AGM Reports & Minutes Booklet

St Martin’s St James Parish of Riccarton Spreydon Christchurch

Annual General Meeting Sunday 18th April 2021 2pm Neave Room 50 Lincoln Road

CONTENTS AGM Agenda

Page 3

Reports for 2020-2021 Vicar’s

Page 4

Associate Priest’s

Page 7

Wardens’

Page 9

Finance

Page 10

Building

Page 10

Pastoral Care and Outreach

Page 11

Discipleship and Evangelism

Page 12

Missions

Page 13

Young People

Page 14

AAW

Page 15

Love Riccarton

Page 16

Digital Ministry

Page 17

Health and Safety, CYPSO

Page 18

Fundraising

Page 19

Playgroup

Page 20

Mainly Music

Page 21

2020 AGM Minutes

Page 22

Music

Page 25

2

AGENDA FOR THE Parish of Riccarton Spreydon 2021 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 1) Welcome, Prayer and Worship 2) Determination of a Quorum 3) Apologies 4) Acknowledgement of those who have died 5) Welcome new members 6) New Business 7) 2020 Annual General Meeting minutes a)

Matters Arising from minutes

8) Correspondence

Reports: 9) Vicars report 10) Wardens Reports 11) Treasurer’s Report 12) Other Reports 13) Elections a)

People’s Warden

b) Vestry c)

Synod Representatives

14) Vote of Thanks 15) Appointment of Auditor 16) Closing Prayer

THOSE WHO HAVE DIED We give thanks and praise to God for lives well lived, full of faith and service to family and community. May our loved ones rest in peace and rise in glory.

Funerals/Memorials for the following people were held in the parish since the last AGM to this AGM April 18TH, 2021 Winifred Rose Williams Elsie Rosalind Sanders Nancy Clements Bruce Gilmore

3

SECTION 1 – VICAR’S REPORT Greetings Church in Christ's name.

I find the season leading up to a Parish Annual General Meeting is always a time to take stock, pause and be thankful for God’s faithfulness and goodness. Our last Covid year has been full of surprising challenges and ‘new normals’, and in this season I can look back giving thanks to those who have come before us, all who minister together as a family now, and those who will come after us to continue to share the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour.

Thank you to you our church family, and to all my colleagues, clergy and so many others, for your hard work, deep faith, support and patience.

As I look back over the last year, I am particularly encouraged and proud of the way you the church have pulled closer together as a family of God to love and care for those amongst us. I’m thankful for the many cakes and joyful celebrations that we have shared together. Through COVID people have dropped off the Focus, care cards and shared the love to others who felt isolated. At a personal level I feel extremely well supported by our staff leadership team. I’m enjoying life in the Parish and the continuing challenge to lean into God’s leading and growing in faith, love and service. Thank you.

• •

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Celebrations: Since our children began primary school our family have gathered together when there was something to celebrate (be it big or small). We always marked this with popping the cork on a bottle of sparkling grape juice. It was more about the celebratory ‘POP’ than the grape juice! I was reminded of this last week at our Parish Q & A sessions. After an opening prayer we paused to look back on the things we could celebrate (without the grape juice). This was a really a special time together. As a celebration was mentioned, I noticed a lot of nodding and smiling as people remembered after what was a challenging year of uncertainty. This is what was offered.

The Journey of the Easter Services – Many people were incredibly thankful, encouraging and deeply moved following our Easter Journey together.

Love Riccarton Blessing – This was a special afternoon. Many people felt the presence of the Holy Spirit there and the peace that rests at “Love Riccarton”. We were thankful for our Bishop being with us, and thankful for all who contributed to that afternoon.

Alpha Course and Alpha Prayer Course – Worthy of celebrating.

Lenten Study – People both enjoyed, and were challenged with the content and variety of studies.

The School of Good Soil.

Azaria – Celebrating Azaria’s addition to our children’s ministry team.

May’s birthday and Prosthesis invite – Celebrated having May join us and using her skills, talents and gifts of both hospitality (making espresso coffee) and consultation around disability access.

Young band members Noah and Lance. Wonderful to have new musicians stepping up.

New Faces – Someone added it is good to see new faces in the congregation, and youth.

Baptisms – We are a church that baptises new believers.

Core Congregation – We have a core of faithful parishioners we are thankful for.

Having strong Bible Preachers and Teachers.

Overseas Ministry partners and visits from Loma and Robson.

Riccarton Ministry Rest Homes and Playgroup – We are thankful for the Riccarton Playgroup and the blessing it has been. Also for the ministry to the Riccarton Rest Homes.

Easter Camp – Celebrate that we have Easter Camp and young people are hearing the gospel and making decisions to follow Christ. Thankful for our youth leaders.

4

Thriving through COVID as a Parish.

•

Vision: We have been reviewing and resetting our sense of what are we doing and where God is calling us too this season. And what it means for us as a church to follow Gods call of transformation and renewal. As I have mentioned there’s been a lot of ‘new normals’ in last few years. Not just for ourselves personally but internationally. More recently we have come to realise how broken and fragile the world is politically, economically, and environmentally. It’s more apparent that the world is in need of transformation & renewal. When we are affected by these large scale disruptions, the human default is to withdraw in a hope that things will soon be back to normal. However the vision of the bible is the Christians partnering with God in bringing the kingdom into the world where humankind flourishes. This is what we are called to so let’s give ourselves wholeheartedly to that. So transformation and renewal is a key message for the wider church (& us). The call of the Gospel is to be salt & light bringing transformation, renewal, hope, and bring Justice and a new sense of mercy.

Discipleship is a core aspect of Christian life. Our life together is a journey as we transition from old to new and in this formation, we grow in faith. Hence our vision “Together Cultivating a Culture of Discipleship, Mission and Regeneration” We grow together in community, and we believe vibrant community is the best space to grow as disciples. We have a pattern of playing together, praying together, eating together, doing mission together and learning together.

