Karori
Pastor Mike Enright
January: Keith Newman, author of Bible and Treaty, spoke on “Do we have a Christian heritage in NZ?” We farewelled Gary and Nicky Sims who will spend a few months doing mission work in the Philippines.
February: We kicked off young adults groups with a BBQ. Many began the E100 Bible reading series. An “All Nations” picnic became an indoor lunch due to the weather.

March: We had a silent auction for paintings donated by an artist from KBC. The money went to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal. Our junior youth group had fun at a camp. We held our first My Serve for 2011 by joining with other Karori churches and cleaning weeds from a local stream.
April: We held a “Red Carpet Lunch” for people who have come along to our church more recently. Our youth group joined with many others at Easter Camp.

Newlands
Glenn and Judi Edmonds have accepted a call to serve as Senior Pastor at Hillsborough Baptist, Auckland. We have been so blessed by their faithful ministry over the last 13 years. They will be greatly missed. We wish them all of God’s rich blessings. We shall farewell them July 2-3; for details contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Upper Hutt
Chris Finlay and Paul Thompson
Plans for church additions are progressing; ideas for fundraising are being put forward. Monthly garage sales have raised $1000 for Christchurch and $800 for the Japanese Fund. We joined with three other congregations for our Easter services, where Geoff Smith spoke. A number of young folk attended at EC ’11. We were saddened to lose Edna McCallum, who passed away on March 17 at the great age of 99. She was a foundation member and faithful supporter.

Blenheim
The Women of Influence Trust invited David Riddell to take a seminar and run a Living Wisdom school, which 45 people attended. “Building Better Relationships” covered all aspects of relationships – marriage, workplace, family. Six attended the Living Wisdom school over six days. This course blends faith, mental health and psychology. David Riddell is an acclaimed counsellor from Nelson who practises the Living Wisdom methodology, which is Christian friendly.

Stoke
Pastor Paul Wade
In March, an objection to an application for a tavern licence by the brewery next door was lodged and appearance made at a court hearing. The licence was granted for reduced hours from the applicant’s original requirements due to residents’ concern. A moving Maundy Thursday communion service was held and on Good Friday, members joined with folk from other Stoke churches for the annual Procession of the Cross with stops at the various churches for Bible readings. The 6-weekly Foot Clinic is much appreciated by older folk in the community. Great to welcome four new members recently.