Forty years of faithfulness

Early in the year Phil led a team to Indonesia one more time. Later Phil stepped down, and Josh and Kayla Duckett were welcomed as senior leaders, bringing fresh vision and care. A Ministry Leadership Team was commissioned and the elders were updated, ready for all that is next.

In January the old building at 1310 Racecourse Road was taken down, making way for a plan to bring community transformation through affordable housing. The Mini Hub was set up for children’s ministry, and the church kept caring for the town through hampers, the Christmas tree trail, and counselling in local schools.

In the middle of the year the church moved to its new home at 38 Churchill Street, and the Zion Hub became a real community space. Counselling in Schools reached a hundred and seventy-nine students, Tree Awamutu kept growing, and Zion leaders travelled to Indonesia to strengthen old friendships.

The church gathered both together and in homes, following a temple and table rhythm of worship and fellowship. Phil and Kathy took a sabbatical in October. SHINE celebrated fifty girls graduating, and the church kept up its hampers, firewood, food bank support and counselling work.

Even through a hard year, the church gave out three hundred Christmas hampers and firewood to keep families warm. Counselling in Schools reached a hundred and thirty-four children with free, in-school support, and the free community events carried on.

When Covid closed the country in March, the church became Zion at Home, keeping worship, connection and discipleship going online. It delivered two hundred and seven Christmas hampers to local families, and the Counselling in Schools programme grew to reach more children across the district.

A clear word from God led the church into a season of rebirth, and it took the name Zion, a name that carries a promise that God will make Himself known here and draw many to Himself. Loving Arms marked six years and moved into its own building, and the church launched Counselling in Schools, offering free in-school support for children’s mental health.

Ministries like Operation Christmas Hampers, Daughters of the King, SHINE and Loving Arms kept growing, and the church helped fund a youth worker through the community trust. Overseas, it sponsored orphans through Ora New Zealand and kept supporting Tear Fund.

Local ministries grew, including Night School, Kingdom Business, Loving Arms and Tree Awamutu, that Christmas forest of trees made with schools, businesses and families. The church helped children attend Waipa Christian School and put on free community events through the year.

Phil was ordained and accredited as a minister of ACTS Churches NZ. The church ran a parenting roadshow, started Tree Awamutu in December, and began giving to missions in a more planned, year-round way rather than project by project. The partnership with Yos and Elly in northern Sumatra deepened, along with support for local families through school sponsorships.

In September the church farewelled Andrew and Judy Vossen and welcomed Phil and Kathy Strong to lead into a new season. Loving Arms carried on, the Light Party continued, and the church kept supporting children through Homes of Hope in Indonesia. Both Andrew and Phil travelled to Indonesia together to hand over the relationships with the local church planters.

The church started Loving Arms, a ministry coming alongside new mums and families who needed a hand. Overseas, it supported an orphanage in India and several building projects on Nias Island in Indonesia, and Andrew visited to encourage the local leaders.

The church backed the tenth Light Party and began supporting House of Hope in Balige, Indonesia, a home caring for vulnerable children. Andrew returned to Indonesia and saw some real moments of healing and renewal.

The church joined the other Te Awamutu churches to put on what may have been the town’s first Light Party, a fun alternative to Halloween. Global giving continued in India, Indonesia and Mexico, and Andrew spent three weeks serving in Indonesia.

The church helped build a church in Solo, Indonesia, kept supporting workers in Mexico, and wound up some partnerships to focus its giving.

The church supported workers in Mexico and helped grow the Bobbilli Bible College in India, part of a steady heart for the wider church around the world.

The church took on a new name and a fresh sense of purpose, becoming North End Church, or NEC.

Andrew led two teams to Indonesia over the year. The church took the name TCATA, The Church at Te Awamutu, to reflect where it was heading and how closely it belonged to the town.

The church supported pastors and churches in Indonesia and India, and sent out short-term teams. Andrew spent nearly two weeks across Bali, Sulawesi, Manado and New Guinea, and another team headed to India.

Andrew Vossen put words to the heart of it: that this should be a church where people matter so much that we go and build lasting relationships with them. That heart for connection shaped everything.