In the declining attendance of the western church the typical response is to develop programs and hold evangelistic events in hopes of curbing the trend. A common default mode of churches seems to be attempting to (re)grow the church through events. However, is it possible that in all of this we’ve actually neglected the call of Jesus to intentionally make disciples? Over the years there has been a key observation: “If you make disciples, you always get the church. But if you make a church, you rarely get disciples.” ― Mike Breen, Building a Discipling Culture. Where churches are focused on formation rather than just growing churches a culture emerges that creates a multiplying movement.

Its main focus is no longer about a church building or gathering (this gathering together is still very important). Rather, discipleship formation leads to a shift in the way that people think and live on a day-to-day community level, which leads to the discipling of others, which leads to multiplication of people who become naturally missional and evangelistic.

In order to see this kind of shift take place, we need to start the formation process with ourselves.

Are we spending most of our time focused on the machinery and mechanics of church growth, and perhaps missing the real people and processes involved in real discipleship? Are we following the person and pattern of Jesus in our everyday lives? Are we helping others to do this too? We need to continue recapturing the way of Jesus and once again become familiar with how he lived and led, so that we can empower those around us to do the same.

In the past year and a half we have focused on Regeneration, Worship Gatherings, Cultivating a Culture of Discipleship (formation and Evangelism), Basketball Ministry and Love Riccarton (among other things). We have made good progress on some of these and dropped the ball on others. So what I want to do in our AGM season (now and every year) is to reset the lens as to where we are going. Over the last month we have extensively reviewed our vision and the vehicles we use to progress toward where we feel God is leading us in these times. It is our clergy and leadership teams responsibility to both communicate and outwork and review our vision this year and in the years to come and to ensure our key performance indicators mark our progress. The goal or success of St

5

Martin’s St James is not how many people we gather here but how many people we send out there into every sphere of our lives. This is why we are committed to our vision: “Together cultivating a culture of discipleship, mission and regeneration.”

Gatherings: Inspirational music, encountering God, we are Anglican, encouraging testimony and creative worship, praying for healings and peace Regeneration: We develop Children’s Ministry, Young adults and youth communities. We desire personal and collective regeneration. We are intergenerational. We baptise new believers.

School of Good Soil: We offer inclusive invitation for all. We live and teach the New Testament Jesus model through immersion. We run Missional Communities. We create a space where disciples make disciples.

Nurturing Healthy Church Whanau: We offer pastoral care and well-being. We offer prayer ministry. We equip all people to love others. We have healthy communication. We offer hospitality and welcome all.

Love Riccarton: We have an outreach to Riccarton. We have a multifunctional missional community. We desire to resource ministry to Riccarton well. We know that the people inform the mission.

• • •

•

•

This is not an exhaustive list of all we do in the Parish and community but some key areas of focus.

The goal or success of St Martins St James is not how many people we gather here, it’s how many people we send out there. The impact we will make into every sphere of which you are working.

That’s why we are committed to the Matthew 28 commissioning to “Make Disciples (formation). It’s going to take more than Sunday for us to thrive.

We can’t do this by ourselves but we can do this together. It can’t just be great teaching and amazing discipleship programs. That’s why we’re so much about cultivating a culture and model of spirtual formation here at St Martin’s St James, not only for us but our families, our children and young people. So yes its about the courage to continue stepping out into this as a parish with the Spirit working in and through our community.

Thank you: I would like to close my report with a huge thank you to everyone that contributed to the life of our Parish. Everyone has a role and a calling as part of the body of Christ. There are too many people to thank individually that make up the whole of the body of Christ here.

Thank you to all of those that have ministered faithfully in our parish in the past – the previous vestries, wardens, pastoral and Home Communion visitors; overseas connections (our local and global missions); property and maintenance; lawns and gardens; musicians and worship; liturgists, readers, intercessors, greeters, sides people; producers of our focus, Crosstrax and the online Mailchimp; Website and social media, office volunteers; various ministry leaders and coordinators; the list is goes on.

Parish Office: Thank you for the faithful ministry of Sarah Young, Sharon Plank Vestry secretary and also Sharon Rees, who have contributed to St Martin’s administration and mission. Much work is done behind the scenes like that of many others.

Thank you to the work of the Wardens, again mostly unnoticed. The Wardens responsibilities are wide and at times demanding. There is also a high level of responsibility and commitment required of Wardens so thank you. Thank you to Bill Jermyn (now retired) and Nigel Pugh being appointed as my Vicars Warden. There will be a cake to celebrate Bills retirement along with others leaving their

6

roles. A huge thank you to Sue Phillips for stepping into the role of assistant warden. Thank you for your enthusiasm, wisdom and discernment Sue. It is a delightful privilege to serve our parish as your priest. Ministry is an important and demanding calling, yet in this we have had a lot of joy and fun along the way. I feel supported and part of this loving faith family. I am also thankful of the way our parish steps up and steps out together in faith. I continue to be excited about what God is doing in our midst. It’s a real privilege to work among such a caring and loving community of people.

Vestry & Staff Leadership Team: I want to particularly mention our parish staff, wardens and treasurer (now retired) who are a gifted group who constantly go beyond my expectations to serve God and ensure our ministries are led well. Nigel, Sue (assistant), Rev Victoria, Tom, Sharon, Catharine and Azaria. Thank you for your encouragement and all the experience, prayer and hard work you bring to your roles. It's great having colleagues such as you. The parish could not function as it does without you and the many many people who give of their time and talents to this ministry.

All this has been accomplished through your prayers, finances, voluntary hours, ideas, teamwork and the activity of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Thanks to everyone who actively participates in the mission of our parish - you do it because you love your church and you love and want to serve God - thank you for all you do.

Finally, thanks to Vestry for the commitment you have shown this last year. Thank you too to those who will offer themselves to serve the mission of the parish this coming year. Please pray for them and offer them your support. Enjoy reading the various reports as we give thanks to God for another year and all that God encourages us and empowers us to do in Christ’s name.

