Nau mai, haere mai.
Welcome to

St Michael
and All Angels

We are a community of Jesus' disciples, known by the way we love each other and the people of Newlands-Paparārangi.
We'd love to meet you.

Upcoming events

KO WAI TĀTOU?
WHO ARE WE?

  • A 'stretchy' family in which all are welcome, no matter what age or stage of life or belief you're at

  • Adventurers and experimenters who have lots of fun together...

  • while seeking to make our community a more loving and kind place to live

  • Explorers of why we're here, who this guy Jesus is and why that matters, and what our unique contribution is.

  • We're part of the Anglican tradition - which means a church that's placed right at the heart of the local community. We are the oldest public building in Newlands, opened in 1912.

In the past year we have...

  • planted trees

  • organised community clean ups

  • run our weekly Veggie Co-op

  • set up a community pataka

  • run the annual second-hand uniform sale

  • held church in the bush!

  • looked after social housing tenants

  • prayed a lot

  • enjoyed manaakitanga

  • learned more about who God is

What to expect as part of our whānau of faith?

There are lots of ways to connect at St Michael's. On a Sunday, you can come along to our 10am, family-friendly service of worship. Or you can join us for prayer on Wednesday morning at 9am. We have lots of fun together and share life in lots of other ways too.

If you're keen to explore more about who Jesus is, get in touch. We'd love to connect you with people and resources who can help you on your journey of faith. You might like to take an Alpha course (exploring Christianity) course, or connect for a yarn at PINTS (People in Newlands Talking Stuff). Or connect with a small group for study, worship, prayer and friendship.

We love to serve our community and you will find our whānau serving in various ways across the neighbourhood. We are the local hub for the Titahi Bay Vege Co-op . For just $15 a week you can sign up for a bag of fruit and vege, delivered to St Michael's for collection on Tuesdays between 3.30-6.30pm.

our people

Co-Priests in Charge
Rev Richard and Rev Rebecca Apperley

Community Priest
Rev Hera Whitehead

People's Warden
Sue Corbett
Vicar's Warden
Paul Stone

Worship at St Michael's

Sunday 10am, Parish Eucharist
Every Sunday we gather at 10am to celebrate where we have seen God at work in our lives during the week, and be refreshed for the week to come. This is a family-friendly, all-age service and everyone are welcome. We don't mind if you've been to church heaps, or if you are just wondering who this Jesus guy is anyway.
In our service of worship, you can expect music, prayer, words to say together, hearing from the Bible, a short talk, and Eucharist (Communion) in which we celebrate Jesus' life, death and resurrection through sharing bread and wine together.
Everyone is invited to morning tea in the hall following the service.
If you'd like to talk to someone about our worship services, or any other ways you can be involved in the life of St Michael's, please get in touch with Rebecca or Richard, our Co-Priests in Charge, at vicar@newlandsanglican.org.nz.

Tikanga Māori Te Reo Service
We are delighted that Poneke Pastorate has a regular Tikanga Māori services at St Michael's, held in te reo. These take place on the fourth Sunday of the month at 11.30, and are open to everyone.

Sunday Sanctuary
Come along to Sunday Sanctuary for peace, reflection, creativity and refreshment. This is your space to come and hang out with Jesus at your own speed in our beautiful church space.
Whether you're wondering about spirituality, went to church in the past and are wondering what it's like now, or just find life hectic and want a quiet space to spend time in reflection, this is for you. You might be someone who's already leading in a church space and needs just to sit, worship Jesus and remember that you're loved.Services are usually held on the last Sunday of the month with the exception of March (held on 24 March) and December (held on 22 December), and will last about an hour.Check our calendar for the most up to date service times.

First time to a service at St Michael's?

Coming along to a new church for the first time can be daunting, so here's what you can expect when you come along on a usual Sunday. If you're coming with younger people, we all worship and learn together. There's an interactive area down the front with comfy chairs, bean bags, crafts, books and toys for anyone who likes to have things to do while they take part, and so people can see what's going on. There are also separate chairs, and traditional pews.

We are very relaxed: in our service we have music (a variety of styles), we hear from the Bible, there's usually a talk of about 15 minutes, we pray together, and we share Eucharist (communion). Everyone is welcome at God's table, either to receive the bread and wine (non-alcoholic available too) or have a blessing. There are opportunities to be prayed for by the prayer team in another room if you would like. Our service starts at 10am and usually lasts for about 1 hr 15, with morning tea afterwards.

