Robotics Champs!

Congratulations to Izak and Alex, who won 2nd place at ROBOCUP, the Canterbury Robotics Competition, last weekend. Awesome! (Best wishes for the Nationals in September, boys!)

Band rocks worship!

A video of our band leading worship on Sunday. The sound quality isn't that great - for some reason the microphone on the camera doesn't pick up the bass notes... so, you'll just have to make sure you're there in person next time to fully appreciate it!

We have plenty of room in our band for more instrumentalists and singers - so let me know if you're keen to join! (No audition necessary!)

Best day ever!

What an exciting morning!

Our band led our worship, with two great songs - thanks to our amazing vocalists, guitarists and percussionists!

Our drama team performed a skit which showed how easy it is to make the wrong decisions if we don't let Jesus sit in the 'driver's seat'. We talked about how Jesus wants us to be kind and live in love. Before we act we need to ask ourselves, 'What would Jesus do?'

Upstairs during Awesome Time we were busily working on origami and sticky paper craft when... it started to snow! For some, it was the first time ever seeing snow falling! BEST DAY EVER!

It's snowing!!!

The band

Philomena sang a beautiful solo

One body with many parts

Sharing prayers and our creativity in worship

Rev Neti sharing communion with our Awesome Kids

Many hands...

Look at our quilt taking shape...
What we can achieve when we all work together!

Making hearts and crosses with our hands

Ella leads the congregation in prayer.
Carol talks GIRAFFES with the Awesome Kids!

Tons of Fun at Boot Sale

Thanks to everyone for supporting the Boot Sale on Saturday. It sure put the 'fun' in fundraising; there were lots of laughs and we were well entertained by some impromptu busking!

A Really Big Picnic

Last Sunday our Awesome Kids retold the story of Jesus and the Feeding of the Five Thousand. 

They created this video - The script writing, directing, acting and filming was all done by our Awesome Kids.

Check it out!

Breaking down walls...

Welcome back to Music!

Musikool Kids started back today - great to see you all!

The church that Dave built

On Sunday Dave built a church... with chairs and blankets. The Awesome Kids couldn't wait to check it out. They soon disappeared beneath the blankets and it looked such fun Heather wanted to go in too. But, Dave was not very welcoming at all to Heather. In fact, he was downright rude and mean! Poor Heather! She so wanted to join in with the Awesome Kids.

Eventually Dave was persuaded to be kind, caring and welcoming... and the 'walls' were pulled down and Heather was invited to join in with the kids.

We talked about our new church building... and that we are the church - and we will all try very hard, with God's help, to be friendly, warm and welcoming to everyone.

"Tearing down walls" - Jenga style!

BOOT SALE POSTPONED!

The car boot sale has been postponed (to 1st August), due to the weather forecast for Saturday. 

Meet some new friends!

We have been busy making some new puppet friends who will be making appearances at Musikool Kids over the coming term. They each have a unique personality and we think they will be fantastic additions to the Musikool Kids' team. Our cat Mischief gave them a paws up (see photo below)!

From left to right:
Zip, Jeremy, Hetty and Buster

Mischief the cat thought these puppet friends looked nice and soft
to cuddle up with on a cold afternoon!

Car Boot Sale this Saturday

This Saturday
9am
Chapel Street carpark
POSTPONED! Help our fundraising to finish our worship & community centre.

Architects in the making?

Our church family is made up of young and not so young, different personalities and skills... but who all love God.

I wonder if your family has driven past Chapel Street lately and seen how our church building is going? At Awesome Time this week, with Richard and Jillian, we built churches too... but with some rather interesting materials...

Let the children come

Rev Neti serves communion to the boys

Have you ever had a friend who moved away? What are some of the things you have done to remember that friend?

There are people who are very special to us and even if they are not in the room right here with us, we love talking about them and remembering all the great things we have done together with them.

Jesus is a friend like that. Jesus loves you so much - and wants to be your BFF. He wants you to remember how much he loves you.

A special way we can do this is something called 'The Lord's Supper' (also called 'Communion'). Not long before Jesus died, he shared a meal with his friends. He shared bread and wine with them and told them whenever they ate and drank this to remember him and how much he loved them.

