Category: Promotion

The PCANZ Special Assembly 22 supported the proposal that the PCANZ become a denominational partner of Eco Church NZ and that individual presbyteries and parishes be encouraged to join Eco Church. Eco Church New Zealand  is churches across Aotearoa New Zealand actively caring for God’s earth as an integral part of their mission.  A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand established the Eco Church NZ Project in 2020 as an ecumenical initiative to support church communities to actively care for God’s earth as an integral part of their mission.

Special Assembly also passed a motion that all ministry units within the Presbyterian Church undertake the A Rocha Eco Church survey www.ecochurch.org.nz/self-assessment-worksheet and choose one action point from each suggested area to complete over the coming year.

Online Eco Church Wānanga
Calling all church-based eco reps and those interested in Eco Church from across the motu!
Three-part interactive online wānanga for Eco Church kaihāpai / advocates.
25 July – Session 1: What is an Eco Church?
1 Aug – Session 2: How do Eco Churches work in practice?
8 Aug – Session 3: Challenges, opportunities and what YOU can do
Who: Anyone who wants to support their church to care for the environment
When: 7:30pm – 9pm on Mondays 25 July, 1 Aug, 8 Aug
Where: Zoom, in the comfort of your own home

Download the Wananga poster here.

Eco Church Website

We invite you to read the latest edition of the Buzz Newsletter

In this month’s Buzz:
:

• The Year Ahead
• The ONE National Ministry Leaders’ Conference
• Key Leaders Retreat
• The Whanau Friendly Process
• Pink Shirt Day
• Chair Basketball

We are excited to bring you a project we have been working on for quite some time now…the Whānau Friendly Process! 

In partnership with our sister department, PCFM (Presbyterian Children and Families Ministry), we have developed a process where a whole congregation is invited to discover six ministry priorities that will help a whole church to welcome and nurture the faith of children, young people and their families. 

The Whānau Friendly Process is an intentional journey with teaching and reflection sessions using our kiwi made film series which is aimed at all ages. It fosters an understanding of the collective power of the congregation discipling young people – together.  

By going through the Whānau Friendly Process your church will reflect on your congregation’s current ministry and discern in which way God may be leading you in the upcoming years. 

The easiest way to understand what this process looks like is to watch this short video. 

Our dream is for the local church to be a place where all generations are present: thriving, encouraging one another, and growing in faith, together. 

We are excited that this process includes your whole congregation, promoting the importance of ministry to young people and children which is a big win for youth leaders. 

If your church prides itself on being a Kids Friendly church, you are welcome to add the Whānau Friendly logo next your Kids Friendly logo in your church after going through this process if you wish. 

We believe the Whānau Friendly Process is a great “next step” for your church in prioritising ministry to the children, youth, and families in your midst!    

We invite you to visit the Whānau Friendly website  

We invite you to read the latest edition of the Buzz Newsletter

In this month’s Buzz:
:

• Connect – Save the Date
• Isolation care packages
• Easter ideas for your church
• Young Adult Ministry Cohort
• Recommendations for children’s and youth Ministry in the Traffic Light System
• NUA
• Safety WOF Refresher
• Emerge Leadership Formation
• No arms, oo legs, no worries

We have heard from many people who are hoping we can run our national youth ministry conference Connect this year. We communicated that we would be making an announcement about Connect by the 21st February.  

Well, here we are in February, and the Omicron variant of COVID is clearly starting its upward trend on the bell curve, which makes it’s it very hard to be certain about upcoming events. We believe we will be in a much better place in a couple of months’ time to make a decision about Connect 2022.  

What we can say at this point is that we have provisional dates booked for El Rancho, Wellington on the on the 22-24 July, and we ask that you put these dates in your calendar. 

As we discern putting on Connect ‘22 we will continue pray, pay attention to the news and experts, and engage our key stakeholders and colleagues.  

In March 2022, the Whānau Friendly process will be launched.

Our dream is that the local church is a place where all generations are present, thriving, encouraging one another and growing in faith together. The Whānau Friendly process has been designed to help your church move closer to this. 

The resource is available for churches to run in the new year. In this process your whole congregation will discover together six ministry essentials that can help ministry to children, young people and their families flourish in your parish. Your congregation will also discover that everyone benefits and grows when we are intentional about connecting across the generations. 

The resource has been created in partnership with Presbyterian Children and Families Ministry and includes a film series, intergenerational teaching curriculum, community surveys and resources to create actions and priorities for ministry. 

SU Ireland and SU Scotland together bring you NUA:Move – A brand new 3 part series helping those leaving primary education make the big Move to secondary school!

Available: May 31st 2021!

Info: 3 Episodes – approx 6mins each (suitable also for church youth groups or at home)

Join Sarah Campbell, Darren Bourke and Mark Murray in exploring the feelings we face during a big change like this, the influences that shape us and the growth opportunities among the challenges.

Alongside the videos is a downloadable resource pack with quizzes and reflection activities formatted for classroom delivery, youth groups and home learning.

It’s no surprise to any of us when we hear the data saying there are less and less young adults in our churches. Many of us in ministry are experiencing this first hand. Whilst there is no silver bullet to change this situation, understanding the way young adults think about faith and life and how that might differ to other generations is a key starting point if the church wants to connect with and be relevant to the young adults in our community.

We have invited Paul Humphreys to come and share with us and lead us in a conversation around engaging with young adults. Paul has had years of experience working with and journeying alongside young adults as a youth pastor and in camping ministry, both in New Zealand and overseas. Alongside Paul’s hands on experience, he has also read widely and thought deeply about the church’s engagement with its younger members. Currently Paul serves as the National Leadership Facilitator for Scripture Union New Zealand.

7:00pm – 8:30pm Monday 10 Maay 2021:
Young Adult Ministry Essentials
via Zoom, from anywhere in the country. 

[Register Here] 

After registering you will be emailed information on how to attend the training.

Future Connect Online dates for your calendar: 

• 12 July, Intermediates
• 13 Sept, Transitioning well, moving on from Intermediate and High School.
• 8 Nov, Helping parents win

These are our provisional topics, we may change topics if circumstances require us to tackle another topic urgently.

For innovative and creative young leaders

The Andrew Norton Young Leaders Scholarship was established in 2019 in the loving memory of Very Rev Andrew Norton, past Moderator, and a creative and innovative leader in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. This fund supports young people in the Alpine Presbytery in formal leadership formation

Eligibility

For leaders under 40 years of age who Alpine Presbytery recognise as being:

• Innovative
• Influencers
• Risk takers
• Theological thinkers
• In, or likely to be in leadership roles in a ministry of Alpine Presbytery

Areas of Use

• Study (undergraduate, post graduate) in areas of innovation, leadership, or theology, that have potential to inform church and faith formation
• Research project expenses in areas of innovation in local church life
• Approved conferences, including conference fees and travel expenses exploring innovation in local church life

Details

Up to $3000 per annum

Applications to be received by the Presbytery in December and granted in February the following year.

Applications to:

The Executive Officer martin@alpinepresbytery.org by 20 December