This week, we are kicking off our Names of Jesus series! Kids will hear a variety of aspects of Jesus’ nature through his claims and through core prophecies. We pray that, in the lead up to Christmas, kids will grow more connected with Jesus as a person, and they also learn how we can relate to him today. 

The Kids Zone memory verse for the current series is Proverbs 18:10 NIRV

“The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
    the righteous run to it and are safe.”

You can watch any of the Kids Zone teaching videos as they are uploaded to the Kids Zone Online YouTube channel.

You can also access printable posters of the Kids Zone memory verses here. 

Kids Zone Junior will spend one week on the Fruit of the Spirit before their third round of ‘God loves me’ lessons. They will have three weeks of Christmas lessons before wrapping up on December 6th (location-dependent). 

Please join us in prayer

Kids Zone Central have been plotting out our calendar for next year. Please pray for us: that we would have wisdom and inspiration as we refine what the kids will be learning in 2027.

Huge thanks to everyone who completed the Spiritual Health Survey. We got a massive 39 responses, which is 37% of the East database (and we beat the other Locations)! This will be so helpful for us as we plan for the future. As a thank you, we will have a special morning tea next Sunday (11th October) after the service!

Have you got questions about life, faith, or purpose? Are you or someone you know curious about Christianity, or just looking for a space to chat openly with no pressure? Join us for the Alpha course!

When: Monday nights 7.30pm, starting Monday 12 October

Where: At Andrea and Timothy Teng's place in Miramar, contact Timothy for the address

Cost: Free

Bring a friend, bring your big questions, or just bring yourself. Questions or sign up, contact Timothy Teng at timothytwe@gmail.com.

Our Alpha course is just around the corner, and we need your support to make it a welcoming space for everyone exploring faith. There are three key ways you can get involved:

• Invite: Prayerfully consider who in your family, neighbourhood, or workplace might benefit from exploring the basics of the Christian faith, and personally invite them to join. We start Monday 12 October at 7.30 pm. 

• Pray: Commit to praying regularly for the participants and the conversations that will unfold.

• Bake: More information to come shortly...

If you have any questions please have a chat with Timothy or Gunilla.

Operation Christmas Child is a wonderful way to bless children with some goodies, and more importantly, the gospel. We have shoeboxes available that we’ll pack with toys and other goodies, then send overseas (most commonly to the Pacific). Local pastors will distribute them in their communities, along with an invitation to a kids discipleship program. At the end of this, a gospel call is presented, with about 1 of every 4 children who received a box making a decision for Christ. Last year, about 20,000 boxes went from New Zealand in total, which, when doing the math, is an incredible evangelistic opportunity to be part of!

Would you prayerfully consider getting involved in this opportunity to bless others with the good news of Jesus Christ?

You can grab a box from church and some instructions that have suggestions for what to fill the box with. Please return them by October 18th.

If you have questions, reach out to Keegan.

This term in Kids Zone, we have had three miniseries! For the first three weeks, we learnt about the ‘Good Book’, and how the Bible gives us wisdom, hope and life. This also served as a ‘refresher’ of where the Bible came from and the different genres that feature. The next series unpacked core Truths around our Identity: we are loved by God, created by God, and made for a special purpose. Finally, we are in the middle of our ‘Who is God?’ series. We are exploring all three persons of the trinity, and how these aspects of God’s nature influence how we relate to Him. We will round this series off with a reminder that God is LOVE.

The Kids Zone memory verse for the current series is 1 Peter 1:2 NIRV
”God wanted you to be in a covenant relationship with him. He established this relationship by the blood of Christ.”

You can see the Kids Zone teaching videos as they are released on the Kids Zone Online Youtube channel.

Kids Zone Junior have come full circle to their second round of ‘I Can Love Others’. They learn how their thoughts, words and action can express love for those around them.