Neti shared bread and juice (not real wine!) with our Awesome Kids and told us whenever we are eating our sandwich or hamburger - to remember how much Jesus loves us, and wants us to share that love with others.

Afterwards, Neti asked James to serve communion to him. It was a very special communion service - thank you Neti!

We went on a journey...

This Awesome Time update comes from Awesome Leader, Sue:

Jesus sent his disciples on a journey, so last week we decided to go on a journey, too.  

But what should we take with us?  Carol had some thoughts about it – and brought her suitcase with her for our journey.  She had her jacket, umbrella, spare clothes, shoes, nighties, her toothbrush, hairbrush, food, water bottle, vitamins, sunscreen, sunhat, camera, money, 2 phones (!) … 

And with all of that, we still found a few things that she didn’t have, like her passport, a sleeping bag…

But then we found out that Jesus told us to take NOTHING with us – we were to leave all of our ‘baggage’ behind, go wherever we were welcomed, and rely on the hospitality of the people we met along the way.  

So we left our bags behind and set off on our journey.  Luckily we didn’t have to go far before we met some lovely people, who welcomed us in, gave us food and drink, and played games with us.  We felt very welcomed there, and so stayed as long as we could.

Thank you Philomena and Catherine for the wonderful welcome!

Getting there!

Our new worship centre is taking shape!
Can't wait to have Awesome Time and Musikool Kids in our very own wonderful space!

Characters at Musikool Kids

Friday was the last day of the term at Musikool Kids and we had a fancy dress day... everyone came dressed as a character from a movie, book, fairy tale or TV show. See how many you can guess!

Just Do It (skit)

What we do

Awesome Kids turned into florists last Sunday!

Last Sunday, we learnt that what really matters is what we do. It's not enough to think or talk about doing good things, but we actually have to JUST DO IT.

We made bookmarks and floral arrangements and gave them to people in the congregation, which brought smiles to many faces. Well done Awesome Kids! You did it!

Building progressing!

Photos taken last Sunday of the new building

We took these photos last Sunday... isn't it exciting! The building is really taking shape now - it will be fabulous to have our own space again for our children's programmes, Awesome Kids and Musikool Kids. Can't wait!

Offices to the right, and the Awesome & Musikool Kids' rooms to the left,
with hall in behind.

Musikool Kids' Fancy Dress 3 July

The votes are in... the theme for our fancy dress day on Friday is:

Character 

from a T.V. show / movie / book / nursery rhyme / fairytale

Fancy Dress at Musikool Kids 3 July

Please vote for your FAVOURITE fancy dress theme by 10am tomorrow. Voting closes at 10am 27/6/15 and we will announce the winning theme on this blog.

The Band

Thanks to musicians Nan, David, Philomena, Monica, Izak and singers James and Dylan... what a band!

David and Goliath

Last week our Awesome Kids helped in an improvised dramatic retelling of the 'David and Goliath' story. There was much hilarity... actors and props being sourced at a moment's notice from within the congregation. A walking stick was used as a shepherd's crook, a belt and a screwed up bulletin used as slingshot and stone; and Rev Neti assisted Ella to 'grow taller' for her starring role as Goliath. Well done everyone!

Rev Neti assisted actress Ella to 'grow taller' for her role as GOLIATH.

Richard starred as 'David' and other actors and actresses were called in to play the other roles in the story of 'David and Goliath'. 

Fancy Dress Theme?

Musikool Kids has an end of term fancy dress day on Friday 3 July.

In the past we have had lots of wonderful themes including Flight, Space, Animals, Fairy-tale or Nursery Rhyme Characters, Pirates & Princesses... what theme shall we have this term?

Send in your ideas by clicking on comments below, or contact me by email, phone, or chat in person at Musikool Kids! If we get lots of ideas we might have a vote to decide!

(You don't need to be signed in or have a google account or profile to make a comment, just click on Name/URL and type in your name, leave the URL box blank.)

Building a Bridge

This morning we were lucky to have a visit from Rev Alan Webster.

