Having given ourselves to a year of consolidation in 2024, 2025 became a year of movement—of stepping forward with faith into the vision God has placed before us: to be a disciple-making movement transforming Wellington and the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
A defining focus for the year was cultivating a culture of multiplication in every part of church life. We began with our Multiply series—four weeks setting our direction around multiplying disciples, multiplying leaders, and multiplying churches, all grounded in prayer. We sense deeply that as new communities are planted, new people will be reached, and more lives transformed by Jesus.
We stepped into this season with a simple faith goal: to raise seed funding for at least one new church community. God, in His kindness, exceeded this many times over. The generosity we experienced in 2025 was extraordinary. Because of this, we are now able to take meaningful steps toward resourcing pastors across our existing locations, while also preparing the ground for future church plants. It feels like we are standing at the beginning of something far bigger than ourselves.
To strengthen disciple-making at a basic level, we launched Foundations—a 26-session discipleship journey designed for those new to faith. It helps people build rhythms of Scripture, prayer, and sharing their faith, while being supported into the life of a church community. Already, we are hearing stories of growth and confidence in following Jesus. We’re also excited that this resource is now available online, with the potential to serve and strengthen other churches beyond our own.
One of the great encouragements within our church continues to be the number of people exploring a call to lead. At a time when many churches across the nation are experiencing a shortage of emerging leaders, we feel both the burden and the opportunity of this moment. Our heart is to raise many leaders who will serve faithfully here and be sent generously wherever God calls. This year, we took important steps toward that vision. We began piloting our Leadership Pathway, designed to grow both the character and capability of leaders across the church. We also celebrated the completion of our first Emerging Leaders programme. One participant shared:
“Emerging Leaders was an incredible space to help refine and give direction to what I’ve sensed God stirring over the past few years.”
Stories like this remind us that God is actively calling and forming people for His purposes among us.
In the area of church planting, we have been deeply grateful to journey alongside the Auckland Church Network through their Church Planting Learning Community. Since 2023, these gatherings have provided wisdom, coaching, and genuine friendships across church traditions and tribes, which have strengthened our approach. Through this, we now find ourselves ready to take the first missional steps toward our next church plant, with leaders being appointed and preparations underway for early 2026.
Finally, we want to honour and thank Emma Roche as she stepped down from leading our Night Community in December to welcome a new baby into their family. Emma has served the Location and leadership team with remarkable faithfulness, wisdom, and courage, and we are so grateful.
We are also grateful to welcome Josiah Nevell and Joel Cooper into leadership roles at Mt Vic and Night. While both are stepping into pastoral ministry for the first time, they carry a deep love for people and a clear sense of God’s call. We are filled with faith and expectation for what God will do through them.
As we look ahead, we do so with gratitude for all God has done, and with growing anticipation for what is to come. It feels like we are only just beginning.
Much love,
Simon & Jenny Gill
Senior Pastors