Churches across Te Awamutu gathered for a combined service in the park and met to pray together, including alongside Gary Veale from New Life Church. The church tried some creative outreach with films during services, and after many years said goodbye to its early childhood centre.

A vision team formed to pray over the direction of the church, and it took a new name, Soul Purpose Church, built around living for a higher cause. The youth ministry came alive, with a big youth service at the Te Awamutu Events Centre in November.

Leaders and church family sat with a good question: what kind of church should we be? The answer that took shape was a family church, one that looks after the spiritual and everyday needs of every generation.

Garry stepped down early in the year and was farewelled in March. In April, Andrew and Judy Vossen arrived from Taranaki, where they had spent ten years planting churches, and were inducted to lead. Small groups came back as Life Groups, the music team started rebuilding, and evening services were gently wound down to fit the life of the church.

Garry and Ruth Botting were inducted as senior pastors, and Charles Nikora was released to minister in Ōtūmoetai. It was a season of restructuring, with some stepping back and the worship ministry pausing to regroup.

In February the church family said goodbye to Sally Nikora after her illness. Charles took leave, and Garry Botting stepped in as interim pastor. Later in the year Charles moved to Tauranga, and Garry was asked to take on the senior role.

Charles travelled to Papua New Guinea to speak at a youth conference, and the youth ministry got a name of its own, Revelation Youth. The sale of a paddock on the boundary let the church clear its mortgage. Near the end of the year, Sally was diagnosed with cancer, and the church gathered around them in prayer.

Charles and Sally Nikora came in from Gisborne to lead. The church kept up its Bible studies, prison ministry at Waikeria and regular services at local rest homes, started running Alpha, and hosted the Apostolic regional hui. It also took the name Rosetown Apostolic Church, to sit more clearly within the wider Apostolic movement.

Grant came back mid-year, and by year’s end retired from ministry to study at university. It was the close of a good chapter, and the church began looking ahead to what was next.

This was a year of transition. The management board wound up, and Pastor Grant took three months of long service leave for some rest.

The renovated ward was finished and opened, and quickly became a busy space for children’s ministry and for counselling the wider community. An after-school group called Sprouts started up, and the church joined in combined services with other local churches.

An old hospital ward was brought over from Kingseat and done up for children’s ministry, later becoming the Rosetown Counselling Centre. A trust was set up to look after the counselling work, and Audrey Evans joined the eldership.

A new church was planted in Te Kūiti, and the church sent its very first overseas missions team, eight of them, to help at a youth camp in Indonesia. Garry Botting was ordained as assistant pastor, and the carpark finally got sealed.

The Tamakis moved on to Rotorua, and Grant and Joanne Reid stepped in to lead. Ministry carried on at home and further afield, with a rest home ministry, support for the Whakatāne church plant, and steady Sunday gatherings.

Membership grew to two hundred and twenty-five, and the church leaned into its calling to save, equip and send. It became a host church for Bible college students and set up a management board to look after the practical side. John McIvor was ordained and sent to lead the Cambridge church.

This was a big year. The church building was started and finished, along with houses for the pastors and caretakers, and opened with a proper celebration. Membership reached a hundred, new churches were planted in Otorohanga, Whakatāne and Cambridge, and the kindergarten Stacy had started officially opened its doors.

The focus this year was on staying close to Christ and standing together. The church took part in the nationwide Luis Palau Crusade and ran a holiday programme for local kids. The first family camp was held at The Narrows, and by year’s end around two hundred people gathered for a tent service on the new land.

The church kept growing. Christian education classes started at the local college, and new families came to help carry the load. John and Stacy McIvor moved down from Auckland, with John joining the eldership and Stacy later starting the church kindergarten. The first wedding was held, and five acres of land were bought with a permanent home in mind.

In March 1985, Brian and Hannah Tamaki came over from Tokoroa with a vision to start an Apostolic church in Te Awamutu. It began in their lounge in Kihikihi, and by April had shifted to the St John’s Ambulance Hall with twelve people. By the end of that first year the little church had a van, a vegetable garden, a Friday night street ministry, and regular Sunday services out at Waikeria Prison, including three at Christmas.