Wriggling, doubts and questions, participating as much or as little as you like: all these are great. Our hope is that you'll experience God moving in your life, and that we may be part of that journey with you.

Sermons

You can listen to previous sermons here,
or subscribe to our podcast:

Contact

We'd love to hear from you! Send us a message using the form below, or email us at office@newlandsanglican.org.nz

Thank you

Thanks for your message - we'll get in touch with you as soon as we can.

What's this?

The Community Pātaka or share shelf is outside our gate. It's a resource for our community to share what we have and bless each other, and take what we need.

How does it work?

Feel free to help yourself to what you need, or take something to bless someone else. Sometimes we all need a little bit of help, or just a treat. Feel free to take what you need. We don't check everything that people donate, so if you are taking a food item please check the expiry date as we can't be responsible if you get sick.

Dropping something off?

Thank you so much! We accept:

  • Unexpired, unopened food items (nothing hot or pre-cooked that requires refrigeration please)

  • Other household items like toiletries and cleaning products

  • Baby care supplies

  • Garden produce - fruit, vegetables, seeds or seedlings

  • Books and puzzles

  • Crafty, creative things that you've made that you might like to share

St Michael's partners with the Titahi Bay Fruit & Vege Co-op, to bring affordably priced fruit and vegetables to our community. Just $15 a week sees bag of fresh fruit and vegetables delivered to St Michael's, ready for you to collect from our volunteer crew, 3.30pm-6pm each Tuesday.Order by Wednesday 5pm for collection the following Tuesday. You can order one or more packs at a time, and there's no need to order every week. To join email your details (name, phone number, number of packs, collection centre: Newlands) to tbvegcoop@gmail.com.
Join the Titahi Bay Fruit and Vegetable Co-op Facebook Group to find out what's coming in this week's packs and to get recipes and weekly meal plans based on the week's veges. Pack contents are usually advised on Fridays, once orders are placed with the growers. So you can do your shopping over the weekend, knowing what's coming in Tuesday's pack.
We'd love to grow our team (pun intended) of fruit and veggie lovers to help on Tuesdays with distributing packs. If you're keen to help, please let us know at office@newlandsanglican.org.nz.

Vision and Values
2022-2025

Download a PDF copy of our vision document by clicking here.Our vision has three streams: Up, In and Out. These are not distinct areas, but weave together with our values. They are modelled on the way that Jesus lived his life.

This Vision Statement builds both on the strengths we identified during the Vision Series, and our areas of weakness, as well as the points that represent the most common desire for change.

How did we get here?

Over 6 weeks in April and May 2022 we met each Sunday as a parish family within our services to listen to each other and to God about where we as a church might be being called.It was so good to be able to meet together, combining our dreams with worship, and sharing ideas around tables in the hall. We used the Mission Action Plan (MAP) process available within our Diocese, adapted to our context.The 6 themes we explored were:

  • Valuing the Past: Imagining the Future - thanksgiving for past highlights, and exploring the broader purpose of why the church exists

  • Looking at our Community - exploring what Jesus would see and do if he came to Newlands, and seeing whether the make-up of our congregation reflects our local community using census records and other types of data

  • God’s Resources and Ours - looking at how we are wired with different skills and talents, passions and resources

  • Growth - reflecting on past patterns of growth and decline and what these might tell us, alongside known symptoms of both declining and healthy churches.

  • God’s World - exploring local and global needs and how we might respond

  • Right Relationships - exploring discipling relationships and feeding back the results of the spiritual health survey we did anonymously in Week 1

Each Sunday included prayer, worship, teaching, discussion, and Eucharist. Each table group was asked to complete one or more posters based on the theme for each Sunday. By doing this journey together, we were able to hear from one another and find common themes, and hopefully through this process hear more clearly what God’s priorities for us are.After each Sunday gathering our church administrator, Rachel Fitzpatrick, collated all of the responses in a spreadsheet and began identifying some common themes. Reverends Richard and Rebecca Apperley then spent time with this data, prayerfully considering what had been said, what hadn’t been said, and being attentive to what God was calling us to do. This information often shaped discussions for the following Sunday where a theme needed to be unpacked more fully. Every fortnight this information was also discussed with both wardens - Paul Stone and Sue Corbett.At the culmination of the vision series a steering committee was formed, consisting of Reverends Rebecca and Richard Apperley, Reverend Hera Whitehead, Paul Stone, Sue Corbett, and Rachel Fitzpatrick. Once they had been provided with all of the information gathered and had time to digest it we met and spent time drawing out the key themes and concepts. From this distilled information Revs Richard and Rebecca drew up this document in consultation with the steering committee and Vestry.Our updated vision, values, and strategic roadmap were approved for adoption by Vestry on Tuesday 12 July 2022.Please continue to pray for boldness for us all to live into the adventure and challenge of being God’s people here in this place and time.

