The parish newsletter will be updated each month in print form, and available at service each Sunday. We always contact church members with extra important information.
September 2020 
Welcome to September in this season of change! We were due to have our national election this month with our buildings as an early voting station. This of course has now been put back to October, partly because of this our CompassionFest has also been postponed til July next year, which gives us more time to make plans. This will give clear space to feature the life story of Kae Miller without competing with political messages.
The constant changes and uncertainty of 2020 are draining and many people are tired. Please be attentive to how you are feeling, be merciful with yourselves, look out for your family members and neighbours, immerse yourselves in worship and times of grace each week, and plan in times of fun. Your minister is always up for a movie, a chat, or a board game!
Elections• Remember that as well as voting for a new government, we have two referenda to vote on this year as well. These are on the very significant issues of euthanasia and drug reform. We have organised two forums on these issues, with the 2nd, on drug reform, being 7:30pm Sept 2nd, at the Baptist Church. Both will be recorded and kept on the Baptist Facebook page for a time, if you want a copy see Nathan. Please seek to be informed on these issues, and sit with them in prayer, before voting.•
The local meet the candidates evening previously advertised has been postponed, new date yet to be set.
Upcoming Events• Please keep donations coming for the DCM Foodbank, we will be collecting over the next two Sundays.•
New dates for church camp Nov 6-8th, Kaitoke. We have decided not to have a speaker this year, but rather to give an opportunity to walk, read, play games, pray, worship, kayak, and relax with each other and with God in beautiful surroundings. Flyers will be out this month. •
Order forms are now in both foyers for the annual Girls Brigade pie fundraiser. Please support the cause, and order savoury and sweet pies by 4th September. Contact Brenda or Mel for more info.
We do not have a date set just yet for our AGM, but this will be coming up. If you head up a group at IBPC please make a start on writing your AGM report this month, covering the highs and lows since Oct 2019, lessons from the lock down, any plans for 2021, and points for prayer or resourcing for your group. If you would like to join our Management team which meets four times a year and oversees property and finance, see Graeme Mahoney.
Finances• So far this year we have been blessed to receive significant grants from Presbytery Central, Wellington Council, and the Tindall Foundation. These are all for different aspects of our TēpuMōTātau Berhampore project. We are very grateful to these funders, but also to you who give faithfully each week to cover the basic costs of insurance, rates, salaries, consumables, maintenance etc. Thanks also for your prayers around these grant applications; they take a lot of work and do not always result in funding.
• For the financial year ended June 30th: is was a very uneven year with significant outlay on the auditorium, and beginning work on the manse. We then had no rental, fundraising or cash offerings for the lock down but did receive a wage subsidy for this period which helped immensely. On the cash side, we spent around $ to refit the church with chairs and heaters, which should be repaid by rental from the dance group over 3 years. Between Nathan and Amber moving out of the manse and the end of the financial year, we spent about $ on manse repairs, with another $ in this current (2020-21) year. Offerings were also up a significant $from 2019 with several large one-off donations from overseas and our own congregation to cover expenses like the new chairs, as well as an increase of $4,000 in fundraising on the previous year. This has left us officially with a $deficit, but in cash terms we ended the year with a $ surplus.
Youth:Now that we have received funding for another year of our youth worker position, can we make prayer to fill this vacancy a priority. Also, if you know of anyone who could spread the word for us, ask Nathan for the vacancy advert. In the meantime, we are reminded by our Presbytery Youth Enablers that the three key factors in youth retaining faith into adulthood are as follows…
1.Authentic relationships with people across the generations2.Skills in interpreting today’s culture from a Christian view3.Connecting with a sense of mission and purpose
Youth pastors and youth programs can and do facilitate these factors, but the whole faith community has a role to play.