May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, may the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Rev Sampson

SECTION 2 – ASSOCIATE PRIEST’S – REPORT It’s hard to believe that I have been here for over a year now. The anniversary of my arrival of course fell just before the anniversary of the lockdown. We have said it often before, but these are still unusual times that we are navigating at the moment. I am certainly glad for the assurance that while the world around us seem so uncertain, that God’s kingdom is one that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28). We have much to celebrate in the life of our parish over the last year, not only have we survived this challenging season but we are seeing signs of God’s Spirit at work amongst our people.

From the middle of last year our Children’s Ministry has benefitted from support and encouragement of Emma Tovey, who is the Diocesan Children’s Ministry Developer. Emma offered to come and spend a fixed period of time with our children’s team to help build the capacity of this ministry. We have really appreciated Emma’s wisdom and we wish her all the best as she ends her time with us this weekend.

In March, we were delighted to welcome Azaria Peach onto the staff team as our Children’s Worker and Playgroup Administrator. Azaria’s is working 10 hours per week, which is comprised of 4 hours with the Playgroup and 6 hours in Children’s Ministry. She brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the role, which we got a glimpse of in the 10.30am service on Easter Day with her creative children’s talk. Azaria has also started studying Leadership and Ministry at Theology House this year. She is continuing the team approach that has been developing under Linda Grobbler and Emma Tovey’s guidance through last year. One of the key goals for the Children’s Ministry is to continue to invest

7

into the development of new leaders and to build a welcoming environment for all children who come to church to explore their faith.

At the start of this year the difficult decision was made by the Riccarton St James Playgroup to cease meeting. While there was a shortage of leaders it also seemed like the end of a season for this ministry. One of the families has been coming over to the Spreydon Playgroup and the families were keen to keep in touch by still catching up during each of the school holidays during the year. I would like to thank Margie Pugh and Sharon Richards for the many years of dedicated service to this ministry.

One of the areas of ministry that we’ve been specifically seeking God’s leading for is the music group and for the shape of the 10.30am service. We know that worship is important and that God has made us to be worshippers in all aspects of life, but the leadership of the music group for the 10.30am service helps us to connect with God, to declare God’s truth and to hear his voice. As we came out of the lockdown last year, we looked carefully and prayfully at the shape of the 10.30am service and also at the repertoire of songs that we sing. We also invited you to give us feedback on how this was going. We as a team were interested not just about whether particular songs were liked, but on how the overall service was encouraging us as disciples as connect with God and to also be a welcoming space for newcomers to join in with our church family.

One of my tasks is to come up with a Pastoral Care Plan which helps to promote the pastoral care and wellbeing for all our parishioners. Currently pastoral care is provided on an ad hoc basis by clergy or friends to the person who needs it. Usually this is driven by an urgent pastoral care need arising. The goal of the plan to strategically identify both the immediate pastoral needs but also to work proactively to ensure that every member of the parish is connected and working towards being healthy in spirit, soul and body. The plan is intended to be a living document that grows as we grow in our understanding and competency in this area of pastoral care and wellbeing. The plan has now been formulated and the next step is to implement the three main components. These are to ensure that there is regular contact with all parishioners, to establish a pastoral care needs team to make sure those who need help are getting the assistance we can provide and also to gather an experienced prayer ministry team. The reason that this is progressing slowly is due to my reduced hours because of my back injury. At the time of writing this report I am still waiting for ACC to decide whether they will fund the surgery that the specialist has recommended.

Finally this is my February Lincoln Chaplaincy report for your information about what I do with the other half of my week: We finished 2020 with a good turnout for the annual Christmas Carol event in the new Grounded Café space. The LU Choir led the singing, and it was great to have the Christmas story told through readings from different staff and students.

The Food bank partnership has developed significantly with Wellbeing and Student Health. We have had $5000 worth of non-perishables and toiletries bought with the grant we got from the Covid Hardship funding. We now have a storeroom as the old student laundry in the Hudson Building has been given to the Food bank to use. We have even had Lincworks maintenance committing to maintain the room and continue the rodent control for free. We are looking to further development partnerships with LUSA and Christian Fellowship as we will need to arrange some donation drives to keep the Food bank stocked.

8

The English Conversation Class continues and will be expanding this year to twice a week. A second advanced class is being added with a focus on teaching student’s grammar and technical language skills.

Kevin and Lisa Hyslop are volunteer chaplains from the Lincoln Union Church. Their ministry is mostly to International students. They have listed some of what they have been able to do in 2020: 1) English conversation & English technical education 2) Correction of grammar and related in student written assignments 3) Supplying of food items including fresh vegetables 4) Motor vehicle driving education 5) Motor vehicle purchase assistance 6) Motor vehicle insurance assistance 7) Provision of references supporting student house rental 8) Provision of references supporting student job applications 9) Supply of furniture for students renting houses 10) Location of suitable housing for student families and student singles to rent 11) Provision of student social activities on Saturday evenings in Lincoln for student families & singles 12) Provision of student Saturday afternoon outings to scenic locations in the greater Christchurch area 13) Provision of special events for students such as Chinese New Year celebrations, Christmas carols, snow trips God bless, Victoria

SECTON 3 – WARDENS’ REPORT I firstly want to thank the unsung heroes of St Martin’s/St James for the volunteer work they have done and continue to do. Without their efforts, the parish would be unable to function. The parish leadership are very aware of your contribution and the quiet, unassuming way you so diligently look after your ministries and our premises. We know we don’t keep track of the time your put in, and neither do you, but God is all-seeing. I can’t individually name you as there are so many of you, but you know we appreciate you all.

We can give thanks to God for Our Vicar Sampson as he has done a great job of leading and encouraging our spiritual well being during Covid-19 and throughout the year with all its challenges and celebrations. We thank you as well as God, Sampson for your apostolic approach along with your dedication to God and to us all.

