labelled a success by all who attended and received high praise from many of the invited government representatives.
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
Luke 10: 27
On behalf of the Mahu Vision Community Trust Board we would like to say a big thank you to all the staff and volunteers who have been involved over the years. Your service has been inspirational and has meant that our church has continued to become a positive influence within our community. We are also grateful for the continued support and prayers of our church family.
At the end of our AGM report we invite you to look over the Mahu Vision Community Trust Strategic Document. Hopefully this will give you a bit of an overview to some of the different ways that we are reaching out to offer the love of Jesus to our local community.
By Nick McLennan
Mainly Music is alive and well, despite the ups and downs of lockdowns. The Mainly Music team feels blessed to have the opportunity to be able to serve the young families in our community.
Although our program appears to be simply providing fun music, dance and play for 0-5 year olds, it goes well past that.
This year we have provided help to a solo Mum who needed the support of her own Mum Her Mother was wheelchair bound, and the only safe access into her home, would be by ramp. This was far too costly for our mm Mum, but God open doors and answered our prayer requests.
A couple in our church family provided the funding for the material and Bernie Mclean kindly built the ramp, free of charge. This has had a huge impact on this family and has shown them the power of prayer.
As well as this, we have provided counselling to families using Rosanna and her team. We also regularly provide food parcels for Mainly Music families, and continue to give baby baskets to celebrate the birth of newborns Thank you to those who contribute to the baskets with their sewing and knitting skills
I’ll leave you with a couple of messages from families: One finished her email by saying: "It's a very and such a loving church to be a part of. We feel so blessed."
Another one, when she heard that our dear Christine Mackay had died, asked if we had copies of the 'Think Spots' Christine shared at Mainly Music, because Christine’s sharing, always inspired her. This Mum shared how Christine always had time to listen and share over a cuppa at mainly music.
I’d like to thank my mainly music team for taking the time to listen, care and share God’s love to the families, who come through our door each Wednesday.
Robyn Fisher Leader
In term one this year, the public health requirements for COVID included restrictions on gathering sizes. This started with groups of 25 and later expanded to groups of 50. Our church formed 7 Pastorates, some based in the church, but many in other venues around the community These Pastorates operated for 9 weeks, from 13th Feb to 10th April 2022 and provided opportunity for us to stay connected. During this time we listened to Nick’s messages online each week, worshipped the Lord together, had ministry and fellowship together and formed new friendships.
A very special thank you to all who were involved in leading, hosting, music teams, catering, serving, prayer and ministry in our Pastorates. They were not perfect, but were a very precious and blessed time together, and in the new year we plan to take some of the best aspects from these Pastorates into a new system of Prayer and Care Groups for everyone in our church.
Have you seem the Prayer Diary put out by the Global Missions Team? This two monthly publication contains up to date reports from all our missionaries It is a very good and often a very exciting read.
Native, the Mission agency in India, reports rapid growth of the church and thousands of conversions; Diana gives update on ‘her children’ in Romania, their families and their struggles, while in South Sudan we hear about the local people taking over leadership, about witchdoctors coming to Christ and lives changed.
Evan and Maala bring Jews and Arabs together and deal with Russian and Ukrainian immigrant in their church, hurting in different ways because of the war in Ukraine; and based closer to home, Bruce Eirena, through Wycliffe provides care and support to those working on Bible translations in the field
So, whet r the next edition o
Our aims are:
For Alpha to be embedded in our church with at least two rounds each year.
For each person in our church to feel confident to invite friends, neighbours, family members and colleagues along to Alpha.
For our church to grow through people coming to faith in Christ through Alpha. For us to support other churches in our area interested in also using Alpha to reach our community for Christ.
For 17 weeks last year, from 8 August until 28 November, we formed our church into Discussion Groups (DGs) looking at Nick’s online Sermons, which were taken from the Alpha series. There were 7 DGs from the first service and 12 from the second service, 19 groups in total. In this way we were all placed in a small group throughout the lockdowns taking place at that time, and we were all introduced to the 16 new Alpha videos presented, not just by Nicky Gumbel, but also by Toby Flint and Gemma Hunt.
Then during term 2 this year, for 11 weeks, we were able to start our first round of outreach Alpha groups. Our thanks to all who led, hosted and assisted these groups. It was wonderful to see the Lord working in people’s lives and drawing many to a new or stronger faith in Him: “I have considered myself a Christian all my life, but it has always only been in my head; now it is in my heart.”
In the last week of September this year, we will be starting our second round of outreach groups. We have leaders and hosts for 7 groups and over 60 people currently signed up for the weekly Alpha prayer update, forming a strong team of prayer partners to cover each group in prayer.
Thank you to all who have volunteered as leaders, hosts, prayer partners and to assist with the catering in this round of Alpha Each group needs 5 people committed to doing 2 3 meals over the 11 weeks of Alpha, and we could still do with a few more volunteers to ensure all 7 of these groups are adequately catered for. If you can assist, or would like to join our prayer team, please contact me (David).
Our Lord’s last words to his disciples were to “Go and make disciples of all nations…”, which starts when we bring people to Christ. So please do continue to pray for Alpha and to invite your friends and contacts along.
David McLeod
From July 2021 to June 2022 we have seen an 89% increase in food parcels distributed, from a total of 610 parcels to 1153 parcels in the year.
This fed 4,707 people with 2,452 Adults and 2255 Children. The total number of people supported has increased by 106% on the previous 2020 2021 year, with the increase for the adults totaling a massive 128% rise.
Before August 2021 we were distributing an averaging 10 parcels per week, to the end of June 2022 we were distributing an average of 23 parcels per week to those in our community.
We have had a great community response with the Food Donation box located at Countdown, and from the Anglican, Catholic & Methodist Parishes, as well as financial support other churches and those in our community.