Strategic Roadmap

The roadmap below will be used to guide our decision-making as a parish. It is intended to be responsive to the move of the Spirit and the external circumstances that may affect our community and locality. Our growth is not measured by increase in numbers; rather we aim to slowly deepen our journey as disciples of Jesus and by doing so, growth of those coming to know Jesus and becoming part of our church community will be a natural outcome. We also acknowledge that this document may feel overwhelming. We will not attempt to achieve everything at once, but the Parish Leadership Team will continue to discern what the current priorities are and monitor progress.

Sacred Spaces, Safe People

We are committed to being a safe church. As followers of Jesus, we believe that every person is made in God’s image.
We want to create spaces where everyone knows they will be safe, especially from abuse of any kind.
You can hear more about how our Diocese aims to be a safe church in the video below.

Do you need help?

If you suspect abuse, or someone tells you about abuse, firstly listen, and secondly, know who to call.

Firstly, if any person is in immediate danger to life, emergency services should be called on 111.

Ask for the person's permission, and take that information to the Vicar / Ministry Unit Leader or Diocesan Safety Team (see below).

If the person does not give you permission, you must still ring the Diocesan Safety Team to ask for advice without naming the person. They know what to do and will be able to guide you.

If your concern relates to the Vicar / Leader, call the Diocesan Safety Team. They are available at all times to give advice and assistance.

If you are experiencing abuse, here are some things you can do.

If you are in immediate danger, please call the emergency services on 111.

If there’s someone you trust, contact them, and ask for their help to get you help

Contact the Diocesan Safety Team (see below)

Contact the Anglican Province who have a dedicated team who can receive complaints and reports of abuse from within the Anglican Church. Their email is registrar@anglicanchurch.org.nz.

More information can be found on the Anglican Church website

Call the Victims Information Line on 0800 650 654

Contacting the Diocesan Safety Team

The team is led by Rev. Jean Malcolm and Roger Wigglesworth.
Contact safety@anglicanmovement.nz or
Contact Jean at jean@anglicanmovement.nz or 021 294 2122
Contact Roger at roger@anglicanmovement.nz or 021 541 618

Finding more information

Mopre information, including videos produced by the Diocesan Safety Team, and downloadable safety documents, can be found on the Anglican Movement website by clicking here.

Parish portal

Please note that some of the services below will require a login. Please contact Richard if you need assistance.

Alpha is a series of interactive sessions that create a safe and honest space, online or in person, where people can explore life, faith and meaning.Alpha is an environment for anyone and everyone who wants to explore life and the Christian faith, ask questions, and share their point of view. Alpha is free and everyone is welcome.Who is Alpha for?
Alpha is for everyone who is willing to have an honest conversation. No matter your background, history or beliefs, you are welcome.
What happens at Alpha?
There is time for connection with one another - this might include a meal, snacks, or cup of tea. Then we watch a video together followed by conversation, where you can share what you think.
You can say as much or as little as you want, and nothing is off limits.How much does Alpha cost?
Alpha is free!
How long does Alpha go for?
The sessions run for 11 weeks - you are welcome to come along just for one week to see if it's a fit for you.
We will be running them on Wednesday evenings at 6.30pm, starting on Wednesday 1 May.How do I sign up?
Send us an email at vicar@newlandsanglican.org.nz



EASTER AT ST MICHAEL'S

Palm Sunday

Sunday 24 March, 10am
A family celebration of Jesus' procession to Jerusalem
Sunday Sanctuary, 7pm
A space for peace, reflection, creativity, and refreshment

Maundy Thursday

Thursday 28 March, 6pm
Join us for a meal, Eucharist, and foot-washing as we remember the last meal Jesus ate with his friends.
Suggested koha $10 adults, $5 children

Good Friday

Friday 29 March, 3pm
An all-age service as we remember Jesus' crucifixion

Easter Sunday

Sunday 31 March, 10am
A family celebration of Jesus' resurrection (with Easter egg hunt!)