Also we are appreciative of all that our Associate Priest Victoria Askin contributes to our spiritual life and worship together. With the arrival of Covid-19, Rev’d Victoria Askin was appointed to be responsible for Pastoral Care, and a team of volunteers began to regularly contact a list of parishioners to ascertain they were safe and also to find if they were in need of assistance of any kind. Victoria also has responsibility for Music Worship, and oversight of the Children’s Ministry which includes preschool up to intermediate age. We also know she has a lovely singing voice, and its great to hear her contributing to our worship leading, along with our other dedicated and talented worship leaders.

As Wardens during 2020, Bill Jermyn and I continued to be grateful to all of you for your ongoing support as we faced various challenges and matters worth celebrating. Bill has served the combined parish as Vicars Warden since the parishes of St James and St Martins first began meeting and

9

worshipping together. I want to thank him for being an able Warden in fulfilling our Wardens duties together. Bill, I wish you well in your “Retirement” although I have no doubt you, along with Jane, will keep busy looking after the grounds at 200 Riccarton Road and at St James.

I am indebted to Sue Phillips for agreeing to assist me as People’s Warden until a new warden is elected at the AGM. Thank you for your discernment and wisdom in these last few months. Thank you Sue. Work is often needed on buildings, and so during the year we have done work as it has been needed. During 2020 we had the insulation at 200 Riccarton Road upgraded and replacement of some spouting was done as well as extensive electrical repairs carried out.

About the middle of the year unsuccessful attempts were made to sell St James, but due to a number of complications these offers all fell through and the property has now been withdrawn from the market.

The year 2021 got off to a good start with the 9am services being well supported, and the January fellowship meals being well attended. Thanks to those who hosted these meetings.

In February, after some repairs were made to the roof, the loft was redecorated and some second hand chairs were purchased.

Yours in Christ, Nigel Pugh Vicars Warden and Peoples Warden.

SECTION 4 – FINANCE Financial Overview 2020 It was encouraging to see that after a year filled with challenges related to the impact of COVID-19 that we ended up with only a small deficit. Many thanks to you all for your contributions and careful management which resulted in a $3,016 deficit. A comprehensive review of the budget was conducted in April 2020 by members of the Vestry after we entered into the lockdown to make sure that we remained on track with our finances. The COVID-19 Wage subsidy was received, but as our income was only reduced by 29% (threshold was 30%) for the 2nd quarter of 2020 we were required to return this subsidy making the small deficit even more remarkable. One of the changes we are making to our financial management is to tighten our procedures around reimbursements and so we are establishing a centralized purchasing officer. The details of how this will work are still to be finalized and so will be communicated when available. Many thanks for the faith work of our retired treasurer Rick Turner who has done a wonderful job. Also thanks to Patrick Murray who has stepped in as treasure in the short term. Thank you Finance Team

SECTION 5 – BUILDING REPORT As Wardens during 2020, we continued to be grateful to all of you for your ongoing support as we faced various challenges and matters worth celebrating.

•

200 Riccarton Road insulated to tenancy regulations standard

•

Electrical repairs to 200 Riccarton Road

•

Some spouting replaced at 200 Riccarton Road

•

2 x Venetian blinds purchased and installed at 200 Riccarton Road.

10

•

Macrocarpa trees trimmed at 200 Riccarton Road

•

Trimming of trees and gardens by Bill and Jane at 200 Riccarton Road

•

Repairs to loft roof

•

Painting of loft

•

Purchase of a second hand couch and 2 x recliner chairs for the Loft

•

New exit door handle installed into Thompson Lounge

•

Window replaced in Thompson Lounge

•

Replacement of handbasin and tap in Men’s toilet

•

Repairs to Hot water supply in Kitchen at church

•

Repairs to 14 Rimu Street shower and bathroom

•

Ongoing lawn and garden maintenance at 50 Lincoln Road

We have a number of large maintenance works to be done in the next year which will require a financial investment. Because there is so much to be done, we are looking to organise a working group to help us keep on top of what we can do ourselves to save money.

It very important for us as a parish to be good stewards of our property. Thank you to all of you who have contributed in a number of ways both practically and financially.

We appreciate you all.

Yours, Nigel Pugh Vicars Warden and People’s Warden.

SECTION 6 – PASTORAL CARE AND OUTREACH Rest Home Ministry to Riccarton and Spreydon This year has been a busy one ministering to those elderly people in rest home care, independent village living and dementia care. There are an increasing number parishioners living in/or moving in to one of the growing number of retirement homes in our area. In January 2021 we were asked to to add another service at Addington Gardens. Our ministry to Rest Homes greatly extends our pastoral mission and ministry (Jesus’ mission and ministry) of compassion and care. With this ministry comes the associated end of life pastoral care, the call of clergy to minister to those dying is on the increase post Covid lockdown. It is a privilege for us to minister and share Christ’s love in these homes.

I would like to thank Joyce, Ted, Jenny, Lorraine, and Rev Jonathan for assisting with these services in the last twelve months. Also another huge thanks to those from our congregation who care for those in our rest home communities. Grace and Peace. Sampson During the last 2020-21 year period, the pandemic has closed the doors to our Rest Homes. We meet on monthly basis, for 30 minutes at each service, bringing Holy Communion as appropriate, due to Covid matters and as at Avonlea where the 2 services are little less than 30 minutes. We believe even when a person has a mental disability that the Holy Spirit is able to reach into their needs with his love. We recommenced services from October 21.

11

Sampson and Victoria have covered Avonlea, Addington Gardens and Hoon Hay Village. Ted and Jenny have led as needed in these areas.

Jonathan and Joyce have ministered at Kauri Lodge and Margaret Stoddart. Joyce has continued to supply Rhema Bible reading notes -Word for Today and shine TV programs for those residents wishing to receive this and have encouraged grow in faith and prayer.

We are very grateful to all who have helped out where needed. This is a really important ministry for the group of people with limited capacity to otherwise grow in Christ and to help them to best function.