Please join us in prayer:

• That the Truth of God’s love and Scripture would be firmly rooted in the hearts of children and leaders alike

• That leaders would grow in their discernment and wisdom as they shape the next generation

• That parents would be equipped to disciple their children in the home

• That God would be glorified on Sunday mornings in Kids Zone

• That God would use the kids of our church to minister to their leaders, parents and those around them during the week

Prayer is absolutely foundational to all we believe God wants to do in and through our church.  It is not just important, it is the engine room of everything we do. We long to be a church that prays and sees God move in power as a result. There are so many opportunities to pray with others here at The Street Church.

Every Sunday 9:30am - we gather to pray before the service

Every Tuesday 6.30am - weekly prayer meeting at 35 Park Rd, Miramar

Every Thursday 12pm - weekly prayer for the city at the Wellington Cathedral

Thursday 17th September 7.30pm - fortnightly prayer meeting at Chris and Elwyn's home

We also have a 24/7 prayer room in the Life Centre at Hania Street that you can book through the link: https://signup.24-7prayer.com/signup/d6b3da

Let's be people of prayer and expect great things of God.

Some of you may know that Rupert and Caitlin recently had another baby. There has been a meal roster set up for them.

It’s all managed through this link: www.TakeThemAMeal.com/SFAG9820

We are very excited to be baptising Angus, Otis and Felix Galloway on Sunday 28th June, at Lyall Bay beach after the morning service.

The Galloways would love to invite you to join them at their house for hot soup after the baptisms - 130 Lyall Bay Parade.

If you would like to be baptised, please get in touch to find out more. east@thestreet.org.nz.

Here is the latest Missions Newsletter. Thanks for your interest in our Missionaries and your prayers for them.

What a fantastic 10 days of prayer we had through the Pentecost Prayer initiative. Let's not stop praying now though. It is not just important, it is the engine room of everything we do as a church. We long to be a church that prays and sees God move in power as a result. There are so many opportunities to pray with others here at The Street Church.

Every Sunday 9:30am - we gather to pray before the service

Every Tuesday 6.30am - weekly prayer meeting at 35 Park Rd, Miramar

Every Thursday 12pm - weekly prayer for the city at the Wellington Cathedral

Thursday 4th June 7.30pm - fortnightly prayer meeting at Chris and Elwyn's home

We also have a 24/7 prayer room in the Life Centre at Hania Street that you can book through the link: https://signup.24-7prayer.com/signup/d6b3da

Let's be people of prayer and expect great things of God.

Thank you so much to everyone that made a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child last year. 653 boxes were able to be sent from Wellington and there were 13,840 from New Zealand as a whole! Every box is given to a church pastor to be distributed within their communities, and every box represents a Gospel opportunity, with many children who are discipled as a result. Thank you for the part you played in this incredible blessing!

Two thousand years ago, a group of people gathered in a room, and the bible says they prayed constantly for ten days. At the end of that prayer meeting, the Holy Spirit was poured out, and the church was born!

With all the challenges the church faces today, we are invited to humble ourselves, seek God in prayer, and ask Him to pour our His Spirit afresh on the church.

Kicking off on the 14th May we are joining with other churches from all around New Zealand to pray in the lead up to Pentecost Sunday. We want to be people devoted to God in prayer. We want to be a church where our story cannot be explained without the powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit through people. This is an intensive period where we will set aside time to draw near to God through daily prayer, praying with our bodies through fasting and praying together as a community.

Throughout this period there will be daily prayer gatherings happening around the Peninsula and we want to encourage you to take a stretch step during this 10 days of prayer. If you’ve never prayed out loud with others, why not come along to one or two of our prayer gatherings during that time and make that your goal. If you love to pray with others, why not aim to pray with others every day during those 10 days. Or maybe a stretch for you will be somewhere in between. Whatever it is, let’s cry out together “Come Holy Spirit”.

