​Happy New Year to you and yours. May it be a great one!

We have just completed our Advent-Christmas-New Year community outreach with 150 people attending our various weekend and weekday community and worship events in te Whare Karakia. It is most satisfying from my perspective to see such great responses to what we offer in the Eastern Porirua community. The core group of around 25 people who are the heart of the Porirua Anglican community have excelled by both attending, and encouraging others to attend the ten weekend, and other weekday activities, during December and New Year's Day. We have built an amazing group of people who seem increasingly proud to gather and contribute to our life together.

Recently three of us from Porirua Anglican did an ALPHA Course at Johnsonville over 11 Thursday evenings and a Saturday, and benefited greatly from the food and fellowship. We even got together for a meal pre-Christmas in a group Reunion too. And we greatly benefited from the ALPHA videos and discussions that followed. We were a mixed group; there was even a young Nepalese man there for part of the time, and and an older Chinese lady. The uniqueness of ALPHA is that it attracts people of all ages and, as above, all ethnic groups. More than that, it gives people an orthodox Christian and very understable opportunity for people to ground their faith.

In two weeks time we will begin an ALPHA Course at te Whare Karakia, beginning Wed. 17 January @ 7pm. Details of this and an online enrolment form are here: 

https://www.poriruaanglican.nz/alpha-course.html

The first five sessions will be addressed via video, and allow discussion of these five questions ...

On Saturday 2 March we will spend a day together focused on questions about the Holy Spirit.
Each session will begin with food so don't eat too much before you come as we will eat together for 30-40 minutes before watching a 25-30 min. video which we will then discuss, finishing sharp at 9pm.

The last session will be on Wednesday 27 March when we will address, "What about the Church?"

Want to know more? Contact us via any of our Contact Us channels.

And, let's know you are coming so that we can prepare and maximise your experience of ALPHA.

Hei konā mai | Goodbye for now
Terry

Terry Alve
Priest in Charge

In ten days, on the 6th March, Porirua Anglicans will convene two groups to study about "Christian Grace". Study booklets have arrived and are available for a suggested koha of $5 each. Entitled, "A pilgrimage of grace", this study will run for six Wednesdays through to 10th April. There will be two groups meeting at St Anne's: 10am and 7:30pm. Those wanting to join either of these groups should contact Rev Terry Alve 027 944 4996 or 232 2583 (text or call) and advise which group they will join.

​More information is available in the flyer below.

Yesterday the liturgical theme at St Anne's was "The Baptism of the Lord." We thought about what Jesus' baptism in the River Jordan by John the Baptist means. While Jesus' baptism was not a baptism of repentance as ours is - we believe that Jesus had nothing to repent of - it was an action identifying with his and our humanity and it was a public declaration by God that He was the Messianic Son of God who is to be heeded. Jesus' baptism is similar to ours in that the Holy Spirit came upon Him; something we expect to happen when we are baptised and/or confirmed. We won't go into the connection here between baptism and confirmation as understood by Anglicans, other than to say that the Spirit is at work in both rites.

The important question I would like to pose today is, "Are you baptised and if not might it be the right time to consider being baptised?" We are preparing for a baptism service, possibly at the end of February. If you would like to join a group who are preparing for baptism please make contact. This group will meet over four weekly sessions during January and February beginning the week of 21 January. Participation in the group will invite you to explore the meaning of baptism. You may decide to proceed to baptism (possibly on 24th February), you may choose to wait longer or, you may decide baptism is not for you. Whatever your decision it will be respected.

So, if you are an adult or a teenager who would like to explore baptism for yourself; or if you are the parent or guardian of a child for whom you would like to consider baptism, this group is for you. I'd love to chat with you about  joining with us.

Terry Alve
​Interim Priest