Joyce Fowler Co-ordinator and Rev Sampson Funeral, Marriage and Baptism Ministry Ministry to those who are grieving, those who come for baptism and couples preparing for marriage, has always been a strong feature of the life of the church. In this last year has seen a decrease in both funerals and weddings. In the same way there are fewer families coming to have their children baptised but our focus on baptisms has seen a number of mainly young people being baptised. In the meantime, those who do come seeking these pastoral services always receive a very warm welcome and sensitive ministry. These are important occasions where we serve the community and commend the faith of Christ to people who come.

Thank you again, for all you do and for the presence that you are with those who call out for God’s healing. If you are interested in joining our Pastoral Care Team, please feel free to make contact with Rev Victoria Askin. It is always a blessing to be able to spend time and prayer with those in our parish in need.

Rev. Sampson Knight

SECTION 7 – DISCIPLESHIP AND EVANGELISM Who is Jesus to you? How you answer that question has more to do growing as a disciple and as a church community than many strategic growth plans that come and go. Living out the answer in a small group and the wider community is equally important.

We are celebrating the second year of our ‘School of Good Soil’ (disciples making disciples). The parish team will graduate on Pentecost, the 23rd of May 2021. They will then lead other groups as many are doing and have already done here in our parish and further a field. The discipleship training groups have been meeting monthly for the street work in Hoon Hay Park Basketball Court, Skate Ramp and Football fields. Theyhave been tidying the areas and runningthe ‘soup kitchen or BBQ for locals. This is an outward expression of Jesus’ missional life. I am extremely proud of the group who have adopted mission as part of their DNA of living the Christian life. We have made good connections with and the local community, along with having some extremely worthwhile conversations along the way. We hope that as this group graduates, others will carry on this mission or elsewhere in the community where the Spirit leads.

As some people are not sure what we actually do in the school and what is involved we have offered a parish wide introduction/invitation for the month of May to our ‘School of Good Soil’ in a small group setting. After completing one month, people can choose to extend this training for another two months before finishing.

12

As followers of Jesus endeavouring to imitate Jesus’ does not come naturally. Let’s face it, it’s difficult but this is how God made us to function and it doesn’t come naturally. Discipleship formation must be done intentionally and this requires discipline, the discipline of a making life long disciples who make disciples.

Lent Study Groups This Lent journey, as a church we embraced again the diocese Lent Study titled “Rebuilding the Ruins”. This parish wide study was launched on the first week of Lent. Parishioners met in small groups at homes around the parish for the studies. The study was also preached/taught at our Wednesday Services and Studies went out online through our Mailchimp email service. Many people had commented how worthwhile the study was. Thank you to those who taught or facilitated the studies. In the words of sending “Go now to love and serve the Lord go in peace. Amen, we go in the name of the Lord.” We need to ask what does God want us to ‘ Rebuild”.

Alpha Course & Alpha Prayer Course Alpha has last year been run in both in Youth Group and the Wednesday Midweek Service. Alpha Prayer has also been run at the Wednesday Midweek Service.

Rev Sampson Knight

SECTION 8 – MISSIONS Our very missional parish continues to uphold the work of mission outreach both at home and overseas. It continues to be a privilege to work with those who go out and share the Lord’s love, both locally and around the world.

The commitment to tithe our income and support four Missions/Missionaries overseas has enabled those in some very tough and underprivileged poor areas overseas to outreach into these communities and make a huge difference in their lives and to give them the Lord’s love and message with many learning and spreading the message shared with them.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a devastating event for many of these poor areas in that they live on very little with most doing menial jobs which have halted with all the closedowns.

These situations have been tough times for our Mission partners overseas.

In Bangladesh, Ajit and Lorna Das have needed to focus on supplying food parcels to the families who with lockdowns have no ability to earn any money to feed their families. From the outreach to the villagers and working with the children as well as the mothers, all attending activities at Jibon and learning about the Lord’s love, they have gathered at Jibon’s gates knowing this was their only help. What an opening to share the Lord’s love with everyone, many of whom walked long distances in the hope of getting some food. Of course a real challenge for Ajit and Lorna and those helpers they got on board to help with the huge undertaking of providing food for hundreds.

Please continue to pray for this work and for all those working so hard to make this all possible.

In Cambodia, Neill & Rebekah Dunbar and their three children as they continue to learn the language, the children being home schooled with the lockdowns, and Neill working online for the local church and with sermons. Our one short lockdown does not compare in any way to the situation our Mission partners face overseas. Please pray for their outreach work as they are able and for the children as they learn from home.

In Zimbabwe, the Munyuku Secondary School children and teachers as they tackle learning around closures and the ability to prepare for examinations and the opportunity to graduate. We

13

were thrilled to have Robson Munyuku visit our church services recently, having travelled up from Dunedin to share with us how things were going in Zimbabwe. He shared how thankful the school is for what has been able to be accomplished with our financial help. There has been a huge increase in the percentage of pupils who graduate (started at 5% when we got on board to over 40% now).

This enables the children to complete higher education and then give back to their communities.

Robson shared that the next undertaking at the school is to build a teachers’ staff room, giving them an area to meet away from the classroom, as well as a place to work individually with pupils as the need arises. This is planned as a three year project. As with the past projects for this school and community, funds supply the building requirements but much of the work is completed by the villagers supplying labour (including making the building bricks).

In England, Elaine Robson continues with her translation work for ‘into Asia’ and she continues to hunt out publishers for having these works printed. Lockdown has enabled more translation work online but publication will come about once the pandemic lockdowns are lifted. Pray for Elaine’s health that she may be able to complete the work started.

At home, local mission outreach grows, especially with the young people in our community (see Youth report). The Bus Ministry (Canterbury Kids Coach) continues in the Rowley streets. The outreach into Riccarton is to continue as 200 Riccarton Road gets under way.

We continue to gather quarterly food donations to give to the Aranui mission parish, and we donate the Christmas carols at Riccarton House offertory to the Christchurch City Mission for their work.

Thankyou to all who help with the Mission work of our parish and correspond with those overseas.