We’d also like you to consider joining in with a corporate day of fasting on Monday 18th May. That could involve only drinking water for that whole day, or it could be missing one meal. Or if you’re not able to fast from food, is there something else you could give up for that day? What would be a stretch for you? There is something powerful when God’s people fast and pray together for God to move.

All the details of times and venues for the prayer gatherings are in the newsletter email this week!

This week, Kids Zone is beginning a new three-part series on the Holy Spirit. This series is in line with the wider church teaching on the Holy Spirit. Kids will learn that God is working in us today, building on Jesus’ teaching, the origin of the church and their understanding of Gospel Salvation. They will understand how the Holy Spirit was given to us and supports us to continue God’s Rescue Plan today!

The memory verse for this series is: John 14:26 NIRV: “But the Father will send the Friend in my name to help you. The Friend is the Holy Spirit. He will teach you all things. He will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

You can check out any of the in-house teaching videos as they are published on our YouTube Channel.

Together is on 24th May! The kids (3yrs-Yr8) will gather for their own time of community and festivity, including pizza, live worship and guest speaker/storyteller Ray Cooper! Please register your kids for Kids Zone by May 11th.

Kids Zone Junior is finishing their I Can Love Jesus module by learning about Miriam’s praise in the desert after being freed from slavery. They will then move into their I Can Love Other’s module, and take a week to celebrate Mother’s Day!

Please keep our kids and leaders in your prayers during this season. Please pray:

• That children would grow in their appreciation of the Holy Spirit

• That children would understand their role in the church/world today, and how Holy Spirit equips and empowers them

• That children would encounter Holy Spirit

• That leaders would be challenged and encouraged about their own relationship with the Holy Spirit

• That families would be used by Holy Spirit to work out Jesus’ mission

5.30pm Wednesday evenings at the Strathmore Community Centre / Te Tūhunga Rau. We provide a free dinner each week, but the next few weeks we are likely to be short on help with the food preparation. If you would like to help with this please get in touch with Andrea andreamteng@gmail.com. Big thank you to all our helpers.

We use the acronym BLESS to help us as we engage in the mission that God has given us to go and make disciples. B = Begin with prayer. L = Listen. E = Eat. S = Serve. S = Story.

As we build relationships with people who are far from God, there will be opportunities to share a story with them. Either the story of what God has done in your life, or the Gospel story of how Jesus came to save us. We need to be ready!

One way you can be ready is to prepare your 100-word testimony. There aren’t many moments where someone wants to listen to the 30-minute version of your story, but the 100-word version is easy to listen to. Sharing your story in 100-words is harder than you think, so we need to prepare. Write it out, and learn it so that you are ready to share it when you get an opportunity. It doesn’t need to be about how you came to faith, it could be about what God has done in your life, something he has helped you with - anything that communicates God’s work in your life.

The other way you can be prepared is with the Gospel story - the Bible says it is the only message with the power to save. We have found the Three Circles Gospel Presentation a great way of sharing the Gospel. We have stickers of the diagram you can stick on your phone so you always have it with you and can use it to share the Gospel with others as God opens up opportunities. Watch this video to learn how to do it, and then practice it until you can share it yourself.

Here are some challenges for you this week:

• Write your 100-word testimony and learn it

• Watch the video of the 3-circles Gospel presentation and practice it every day this week

• Look out for opportunities as you BLESS others to share one of these with someone who doesn’t yet believe in Jesus.

This week, Kids Zone is beginning their two-part Easter series. Our heart for this series is that kids would gain a foundational understanding of the historical events of Easter. After hearing about Jesus’ teachings and life for 4 weeks during our Sermon on the Mount series, kids will now learn how this same Jesus died on the cross and rose again FOR THEM!

Once we return after the school holidays, Kids Zone will spend one Sunday unpacking the concept of ‘Salvation’. Kids will discuss the broken state of the world and the impact of sin on our relationship with God. They will learn how Jesus is the answer and how the events of Easter secure our salvation, and have an opportunity to learn about the invitation to follow him—and potentially accept it! This is the crux of God’s design, human rebellion and God’s big rescue plan! You can check out any of the in-house Kids Zone teaching videos as they are published on our YouTube channel.