We continue to be supported by our local Food Rescue group who collect goods from the local supermarkets, and from KiwiHarvest, which is based in East Tamaki. KiwiHarvest supplies us a weekly average of 250kg of food, from all sorts of fruit and veg to chocolate treats and cereals.
We have been running the Monastic House in Snells Beach for 4 Months. We currently have 3 residents, Aronna, Rebekah and Moe. The rhythms of the House are based in prayer and scripture reflection, 4 mornings a week starting at 7:30am, Sarah (House Manager joins for this). Mahu Monastic House also hosts ‘Mahu Young Adults’ on a Tuesday, for dinner and fellowship. We aim to equip and develop leaders that will serve in the local church, by identifying their skills and helping them to extend these though theological training, hands on experience and one on one mentoring.
We are thankful for the support of Northern Presbytery and look forward to the opportunity to see the ‘Monastic House’ be adopted by other Presbyterian Churches in the wider Auckland area.
A highlight for Sarah as Manager, was to see Rebekah invite a young person who needed a ‘safe’ place to stay for a few days into the Monastic House, to support them, encourage them and help them transition to a new long term living situation.
Sarah Crocombe
Our new building construction has progressed significantly during 2022 and the entire shell has since been completed with the internal framing now well underway. As of FY22 year end we invested $ 5.3 m on the capital works and estimate a further $ 3.1 m spend during FY23 to complete Stage 1. An additional $ 1.5m loan has been secured to ensure we have the necessary funding to complete Stage 1. We are hopeful to be ready for moving in around April 2022 although this is dependent on the timing of the final building consent approval for the interior fit-out.
The latest video footage of the progress can be viewed on our YouTube channel here : (https://youtu.be/Q7rZgm5zqVc)
In spite of the very wet weather during July work was able to continue All of the windows and doors have now been installed A few of the windows are still awaiting the fitting of the glass. A lot of the internal framing for the bathrooms and office spaces have also been built.
The electricians have been on site recently to begin installing the massive switchboard and running the necessary cables and wiring.
Stage 2 building consent is still with the Council and we are hoping and praying for speedy resolutions on the outstanding issues.
Continue to pray for the safety of the people working on the building site as well as the provision of sufficient funding to complete the total project.
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him
<1 Thessalonians 4: 13 14>
In the last year we said goodbye to a number of many long term members of our church family as they graduated to higher honours. We are so grateful that God has placed them in our lives and for their contribution to our church family:
Christine Mackay, Cecil Tunnicliffe, Barbara and Ken Baird, Rosalie Tomlinson, Judy Knight, Robin Finlay and Heather Lomas
While we continue to miss them, we give thanks to Jesus for the hope that we have that they are safe with Him and continuing to cheer us on
Rosalie CTomlinson hristine Mackay Cecil Tunnicliffe Barbara and Ken Baird Robin JFinlay udy Knight Heather Lomas
As with the previous year, our budget for FY22 was built around the unpredictability of the COVID 19 pandemic. Our conservative estimate of tithes and offerings proved to be wise in that we received only 1% less than budgeted. We were also pleased to receive a grant of $73K from Northern Presbytery which will be used to establish a Monastic House pilot program led by Sarah Crocombe.
Our spending was around 15% less than we budgeted for due to a number of events and appointments not taking place. This is not to say didn’t invest in some very important programs, such as setting up our media team and re launching the Alpha program. In fact, we spent 5% more than in FY21 which is understandable given the cost of living increases and having to support more paid staff.
Our anticipated (budgeted) shortfall actually was another surplus which is going to be needed for this coming year as we move to the Mahu Church and Community Centre.
Megan Boyce
1. Presentation of financial reports have been adjusted this year as per advise from Auditor to ensure presentation aligns with New Zealand Accounting Standards
2 Envelope giving (which is split across the offerings and Charitable appeals) was slightly below 2021's level and was only 1% less than the budgeted estimate which is encouraging given the seven months of lockdown resulting in Church services being held online. This has also casued the Sunday service plate offering to decline as well as some plate offering givers to transition to online bank payments.
3. We received a $73000 Grant from Northern Presbytery for our Monastic House pilot program. As this is spread across 27 months the portion of this grant include in FY22 is $9428 and the balance of grants income was the Covid Leave Support for when our staff were sick or self isolating.
The increase of property income is a result of greater use by the Trust for various activities including the Foodbank
We had budgeted $10000 for Easter Camp to go ahead during April 2022, however, No funds were received as this was cancelled due to Covid.
4. Staff costs remained similar to Budget with the signigicant variance due to not completely filling the full time assistant Pastor role resulting in a favourable variance of $37247. The introduction of the Monastic House pilot program resulted in an adverse variance of $9428 which was fully covered by the grant.
5. This spend is significantly less than budget due to limited activities Easter Camp being one of significance.
6 Globals Missions underspend is related to the Romanian Childrens' camp not going ahead
7 This is the cost of depreciation which was signifcantly increased with the buildings being revalued
8 The land and buildings were revalued according to the Auckland Council valuation on 1 July 2021 resulting in a non operating revenue gain of $1.7M. Last revaluation was 2017.
9. New building expenses of $4.1M were outlaid during FY22 and have been capitalised as a fixed asset in the Balance Sheet (Building Project Work in Progress)
The Church and Trust finances are both audited by Peter Conaglen, Charity Integrity Ltd and are available on request
1. GST refund due in July
2. Land and Buildings were revalued as at 1 july 2021 according to AC QV
3. New Build expenditure has been capitalised as Work in Progress
4. Grant for Monastic House project is to be spread over 24 months
5. First loan from PCANZ to cover new build. The Church and Trust finances are both audited by Peter Conaglen, Charity Integrity Ltd and are available on request.
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