Sharon Rees, Missions Co-Ordinator

SECTION 9 – YOUNG PEOPLE Young People Harvest Communities: What a year it has been! At Harvest we have had a great year of experiencing God in a tangible way through multiple series on the basics of faith and the bible, and through seeing God move in miraculous ways. To begin this report, we will look at the vision of the youth community and reflect on how this has gone, followed by taking a closer look into each of the three youth communities, and finally by addressing future direction and prayer needs.

Vision Statements: This is a reminder of the vision statements for Harvest Youth Communities: 1. Harvest Youth Communities are places where the members experience individualized and understanding care, where the leaders and mentors offer unique styles of care to best serve everyone.

2. Harvest Youth Communities are places that emphasise growth through a discipleship culture, where we balance invitation and challenge according to the context.

3. Harvest Youth Communities are restorative sanctuaries where the leaders and mentors seek to empower members into their identity by planting and tending to the spiritual seeds and soil in each member.

We have noticed that our youth communities often bring people needing support and a large amount of care. This is indicative of a society of broken people, but we are seeing that young people come to Harvest youth communities for individual care and attention that they need. We are finding that because of the longevity of our leaders and the community itself, we are starting to see some

14

real growth in our young people taking positions of leadership and growing in the physical and spiritual giftings.

Journey of Each Community: Senior Stags In the last year, the leadership team has focused largely on developing some of the core members of the community who have some leadership potential. The community has remained solid although we have missed Ben Carlile-Smith greatly as he went to college in USA. We have a new coach Zach Hannen who has been incredible in his time so far as a great guy who relates well to the people who come along. God has been faithful in providing a few more leaders to this community which has meant that we can focus our time relationally which is great! We have a wider community of roughly 35 and 15-20 regulars.

Harvest Thursdays At the end of 2020, as a leadership team we realised that Covid-19 really affected our senior core, and so we decided to re-join the seniors and juniors together. In 2021, we have developed a very solid and greatly enjoyable Thursday night community with 25 regulars and many leaders to care for those who come. This has been a great blessing as a community and is very close together. We are grateful to God’s faithfulness in providing great leaders for the community.

Junior Stags This community has been a new project of 2021 to look to extend our basketball communities.

After identifying some great young leaders in the basketball community, we asked them if they wanted to have some experience in leading which they all said yes to and we entered in to 2021 looking to open to intermediate-aged children a basketball community. From 1 on our first day to the 40 we now have; it has been a crazy ride in 2021 but God has been working in a powerful way.

Overall, we have now 110 in our youth community in the wider community, with roughly 70 regulars across the three communities. We also now have a leadership team of 14 leaders which is great!

Prayer Requests: It has been a special process to reflect on what our prayer requests were for the youth team in last year’s AGM report. We talked about wanting numerical and spiritual growth and we feel strongly that this has happened in a way beyond what we could have imagined. We are very excited to see what God will continue to do in 2021 as we look to move into our young people multiplying their faith in their communities. Thank you God for your provision in our young people.

SECTION 10 – ASSOCIATION OF ANGLICAN WOMEN The AAW of St Martin’s and St James continues to meet together on the first Thursday of the month The AAW plays an important role in ministering to the women in our Parish through pastoral care and creating an inclusive environment for women who don’t usually attend any worship services.

Number of members: Presently we have about 32 active members of which 24 are financial members.

2020 certainly had its challenges with the Covid lockdown. During this time many of us rang one another to maintain a sense of connectedness. Sadly, we missed many of our meetings. Namely making the Palm crosses and of course our April, May and June meetings.

15

We resumed our meetings in July with a speaker from the Rowley Centre and in August and September we had our Vicar Sampson and Dawn Reese sharing their life stories.

In our October meeting we had an inspiring and entertaining guest speaker. Andrew McKerrow is the first Chaplain appointed to be involved in the New Zealand Racing industry. He is a strong Christian and his mission field is the N.Z horse racing community.

November was our A.G.M. We celebrated our annual Communion service taken by Sampson. We later convened and held elections for 2021 committee.

Sue Phillips is now the Chairperson with Joan Kennard taking on the role of secretary and Sharon Rees being our Treasurer. Our other committee members are Velda Kelly, Helen Rawley, Bev Hartley and Dawn Reese.

Unfortunately, due to absences at our November meeting, we decided to carry over some remaining issues to our December meeting. The main one being for all of us to discuss and finalise our sponsorship of Memory. Over the past few years we have sponsored Memory, a child in Zimbabwe. However, on the advice from the Prison Ministry Fellowship, we have sadly had to stop our sponsorship. The group decided to still collect the usual donations and give financial contributions to local children’s agencies on a case by case basis.

This will be a trial for a year and we will review it at our next AGM. As we were gathered together at our December meeting, we farewelled our past Chairperson, Helen Williams. In appreciation for her service she was presented with flowers and a card. Thank you once again Helen.

The December meeting followed with coffee and dessert.

Hopefully 2021 will be a smoother journey for us all. In February Helen Rawley spoke to us about her experiences as a Christchurch Homestay Co-ordinator. Fortunately, we were able to make the Palm Crosses for this Easter and in April our group joined the rest of the Parish in attending the Maundy Service which was very memorable.

Our A.A.W. were asked to organise the World Day of Prayer service in March for our local area.

This was a very special event mainly because it is a privilege to work with the local Churches.

The rest of 2021 is looking good with a variety of guest speakers, outings and activities planned.

There is always an invitation to newcomers. All are welcome.

Sue Phillips AAW President

SECTION 11 – LOVE RICCARTON It was great to get together and celebrate the Blessing of 200 Riccarton Road on Saturday 10 April. The weather looked threatening in the morning, but it cleared up in time for us to gather with members of the parish, guests, and Bishop Peter to bless the building and the grounds. It was lovely to see everyone, old and young, enjoying the space and dreaming of what could be.

The Love Riccarton working group has spent much of the last year gathering information, visiting and interviewing groups who are working on a range of missional projects. All of this was to help us refine what the plan is for Love Riccarton. While this was very helpful for

16

our discussions, we are still prayerfully working on what the shape of the ministry will be. At the end of last year, a video was made and we advertised for expressions of interest in order to find the people that God is calling to live and minister together. We received three responses. One was from overseas so we weren’t able to consider them at this time while our borders are still closed. We had one interesting conversation which hasn’t led any further.