Rev Webster brought in a large piece of timber and we all wondered what on earth he was going to do with it. In no time, the timber had turned into a bridge, and Dylan volunteered to walk across it. 

But, before he could, a number of others were required to help. Some reliable assistants were needed at each end, to make sure the bridge didn't tip up; strong people were needed to make sure the bridge didn't wobble; tall people were needed either side to help Dylan balance; people with a sharp eye were needed to look out for nails and other hazards - all worked together to help Dylan get from one side to the other, safely.

It was a little bit like our church. We need all sorts of people to help our church keep moving and growing. Whether we are small, tall, old or young - we are each called to do our bit, and God uses each one of us in different ways. And God is with us every step, every stumble, every cartwheel of the way!

And we sang, "God has the whole world in His hands, from the itsy tiny babies, to the grandmas and the grandpas; from the elephants and the buffaloes, to the runners and the gymnasts."

Sound Poetry

Check out these amazing sound poems written by our very own Awesome Kids.

What We Hear

Before the service, I recorded a number of our parishioners giving messages to our children. I then played the messages to the Awesome Kids (audio only, no visual) and they tried to work out who was speaking. They did really well and knew almost all of the voices.

This morning was all about listening. 

Our service began with an invisible minister! We could hear Neti, but we couldn't see him. We wondered if due to the earlier than usual start of today's service perhaps Neti was still in his pyjamas and that was why he was hiding in the kitchen! 

But seriously... we explored what it is to listen for God's voice and that God talks to us in many different ways... but are we listening?

We can "listen" to God by reading and listening to stories from the Bible;

God will "speak" to us through others (our minister, Awesome Leaders, family members, friends and our church family;

God will "speak" to us through the Holy Spirit... for some of us this is like a 'thought' popping into our head... or a feeling deep inside our heart. It could be a message from God, or it could be your own thought, or it might just be a good idea. It is up to us to work out what is from God.

Bitzer bikes and gunpowder

Fred - storyteller extraordinaire!

Last night Marcia and Fred hosted a family fish'n'chip tea at their home. It was a fantastic opportunity for young and old to get together and have FUN! Among members from our parish family were three friends from the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Fred entertained (and educated) his young audience with stories of what he got up to when he was a kid. The boys were captivated by Fred's tales of tearing downhill on "bitzer" bikes (overtaking cars!) and making gunpowder!

Thank you Fred, Marcia and family, for a wonderful evening. We look forward to many more!

TOP SECRET MISSION

This report from last week's Awesome Time comes from Sue... thanks Sue!

WOW!!!  We had a great morning this morning!!!  :-)

FBI - Top Secret

The case - Who did their homework?

Agent in charge - Carol Barron - who delegated Agent Philomena - complete with bullet-proof vest, handcuffs, and gun - to oversee the mission in her absence.

The mission - interrogate suspects (using force if necessary) and gather evidence to find out who has done their homework!

Our Awesome Kids did a fantastic job of locating all of our suspects - even when they tried to escape out the door!!!

The homework?  What is God's spirit saying to you?

We found out from our suspects that God had called ALL of them to do various jobs - some were called into big jobs, like ministry, others had jobs involving their talents, like music, while others were called to help others, spread love, and be the best kinds of people they could be.  The Awesome Kids, when asked to sum up what they had found out, said the one thing they all had in common was that they were called by God - our suspects knew it was God because it felt right in their hearts.

Then we watched a short video clip about Hannah Taylor.  When she was 5 she saw a homeless person in the street.  This worried her.  When she was 6 she decided she had to do something about it, and started trying to raise money to help the homeless.  When she was 8, the ladybug foundation was started, which raises money to help charities that are helping the homeless - $30,000 had already been raised!  Now, Hannah is 19, and the foundation has raised over $3,000,000!

Upstairs, we made some ladybug jars.  Hannah used hers to raise money.  We talked about what we could use ours for..  One of the suggestions was to use it as a lolly jar - and for each lolly we ate, we could give one away.  We also talked about what we could do to help God - maybe we could sit with someone who is alone at school, or invite someone over to play a game with us, or maybe we can just share a smile with someone who looks sad.