Free Ukulele Lessons!

 

Join Monica after church on Sundays for a FREE ukulele lesson. All ages, from beginners to experienced.

Matariki Macarena

Thanks to Rev Anne and the ukulele group, AbsolUKE for leading the congregation in this celebration of Matariki!

AbsolUKE!

Bring your ukulele and a smile...

AbsolUKE is back! Free ukulele lessons from this Sunday, during morning tea, with Monica.

All welcome!

AbsolUKE Jam

The countdown is on... only a few more sleeps until our Christmas Service on 9 December! Our ukulele group, AbsolUKE, has been rehearsing hard, preparing, getting ready... are YOU ready?!

Please join us at the Chapel Street Centre this Sunday for an absolUKEly awesome start to your Christmas.

One Body with Many Parts - a White Sunday Celebration

Christchurch North Methodist Parish celebrated White Sunday, when traditionally in Tongan and Samoan churches the children and young people lead the worship service. Our Awesome Kids, youth and young adults took lead roles in our service assisted by some of our ‘slightly more experienced’ Awesome Kids.

We acknowledged and celebrated not only our children and youth, but people of all ages. We recognised the gifts God has placed in the people of our congregation and showed our thanks for the friendship, caring, teaching and mentoring given by our church family to our young people.

Our theme was taken from 1 Corinthians 12, One Body with Many Parts. Despite our obvious and many differences, God calls us to a colourful unity, and to a diversity without division. Every part is dependant on every other part. “I need you, and you need me.” If one part hurts, every part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

 AbsolUKE, our ukulele group, led the worship music, along with the Chapel Street Band.  Our young people led the prayers and readings, alongside older mentors, and we had an all-age drama group who performed The Body Skit. Our Call to Worship was co-led by one of our children and her very special 90-year-old friend.

In a time of discussion, we shared our most memorable experiences from Sunday School and Youth Group days, and a Question Time, posed some tricky questions: What is the best thing about being a child? What is the best thing about being a grown-up? What is the hardest thing about being a child? What is the hardest thing about being a grown-up?

We then broke into small groups for ‘Teach Me Something in Five Minutes’. Each adult and child taught something to someone from a different generation, in only a few minutes. There was knitting, weaving, origami, gardening tips, ukulele lessons, recipes and legends shared, different languages and how to make a paper dart. The variety of skills taught and information imparted was incredible. There was a tremendous buzz, warmth and much laughter as the generations worked together.

One of our teenagers presented a reflection, celebrating all our God-given gifts and highlighting the point that we are meant to use these gifts not just for our own good, but for the good of the people around us. She shared how being nurtured and guided by some of our elderly members of the congregation has shaped her into the person she is today.

“Every person contributes to the life of the church, and has gifts and talents to use, whether you know it or not... just like some parts of the body are a mystery as to what they do, and what they are for, they are still a part of the body and, are needed.”

She concluded with a message from 1 Corinthians 13, verses 1 and 2, that “whatever our gifts are, we are to use them lovingly, the love is more important than the gift.”

A Wonderful White Sunday

What a wonderful job our Awesome Kids, Youth and Young Adults did this morning, as they led our White Sunday Worship Service.

https://youtu.be/qaatvbxLlJo

More photos and videos to follow, keep an eye on the blog!

AbsolUKE - a right royal performance!

Congratulations to the 9 ukulelists and 3 vocalists and 3 solo dancers who performed on the big stage in front of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS, and the Tongan Princess at the Methodist Multi-Cultural Festival tonight. Wow!

Here are a few photos of our amazing AbsolUKE performers waiting to go on stage. In the background you can spot the princess.

We will put up some pictures of our performance in the next few days.

Thank you so much to our AbsolUKE team and all our amazing supporters. You were stars!

Multi-Cultural Festival

Come along and be part of the cultural festival on Saturday 29 September! See our fab AbsolUKE team perform! They would really appreciate your support!

AbsolUKEly Fabulous!

Last Sunday our UKULELE GROUP, AbsolUKE, led our worship with an oldie but a goodie, JESUS LOVES ME.

Some of our ukulele players have only been playing for a couple of months, wow, they are fast learners! The group sounded amazing and the congregation loved singing along to this classic with the ukes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzEcrhq5rIQ

I am

Last Sunday we explored a whole lot of "I am" statements in the bible, where Jesus said things like, "I am the bread of life."

"I am the light of the world."

"I am the good shepherd."

We created our own "I am" statements about ourselves. Some examples were:

"I am unique."

"I am treasured."

"I am brave."

"I am caring."

It was a busy morning, with lots of activity! The band played, and we were thrilled to have Angel join us with her beautiful vocals this morning. After church, our ukulele group, AbsolUKE, had a jam, and they are ready to lead worship this coming Sunday with a song they have been learning. Can't wait!

AbsolUKE

AbsolUKE is our Ukulele Group which is led by tutor Monica during morning tea after church most Sundays.

They are currently working on some instrumental pieces and some worship songs, which hopefully we will hear in church soon. The group has some experienced players and beginners - everyone is welcome.

Chapel Street Christmas Movie

Here it is... what you've all been waiting for! The 2017 Christmas Movie, brought to you by Chapel Street Productions & The Studio of Awesomeness.

A massive thank you to all our children, youth and young adults for all your hard work in making this video, and for sharing your time, talents and gifts in this morning's Nativity Play & Christmas Service. You were spectacular.

https://youtu.be/0sJnQg3OIvI

Please share the video with your family and friends, and don't forget to "Like" it on YouTube!

Awesome Talent at the Church Concert

As promised, here is a video with a few clips of our Awesome Kids and Chapel Street Young People performing at the recent church concert. Thank you so much to all of you for sharing your gifts and talents!

Stars at the Church Concert

This afternoon we were treated to star performances at the Parish Concert. Below are photos of our young musicians, AbsolUKE, and Dylan after his amazing lyrical dance performance.

Performers at the concert ranged in age from 7 years of age to 90+ and there were a variety of items, from singing to instrumental performances, and even a few jokes :o)

A crowd favourite was an amazing piano performance by special guest Jonathan Petty.

Well done to all the amazing performers and thank you for sharing your talents with us.

I will post a few video clips soon.

AbsolUKE: Chapel Street Ukulele Group

Last Sunday, our uke group, AbsolUKE, rocked the Chapel Street Centre with a celebration of Spring! Check out the video below.

https://youtu.be/5SowGfDtdeQ

AbsolUKE (ukulele group)

The AbsolUKE had a jam last week. Join them again tomorrow for some more groovy uke music!

AbsolUKE!

Join Monica and the AbsolUKE group for a ukulele jam next time, Sunday 11 September after church in the Awesome Kids' Room during morning tea time.

AbsolUKE - ukulele lessons with Monica

First performance!

AbsolUKE and friends performed in church for the first time (after only two lessons!). We led the congregation in singing 'If You're Happy and You Know It, pakipaki' as it was Maori Language Week.

AbsolUKE in action

Our ukulele group, AbsolUKE, ably led by Monica began a few weeks back. The first lesson began with a range of ages and abilities, and great enthusiasm!