We are continuing to explore opportunities for gathering further expressions of interest. At this stage we are also mindful that we don’t want the property to be sitting empty so vestry will be making a decision at the May vestry meeting about whether it should be put back onto the rental market short term until we have appointed the suitable ministry residents.

SECTION 12 – DIGITAL MINISTRY

Most churches confuse their congregations with chaotic messaging: “Check the bulletin! Call the church! Talk to the pastor!” But messy communication like this is complicated and rarely results in greater engagement.

By consolidating every connection point at our church into a single destination, we can expect to see an increase in next steps and engagement. This simple approach is known as the Central Hub strategy. Our Central Hub is the church website. The vision for the website is to bring together a connection between the online and offline experiences of everyone who comes into contact with St Martins St James.

Thanks to Chris Thorne we have access to sermons dating back to February 2018. You can listen to sermons on the website. Thanks Chris for all your hard work with this and all your cool graphics you have used when putting up the sermons to the website.

Thanks to Jackie Cordiner for keeping updated the calendar on the website. Jackie had been doing this from 2019 to the end of 2020.

Nucleus Media - We also has access Nucleus Media, that gives us done-for-you social media posts, cinematic worship backgrounds, motion titles & countdowns, 4K stock footage shot with churches in mind, Photoshop & After Effects templates, and premium training & tutorials.

Nucleus Editor - A straightforward and easy drag & drop editor is used to build and maintain the website. It was specifically designed to be used by the everyday church staff member or volunteer.

No coding skills are required whatsoever. If you would to be involved with the website then you contact Murray Richards on muzzr@outlook.com.

17

"Nucleus has always been about helping your church see more next steps and more life change. Now with Nucleus 2, we’re taking a major leap forward in how this is made possible at your church."Brady Shearer Founder of Nucleus Social Media - Thanks to all who help with the St Martins St James Facebook page by posting regularly on it. As mentioned previously Nucleus Media means unlimited access to social media posts designed specifically for churches. Every post is focused on stopping the scroll, starting meaningful conversations, and provoking spiritual practice. Social media is a ministry, it’s not just a vehicle to promote ministry. Every social post we produce at Nucleus Media reflects that conviction.

Rightnow Media - Say hello to the streaming library of Bible study videos that inspires faith every day of the week. "Being able to point people with confidence to RightNow Media has expanded our ability to deepen people's engagement with the Bible."RightNow Media has offered us as a church free access until July 2021. If you would like to more, speak to Linda Grobbler who absolutely loves it. Also included in RightNow is Media Kids and Serve your small groups with bible studies they can go through together whether in person, or online within virtual groups. stmartinsstjames.church/rightnow-media Thanks for reading this report. I hope that it gave a good overview of this new ministry here at St Martins St James. If you are interested in being a part of it then have a chat with Murray Richards.

Murray Richards

SECTION 13 – HEALTH AND SAFTEY Diocesan Health & Safety Person The Diocese has recently appointed Cherie Dirkze as the Diocesan Safeguarding Officer which includes the old role of Diocesan CYPSO Officer and some new responsibilities as well. We were encouraged to hear from Cherie at the March Archdeaconry meeting where she shared about this new role. One thing to note is that she is aiming to introduce a grading system for parishes based on an assessment of the parishes’ health and safety performance. This will help us to identify the areas where we are meeting the requirements and the areas where we need to improve.

To note is that Vestry adopted Tool box for H&S in the Parish.

This year I received a complaint re the unsafe condition of the carpet in the through-way from the Thompson Lounge to the Church. As of last week there has not been and attention to this matter.

Last year I was asked to make comment on the development of a policy on “Lockdown Procedure”.

I have not heard what happened to those comments or if in fact a policy has been developed.

I resigned from this position last year but as yet there has not been a replacement made. I will not be continuing in this role as from this Annual General Meeting.

It is also disappointing that there has not been very little support from the Diocese about Health and Safety issues since the inception of Health and Safety officers in each Parish. My memory is that there was one evening workshop in the early stages. I recommend Vestry make some comment about this lack of support/interest to the Diocese.

Thank you for receiving this report.

Velda Kelly.

18

CYPSO (Children and Young Persons Services Officer) I am pleased to report no complaints have been received this year.

Patrick Baker CYPSO

SECTION 14 – FUNDRAISING Raising funds from a variety of activities to help with costs, within the parish, in our community, and for overseas missions we support, can sometimes be a real challenge but we have always had thankful hearts in what we achieve working together and helping where we can.

During each year a number of ‘behind the scenes’ raising of funds happens quietly as we gather for church activities. The longest standing of these would be our “Marmalade for Missions” with jars of marmalade and jams available for purchase (on the Thompson Lounge piano during morning tea/breakfast). This task has been passed down over the decades and we thank Jenny & Ted Robertson who currently produce these. Do remember if you have appropriate fruits to be used or you wish to donate some sugar for the cooking process please speak with the Robertsons, and thank you.

We were able to donate $500 to Bangladesh for Adjit & Lorna to keep giving food to those in need during the Pandemic closedown, and $500 to the Dunbar family in Cambodia as they too work and cope with the closedown situation.

Another small activity has been the card making ladies who gather to chat and produce a great variety of lovely giving cards. These are also available for purchase after services. Do remember to check the baskets of cards for using as you acknowledge celebrations. The group were able to make a $200 donation to Cancer Kids.

Bev Hartley co-ordinates the catering opportunities which arise and the ladies of the AAW group readily help with the supply of food and the kitchen tasks. With the COVID shutdowns not so many gatherings have continued but the Retired Clergy dinner for the Diocese is held each year for some 80 or so diners. This is always a lovely time and much appreciated by those who attend. Funds from these functions are deposited to the Church FABRIK fund.

In recent years we have not got involved in many of the big labour intensive initiatives of the past as many of our ‘people power’ personnel are aging and the long physical hours are no longer feasible.

