The Nativity Centre's hall just got a whole lot more useful. Our children's ministries, especially Tunes for Tots (Fridays) and Nativity Kids (Sunday mornings) as well as our 7pm Sunday services will benefit by having a permanent data projector. The possibilities for using the hall for other events that require video projection just increased with this addition.
Assistant Priest Jonathan Wasley with Jeff Sawyer, Mark Ralston and Graeme Howarth installed a new short throw data projector on Wednesday. Jonathan has been working on this project since before Christmas. Great work men!

It's great to welcome Rose Newton to our staff. With her husband Jeremy she has moved from Nelson where she served with Impact Church and 24-7 in youth and College ministry. She comes to us with a lot of respect from over there.

24-7 is a youth support programme in secondary schools, but based out of local churches, with community support. It originated from Spreydon Baptist Church in Christchurch, and was so appreciated by secondary schools it’s now gone nationwide. It has so much “street cred” that last year the government agreed to help fund it.

Rose’s work is 15 hours/week as 24-7 Team Leader at Marlborough Girls College. Her other 25 hours each week will be building our youth ministry. Jeremy has a position as a PE teacher at Marlborough Girls.

For Nativity this means with our staffing 3 out of 4 of our paid ministry staff are being re-focussed this year on leading our ministry to those on the fringes of the church, young families, and youth. That's an exciting investment - and a big faith step. What a year!

It's already the 14th day of 2017! How has this year gone so fast? How has it become so long since I last had a chance to post some comment here?!
Two months ago we had what are now being called the Kaikoura earthquakes. In at least some supermarkets hot cross buns and other Easter "commercial opportunities" are in the aisles - just opposite the Christmas clearance.
It's easy to be cynical. But New Year somehow presents us with a Christian mandate - that in Jesus our God and Leader, all things are made new.
Our Parish is named after the ultimate in new starts, new beginnings - the Nativity. That nativity, that birth of God as a human being in Jesus is amazing. It represents hope for you and me as individuals. It represents hope for us collectively as a Parish. It represents hope that we can offer our wider society and world!
We have so many exciting things before us this year. I'll write again of some of them.
We have so many solid things that have been built into our foundations in the last 12 months and more.
We have had so many things to be thankful for. I think of the time Libby and I have just had with our kids and grand-boys - that Rachael and her family now live in the South Island, the celebration of William's engagement, walking part of the Queen Charlotte Track with younger daughter Emily, and Michael being here pre-Christmas ... the list goes on.
Being thankful, not cynical - I pray that for you and yours, and us as a Parish for this year. For that reason Libby and I can say to you - Happy New Year!