Kids Zone’s Memory Verse for these two series is Romans 10:9 NIRV: ‘Say with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord.” Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Then you will be saved.’

Kids Zone Junior are taking a break in their ‘I Can Love Jesus’ series to reflect on Easter too. They will use Beginner Bible stories and crafts to hear about how Jesus was arrested, died on the cross, rose again and lives with us today!

Please keep our kids and leaders in your prayers during this season. Please pray:

• That children would understand the Good News of Easter

• That children would accept Jesus’ invitation of relationship with him

• That parents and children would discuss the meaning of Easter at home together

• That the events of Easter would become more real for children

• That children would have an understanding of ‘salvation’ 

• That children would understand it well enough to explain it to others 

• That children would accept Jesus’ invitation of relationship with him 

• That children would share the gospel to their friends

As you may remember, last year we combined forces with the other Peninsula churches to prayer walk the entire eastern suburbs in the lead up to Easter. This year we want to do the same thing but this time, partnering with a national initiative led by The Hope Project.

The Hope Project has joined together with 24/7 prayer, Long Story Short, and Alpha to mobilise our entire country to prayer walk our streets, deliver booklets containing the message of Easter, and inviting people we know who don’t yet know Jesus to find out more.

Easter is such a great opportunity to share the greatest message ever, and it’s a wonderful way for us to partner with other churches.

The way we will do that at East is this:

• Next time you’re at a service you can grab a map and a bundle of booklets, and you can commit to prayer walk those streets as an individual, a family, or a Life Group before Easter

• We will have a shared lunch on Sunday 29th March, followed by some prayer walking to finish off any streets we haven’t managed by then

• We’re actively working on getting an Alpha Course up and running to kick off after Easter so be praying for that, and praying about who you could invite.

• Over the coming weeks, we’ll take some time in services to upskill in engaging with people in spiritual conversations

• We’ll also up the ante on prayer

If you’re going to be hitting the streets to pray and deliver booklets, please watch this health and safety video from The Hope Project before you go.

We’re so expectant for what God is going to do in this season as we pray and intentionally reach out to people who don’t know Jesus.

“Little prayer, little power. Much prayer, much power!” - Isaac Shaw

Prayer is not just important, it is the engine room of everything we do as a church. We long to be a church that prays and sees God move in power as a result. There are so many opportunities to pray with others here at The Street Church.

Sunday 1st March, 9.30am- weekly prayer gathering before the service

Sunday 1st March, 7.30pm - Combined churches prayer and worship at Gateway Baptist

Thursday 12th March, 7.30pm - fortnightly prayer meeting at Chris and Elwyn's

Also, watch this space as we will soon be starting a weekday morning prayer gathering - venue to be confirmed!

We also have a 24/7 prayer room in the Life Centre at Hania Street that you can book through the link: https://signup.24-7prayer.com/signup/d6b3da

Let's be people of prayer and expect great things of God.

In the lead-up to Easter and mirroring the wider church series, Kids Zone will learn more about the person of Jesus, what his life on earth was like, his teachings and how he calls us to live. This will build on the Family of God series in terms of relational skills and grow a love for Jesus and his words. You can watch the Kids Zone teaching videos on our Youtube Channel below.

Kids Zone Junior is moving through their ‘God Loves Me’ series and then beginning their ‘I Can Love Jesus’ series. They will read core Bible stories and learn foundational truths about their identity and that they can have a relationship with Jesus today!

Please pray with us:

• That children would gain an understanding of living for God’s Kingdom

• That children would learn practical ways to relate well to others

• That children would grow in their love for Jesus and his words

• That children and leaders would grow in their discipleship to Jesus  

• That kids would grow foundational understanding of their identity in God