Westchurch Blogs

18 April 2009

Pillars & Westchurch

Westchurch is involved in the work of Pillars.

John George [was] and Susan Henson [is] involved on the Board.

Others are also involved and you can be too. Have a chat with Susan.

15 February 2009

Alongsiders

ALONGSIDERS SEMINAR
With Mick and Ruby Duncan

Date: Saturday 7th March.
Cost: $30 pp
Time: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. approx.

Programme:
Session 1 1000 - 1100 What is an Alongsider?
Session 2 1115 - 1215 Being at your Best with People
Lunch 1215 - 1300
Session 3 1300 - 1400 Lessons from the street
1415 - 1500 Question & Answer time

Mick was our speaker at Camp last year. He is entertaining, humorous and challenging! Those of us who were fortunate enough to hear him, we really valued and appreciated what he had to say. His website is http://www.michaelduncan.org/ if you would like to know more about him. We do encourage you to come.

If you plan to, please give your name to Roberta as soon as possible.
A not to be missed occasion! See you there!!

29 November 2008

In Case of Abuse

At the Nov 19 church meeting, we adopted the Policy in Case of Abuse, (aka Church policy on Sexual Misconduct, and Church Policy on Managing Complaints : Specifically in regard to 'Mistreatment').

Read or download the policy from ...
http://westchurch.org.nz/wc/docs/WestchurchPolicyInCaseOfAbuse.doc

Westchurch is committed to providing a safe environment for all of its members - an environment in which they will be free of harassment and abuse.

The Church will seek to provide a positive, timely and just approach to dealing with any complaint or reasonable suspicion of harassment or criminal offending, providing support and fairness to both the complainant and the respondent.

To provide appropriate response in the event of an allegation:

The contact people within the church will be listed and made known.
In the case of any allegation of abuse or harassment, the church will follow the protocols and procedures set out in this Westchurch policy.

This policy document contains the following sections:

Fundamental principles of the policy
Complaints or Concerns - what to do
What Happens Next
Your rights
Guidelines for working with young people in Westchurch
Appendix: Ethical guidelines for church members

Thanks especially to Fiona for drafting this document.
[Elders]

15 November 2008

Angel Tree

Just received! Another 20 'Angels' from Prison Fellowship. Ring or email me your interest in buying a gift for one (or two) of these 'Angels'.

Apologies for the very short notice but the gifts need to be to me by the 23rd November (unwrapped).

We really appreciate the support that you give to this project and know there will be many happy children on Christmas Day receiving a 'special' present from their parents.

I have also had the wrapping day confirmed - Saturday 29th November starting at 9.30 a.m. at Halswell Baptist Church - aim is to finish by 1pm.

Paula

18 October 2008

Training Grant

Young people will be considering what to do after this academic year ends.

Having some fun sounds great! But once that's done you might consider some Christian training.

As a church we offer a grant to encourage & help finance such training. You simply apply for it.

Westchurch Bible Training Grant for Young People.pdf has the guff you'll need.

Our Documents

Here are some of our documents.

There may be other files added later.
Currently these are being put on ...
http://westchurch.org.nz/wc/docs/ .

Steve R

15 August 2008

Red letters 08

Hi friend, you may have heard that we are intending to do another Red Letter Voices later in the year (November 21-22). Like last year that will mean a Friday night and all day Saturday. This year we want to explore the practice of fighting for others. For example:

how does one fight for others at a political level (Kim Workman, NZ Director of Prison Fellowship),
how does one fight for indigenous people (Jon Owen, Urban Neighbors of Hope Chapter Leader, Sydney Australia),
how does one fight for global justice (Justin Duckworth, a Founder & Leader of Urban Vision, Wellington ),
how does one fight for stigmatized women & children (Ruby Duncan, CEO Iosis, South Auckland ),
how does one fight for the disabled (Evan Clulee, Ministries Director of Christian Ministries with the Disabled),
how does one fight for peace (Adrian Leeson, who was one of the three arrested over their symbolic protest at the Waihopai spy base),
how does one fight for the gay community without compromise ( Mike Hercock from Sydney who recently got over 100 Pastors to rally for the gay community even though some of them could not condone the practice of homosexuality),
plus Musicians from both NZ & Australia whose music is a blend of God, us & the other.

The emphasis, as noted, will be on "how to…" rather than challenge. This will be an informative gathering. RLV will be sponsored by Alongsiders (Mick Duncan) and held at Carey Baptist College , Penrose, Auckland Friday 7.30-9.30, Saturday 9.30 – 4.30). There will be a conference fee of $50.00pp.

While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight; while children go hungry, as they do now I'll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight, I'll fight to the very end!"

So, if you're keen to be at this gathering then flick me back an email: mick@michaelduncan.org

Mick