Late into the night stocktaking, security persons tasks at sports venues etc. and even the big sausage sizzles, all with lots of standing (old legs now can’t cope). Other larger events like big book sales and garage sales where our hall is full of items to sell also require much help to run but could still happen with extra help on board.

All these activities have enabled the fundraising of thousands of dollars to enable the parish to thrive and outreach to many. Other opportunities for fundraising are always welcome and any ideas are welcomed.

We have more recently had activities like quiz nights, more of which are planned. It is also planned to have a parish fair in October this year. Watch for notices detailing what is needed for this to run and be the success we work for in all that we do. (speak with Catharine McNeill).

Sharon Rees, for Fundraising

19

SECTION 15 – PLAYGROUP St Martin’s Play Group continues to evolve, we are maintaining an average of around 12 children per session.

The last term has brought a small influx of families including some of the families from St James Playgroup.

In 2020 during the Covid lockdown, we maintained some contact with families through our facebook page. It was an opportunity to cover the families with prayer through this social media channel. Due to Diocesan restrictions on children’s ministries we remained closed a lot longer than other early childhood facilities in the area. Coupled with the vulnerability of our older volunteers, we remained closed for all of term 2 last year. A change in levels later in the year also saw us unable to open. Our families are very understanding of this need.

While families are invited to all activities held within the parish, not many of them have taken the opportunity to do so. We (the PG Team) are actively encouraging families to the few church events we have. During the annual Christmas visit to the church, the children (and their adults) had the opportunity to ring the church bell, speak through the microphone to the church, explore the nativity and listen to the story, make music and sing carols. Thanks to Sampson, Victoria and Tom for a wonderful session, our families gave us such positive feedback. As I have mentioned in previous years, it would be wonderful to have more family-friendly activities within the parish that our playgroup families could attend.

As a team we are constantly discussing what we are doing and what could be changed if necessary to improve this service. We reflect on how God can be seen in us and our servant heart is evident.

Before each session we pray together, when someone has a birthday a prayer is said over them, and the playgroup families are in the volunteers’ prayers regularly.

In 2020 we had some changes. Cindy moved to full time work, but has remained as administrator, Sue Phillips and Monica Wyatt (who were very instrumental in starting this ministry almost 30 years ago) are overseeing the day to day functioning. We have also seen the ‘retirement’ of two long standing volunteers, Helen Williams and Maxine Carlsen in the past year. We are forever grateful for the time and energy they have put into Playgroup over their time in this ministry. 2021 has seen another change with Azaria Peach stepping into the role of Playgroup Coordinator, facilitating the daily running of this ministry.

In the future, we hope and pray to continue to offer this ministry, growing numbers and most importantly provide a welcoming environment where whānau can feel a sense of belonging, support and their roles nurtured.

Our funding from the Ministry of Education continues to be valuable. Through this funding we are able to maintain the facilities through topping up sand and bark, ensuring the environment is safe and well maintained.

We continue to have a small, but dedicated group of volunteers. These include, Sue Phillips, Monica Wyatt, Helen Carlile, Lesley Goodbrand, Jenny Robertson and Hamish Crawford. I would like to acknowledge Lesley Goodbrand’s commitment to this ministry, she attends every session whether rostered on or not. We are extremely blessed with the volunteers that make our PG team with their faithfulness to the ministry and talents each bring.

Blessings, Cindy Backhouse Playgroup Administrator

20

SECTION 16 – MAINLY MUSIC Our year has been a good year of fun and games on Wednesday mornings. Time spent with our young Families is always enjoyable.

The highlight being the Christmas party hosted by Rev. Sampson and Rev Victoria Askin We had the opportunity to show off our lovely tree, watch a good video and then a talk by Vicar Sampson explaining the Christmas Tableau to our guests.

Also the children had the opportunity to ring the Church bell, bang the drum, speak into the mic, then return to the Neave Room for a shared morning tea. As helpers we all enjoyed the friendship and support we received from our young families.

Special thanks to Allanah Harrison, Monica Wyatt, Alan Harper, Jim Lunan .Judy Carson and Bev Hartley who provide fresh food when necessary for morning tea. Thank you all, Ted & Jenny Robertson Ted & Jenny Robertson

21

SECTION 17 – 2020 AGM MINUTES

22

23

24

SECTION 18 - MUSIC HOLY SPIRIT Verse 1 There's nothing worth more, that will ever come close No thing can compare, You're our living hope Your Presence Lord Verse 2 I've tasted and seen, of the sweetest of loves Where my heart becomes free, and my shame is un-done In Your Presence Lord Chorus Holy Spirit You are welcome here Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere Your Glory God is what our hearts long for To be overcome by Your Presence Lord Interlude Verse 1 There's nothing worth more, that will ever come close No thing can compare, You're our living hope Your Presence Lord Verse 2 I've tasted and seen, of the sweetest of loves Where my heart becomes free, and my shame is un-done In Your Presence Lord Chorus x 2 Holy Spirit You are welcome here Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere Your Glory God is what our hearts long for To be overcome by Your Presence Lord

25

10,000 REASONS (BLESS THE LORD) Chorus Bless the Lord, O my soul O my soul Worship His Holy name Sing like never before O my soul I'll worship Your Holy name The sun comes up It's a new day dawning It's time to sing Your song again Whatever may pass And whatever lies before me Let me be singing When the evening comes Chorus You're rich in love And You're slow to anger Your name is great And Your heart is kind For all Your goodness I will keep on singing Ten thousand reasons For my heart to find Chorus And on that day When my strength is failing The end draws near And my time has come Still my soul will sing Your praise unending Ten thousand years And then forevermore Chorus (x2) I'll worship Your holy name

26

I'll worship Your holy name "10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)" words and music by Jonas Myrin and Matt Redman © 2011 Said And Done Music, sixsteps Music, Thankyou Music, worshiptogether.com songs, Atlas Mountain Songs CCLI Licence # 88193

27