‘The Bridge’ - 2 September 2022

A message from Sandra

Kia ora tatou e te whanau,

I continue to thank God for calling me to be part of such a wonderful church family. It can easily be said that we are a relatively small parish that 'punches above its weight.' Reflecting at the parish meeting last week on the path that God is laying before us was encouraging. We affirmed our vision to Build Bridges and Unite People in the Love of God and approved a change to our Mission Goals to enhance the breadth of church life - the looking up to God, the looking in relationally and the looking out to partner with God in his work outside of our doors.

Keep an eye out over the next month for the latest instalment of Unite, our quarterly parish magazine, for further reflection on our shared journey.  In the meantime, there is as usual, a lot happening in the life of Levin Uniting, so grab a cuppa, open your diaries to record some important dates and enjoy the read to follow.

Ma te wa,
Sandra

Worship this Sunday at 10am

Season of Creation: Celebrating Planet Earth
This Sunday, join Rev. Sandra Williams to share Holy Communion and reflect on God's wonderful gift of our blue and green planet. If you would like to read the scriptures  before coming to church, please look at Genesis 1.1-25  & John 1.1-14

Cross-Cultural Worship and Fellowship

1:00pm Sunday 2 October

The great relationship we have with our Levin Tongan Methodist brothers and sisters includes regular combined worship services. Normally they join us once a month but next month we will instead be their guests. On Sunday 2 October there will be a combined Levin Uniting and Tongan Methodist service of Holy Communion at 1:00pm. This is a fantastic opportunity to experience wonderful bi-cultural worship and to further develop our parish-parish relationship - an opportunity you won't want to miss!

Please note, there will be no 10:00am service on this day.

Refugee Resettlement

After many delays resettlement of Refugee Families is now a certainty for our town. Levin has been allocated two Columbian Families, the first of a total of 80 to be settled here.

As yet flights to New Zealand for the two families have not been confirmed but August 22 is the proposed date for their arrival in Levin. We don’t know the make-up of the families but it is clear there will be children.

As a Church we have undertaken to supply School Bags and School Supplies. Apart from that the following are ways in which individuals might help. All former Refugees feel the cold terribly so knitted beanies, scarves, Sox, gloves, and slippers are much needed as are warm jackets and jerseys.

If you are unable to do any of the above, monetary contributions are very welcome and may be made to the Church tagged Refugee Resettlement.

Seasons for Growth Adult Grief programme

Change and loss are part of life, and grief is a normal response. Seasons for Growth for adults is an innovative education programme which explores the effects of change, loss and grief. A trained ‘Companion’ facilitates the small group programme, in which participants explore feelings, memories, loss and grief in a safe and creative way. Seasons for Growth is an education programme. It does not provide counselling or therapy. It is not a religious programme.

Registrations are essential. For information on upcoming courses contact:
Sandra Williams
m: 027 296 8849
e: seasons@levinuniting.org.nz

Pastoral Care

If you or someone you know would like a visit, our Pastoral Care team is on call. Please do not hesitate to call one of the Senior Lay Leaders and they will connect you with one of our visitors.