07 Manawatu
Manawatu Lutheran Parish
Since the last LCNZ Synod the Manawatu Parish comprising St Luke’s and Trinity, has been in vacancy.
Our focus has been caring for our people. We have done this by employing Pastor Warren Paltridge 3 days a month to visit and take worship one Sunday a month. We have an active visiting team and home communion team. We are also focused on supporting our current community ministries which are the Lutheran Homes and Beacon at Summerhill.
We have been well supported by our lay preachers, a very talented group of people who enjoy bringing God’s Word to us in worship. They meet together monthly to teach, learn and share, and our parish reaps the reward.
Our leadership, the Pastoral Leadership Team meet monthly and have the welfare of the parish members at heart.
We have been blessed to have some amazing Interim Pastors so far in our vacancy. They have each been eagerly welcomed and provided insight, relief for our lay preachers along with love and understanding. We are most grateful for this support.
This year has seen us receive a number of visitors to our worship services, mainly people from other cultures. We have also gained some members from diverse cultures.
These people bring a freshness to our thinking and are a joy to have as part of our parish.
Highlights:
Two new home groups, one comprising of ladies and the other which is made up of diverse nationalities.
Ladies lunch, held 1st and 3rd Friday of each month. During the colder months it was Women’s Winter Warmers (Soup, buns & sweet) and then became Summer Sandwiches). This group provides an outing for our women with lunch provided, friends welcome and lots of fellowship and laughter.
Lay led Lenten Services – over a four week period both in 2024 and this year. This years Lenten studies have been amazing, focusing on different people of the Bible and their relationship to Jesus and Holy Week. It was wonderfully attended by large numbers of the parish.
Connections – this ministry was started to connect our children and youth with adult parish members. Our young people are mentored and friendships developed between them and their adult member. Some adults have taken on the task to just pray for individual young persons while others do numerous activities with them. It is a delight to watch these young people and their mentors greet each other on a Sunday morning and to also see the connections being made between all our adult members and young people.
Little things that help us connect to our people, visitors and wider community have been sharing a little Jesus and painted rocks in our church garden. Sharing a little Jesus figurine gives opportunity to share your faith with others and the painted rocks are there for anyone to take away with them.
Children & Youth Ministry:
This ministry continues to be our primary mission focus and is ably led by our Children and Youth Ministry Worker, Wayne. This ministry includes Sonshine ( Sunday school, weekly during church), CK (Youth Group),held fortnightly on Friday nights alternating between a teaching night and a fun night. This group is comprised of our own small group of youth and their friends, attendance being between 9-15. One of the focuses has been to have CK leaders. These leaders along with Wayne, decide the programme for each term, the objective being to help train them in leadership and responsibility. Each term a Youth worship takes place on Friday night at St Luke’s. This is well attended by families and members as we enjoy a really different time of worship. The CK kids help lead the worship and lead the singing. It’s louder, it’s different but exciting to watch these young people not only grow in and openly share their faith but also grow in showing/sharing their talents. Also we hold Turbo Time each school holidays (except for the Christmas holidays). This holiday programme is for 5-10years and comprises teaching, usually on a theme, songs, games and craft. It is also supported by our own small group of children and their friends and children from other denominations.
Challenges:
St Luke’s has had a leaky roof problem for a number of years. It has been difficult to find experienced roofers and builders to meet this challenge. Late in 2024 the parish and a local contractor came to an agreement to completely re roof and replace the internal guttering with external guttering. This work has finally begun.
The Call:
In late April we extended a Call. We are waiting for a response and continue to pray that God will lead a spiritual shepherd to our parish in the near future.
Working together in God’s kingdom
Atlas Wood
Manawatu Parish Chairman
Financial reports
Manuwatu: https://lca.box.com/shared/static/uoojlecdna6ol72h7tzgu5htm2wusy9b.pdf
