Naenae For Christ Community Church

After much painting, organising, blood, sweat and at times nearly tears we launched Naenae for Christ Community Church.  It was a wonderful morning, with many friends supporting us from both Heretaunga and Riverbend Bible Church.  It was also made more wonderful by Joel being baptized.  We were able to achieve a lot in the 5 weeks that we had the keys prior to opening.  Windows were replaced, new carpet, paint throughout, sound put in and the list goes on and on.  We could not have done it without an amazing team of committed people and several working bees.  A big thank you to everyone who helped in any way.  Thank you also to all those, especially in the States, who have supported us over the last two years to enable us to do this.  We praise God for you and for your willingness to support a ministry on the other side of the world.  

Following are photos of our first morning.

God Answers Prayer!

You may have heard that we are now the proud stewards of a church building in Naenae.  Over a year ago we approached a small congregation of about 20 people who fellowshipped here to see if they were open to us starting a new work.  At this time they were not open to the idea but as the year went on and an $8000 insurance bill needed to be paid, they made the decision to close the doors and pass the keys to us.  We have been praying for a building for two years now and were seriously considering buying another building when this happened.  We are again, amazed at God's timing and faithfulness.  The last two years have been discouraging at times but this has confirmed for us that we are in the right place.

We received the keys two days before Christmas and have been busy trying to organise the many things that need to be done since.  The whole place needs a paint and new carpet etc. Please pray for us  as we make many decisions concerning the building and the beginning of the church here in Naenae.  We are still working towards bringing Cody and Cassie Chaplin here to help in the work, especially in the area of music.  This would be a huge help to the ministry.  We do have a few faithful families willing to be involved but this is our summer here so it is a difficult time of year to ask people to give of their time.  We have been blessed by a couple of churches here with some funds to begin some of the renovations that need to be done.  

Thank you for your prayers and support.  We will try to keep you updated more than we have in the past.  We value your interest in our ministry here in New Zealand.

Here are some "before" photos.  Hopefully some "after" photos will follow. 

The auditorium.  Needs a good paint and new carpet.  There is also no sound gear, projector or screen.  We have graciously been given a projector so all we need is a screen and to get it all up and running.

 Looking from the front down.  We can get more room by opening up the doors on the left hand side and turning the chairs around and putting the stage on the right.

 The kitchen after two days of scrubbing.  Looking forward to this getting a paint.  It needs new ovens and a dishwasher, a zip etc.  There is basically nothing in it, just a few teacups and saucers.

 The youth hall which will be used as a Sunday School room.

The women's bathroom.