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Strategic planning Hi everyone,
Over the last few months your vestry has been hard at work seeking God in the
discipline of strategic planning so that we may see more of God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. We are still
working on this and will let you about our decisions soon. What we have agreed upon for now is that it is time to rebrand
our parish and to renew our parish mission statement. To that end, we have decided last week to adopt the new diocesan brand
- Anglican Life. Furthermore we have agreed upon the four word descriptor Inviting Forming Sending Serving as summarizing
our mission. Each of these four words represents a major part of our life and mission. To expand on these four imperatives
our mission statement is therefore
Inviting people to met Jesus, Forming them to become like him, Sending
people out to extend his kingdom, and Serving a broken world.
When the graphic design work is completed
we will replace the current blue water drop logo with Anglican Life Rangiora and redo all our documents and signage. In the
mean time the work of inviting comes to the fore with the Back to Church Sunday and the Alpha course to follow up. By now
you should have decided who to invite back to church and issued your invitation. Remember to pray the special prayer daily
for that person.
In Christ, Andrew.
11:02 pm nzst
SOMA Mission to Tonga 11-20 July 2009Lead by Andrew Allan-Johns (Vicar of Rangiora), the team of 5 consisted of Sam McArthur 20, Bridget McGregor
20, Sam Redman 17 and Kimberley McMurdo 17.
We were invited by Archbishop Jabez Bryce to send teams to work
with youth and adults teaching and healing among the 4 Anglican parishes on the main island. However, 40 hours before departure
the Archdeacon of Tonga emailed to postpone the trip till September 2010. After some urgent intervention from the SOMA director
we received an invitation from YWAM Tonga to work out of their base at Lafalafa with their assistance. One member of the team
elected not to continue with the new plans but the rest were keen to go. On arrival we were met by a team form Riversdale
Presbyterian church, Southland who were completing a 20 day evangelistic mission. They were very helpful in orientating us
and including us on some street outreaches and praying for hospital patients.
The next day we worshipped
with the Anglicans at St Paul’s Nuku’alofa who were surprised to see us but welcomed us never the less. We explained
that we were working with YWAM but would still respond if any of the parishes wished to make use of us. We heard nothing more
from them. We did however receive an invitation to teach bible in schools from one of the parishioners. The young people subsequently
did a great job with about 50 11 year olds at the Tonga Side School. We discovered that the Sabbath was honoured very seriously
and that it was not even appropriate to make plans for the following day ministry.
The next day we went to
the village of Popua a very poor place and did street evangelism and door knocking to get us into the faith zone. I felt lead
into one house where 5 people received significant healing and a real encouragement to their faith. The mother of the family
had prophesied just the day before that healing would come to the family. We made arrangement to return on the Saturday to
conduct a public healing crusade using the family to make arrangements and promote it in the village. Sadly, a death occurred
in the village which then precluded any public gatherings during the three day tangi. We shifted our focus to the neighbouring
village of Patangata where we visited a number of homes where people were known to be ill. We had the thrill of seeing Tau,
a stroke victim, have mobility restored to the left side of his body and feeling return to the limbs of a severe diabetic.
This same miracle was repeated on another occasion. We prayed through the public hospital and a rehabilitation center for
the disabled. Once we had developed a reputation for healing we prayed in a number of other homes by invitation and saw many
healings and subsequent conversions and recommitments. All of the team developed in their ability to heal and hear God speak
to them. We were really struck by the depth of God’s compassion for the poor.
One of the highlights
for the team was to have the opportunity to broadcast testimonies, song and teaching on both radio and TV. Over time, it became
clear to me that Tonga is destined to be a missionary sending nation to the world. I was very impressed by the suitability
of the Tongans who had gone or were preparing to go to very difficult countries. I took the opportunity to share Eccl 9:14-16
as a warning to church leaders to be aware of the spiritual siege that the nation was under. Many church leaders who saw the
TV broadcast affirmed this warning.
Our hosts, YWAM Tonga, looked after us well and only charged $12
per day for food and accommodation plus a fixed per charge per km for the use of their small bus. The total cost for the mission
came to under $1000 per person. YWAM supplied a liaison person (Lona) who arranged ministry opportunities and drove their
bus wherever we wanted to go. It was a pleasure to give something back to YWAM by a giving a message to their weekly chapel
gathering and speaking at the DTS graduation event. Our team were greatly inspired by talking into the night with the young
students and I by sharing with the staff. I was pleased to leave the senior staff with particular prophetic words and a gift
of surplus team funds. The YWAM director has invited me to return in December to teach their DTS for a week on ministry in
the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
All of our team grew in confidence as we saw the Holy Spirit move
in word and sign. YWAM Tonga are excellent hosts for a youth team, we enjoyed working with them.
Andrew Allan-Johns
26 August 2009
11:42 am nzst
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