09 Wellington
St Paul’s Lutheran Congregation Wellington
2024 marked the second full year when St Pauls operated without a resident pastor. As in the previous year a number of people stepped up to ensure that worship services and key functions continued. During two years of vacancy St Paul’s were blessed to be served by locum pastors: John Thiel, Lester Reinbott, Robert Wiebusch, Detlev Vosgera, Geoff Scheff, Mark Whitfield and Jim Peitsch.
During the periods when there was no locum the congregation continued to function and maintain full worship services due to the dedicated efforts of many members, including lay preachers, lay worship leaders and musicians. Despite farewelling some members who moved away from Wellington attendances have remained strong. There were also some new members who joined our congregation.
To the great joy of the congregation Joel Cramer accepted the call to Wellington and arrived in January 2025. He was installed as pastor on February 2, 2025, with Bishop Richard Schwedes officiating at a well attended service. Joel is accompanied by his wife Rachel, and children Eleanora and Benedict. Attending the installation service were a wonderful group of visitors from Lutheran Churches around New Zealand, Australia and from other Christian communities in Wellington.
During the pastoral vacancy our manse has been rented out via a property management company. When Pastor Joel and his family accepted the call maintenance was conducted over the Christmas holidays in preparation for their arrival. Pastor Joel and his family moved into the manse in January and they have begun to settle in getting to know the city and its people.
We have confirmation classes every fortnight after church on Sundays with 9 young people attending. We have one home group who meet weekly for bible studies but are hoping to add a second perhaps in a different part of the city. It is hard to host groups at the church as parking has become difficult. St Paul’s are grateful to Massey University who have kindly allowed us to use their staff carparks on Sundays and at special worship times. This makes it much easier for people to arrive and find parking when attending worship.
In January 2024 and 2025 we held a family camp at El Rancho christian campsite. Members from St Lukes Palmerston North were invited and attendances totalled around 30 each year. Over the weekend we had games and activities such as rock climbing, river tubing, and a treasure hunt. We also had guest speakers who shared both bible teaching and stories from their ministries. Worship on Sunday was a highlight as was the food provided by the camp staff. We are very grateful to the LCNZ for their subsidy to the costs of the camp.
Since 2016 we have financially supported local Lau evangelists sharing the gospel with the Lau people in Thailand. Feedback from the mission is shared with the congregations and we pray for them in our services. We also collect food and other non perishable goods to support local outreach.
With Pastor Joel arriving in 2025 we are looking forward to discovering new ways to live out our faith and serve the Lord Jesus.
Your brothers and sisters in Christ,
St Paul’s Ministry Council, Wellington
Financial Reports
Wellington: https://lca.box.com/shared/static/307i92n9kfp8gz59p1yo9abck6t21k89.docx
