FATHER GOD

Kia Ora Shore Vineyard Church whānau! 
Hope this finds you well. Thanks everyone for playing your part in making our Mother's Day service a beautiful celebration at 252 last week. Our guest speaker Grace Hartley helped us appreciate the mothering nature of God in her encouraging and insightful message "Mother God". You can watch the recording here. 
In a more familiar way, we can say that God the Father is also our Father. But what does this mean? What does it mean for God to be a Father, and what does any of this mean for us? In a world where so many fathers are imperfect, come and hear about the one who is perfect.  This Pentecost Sunday Grace's husband Elisha Hartley is examining the concept of Father God. Grace and Elisha have both trained as youth pastors at Carey Baptist College, and have a deep love of God's word and the church. Elisha has gone on to postgraduate work in Greek and Hebrew, and is working towards his Masters in Theology. Our Chapel service (on every 1st and 3rd Sunday), led by Nikki Bull and friends, will include the usual elements of reflective worship in song, scripture reading and opportunity for chat. Don't miss  this very special contemplative time of connection with God and each other in our gorgeous Chapel.
Also this Sunday, we look forward to having Moz Harris back to lead us in worship with our fabulous band. 
So here's a warm invite to join us for Church this Sunday morning, 8.45am in the Chapel or 10am in person, or 10:30 on Facebook live, to worship and have communion together (in both services), get to know our heavenly Father in a new way, catch up and pray with each other.
Pre-schoolers, primary, and intermediate to early high school kids (Seek) stay in with us for worship and communion, before hanging out in their respective areas with their marvellous leaders under the care of kids and youth pastors Fraser Craig and Carly Armstrong (who studied at Carey with the Hartleys!) guiding them in their walk with God in an age appropriate way. We have a freshly furnished crèche fitted for all parent/caregiver and baby needs with full view (plus audio feed) into our auditorium. 
Thanks for embracing our recent initiatives under the banner of "better together", from communal meals and activities to prayer and  small groups. Check out upcoming opportunities to connect with God and each other here. One such opportunity is our annual Vineyard Aotearoa Conference (this year in our own back yard!), followed by a combined church service and BBQ lunch (with our pastor Vic Francis back from his sabbatical), so why not make space in your diaries, get a group together, and sign up? All welcome! 
Please reach out for any pastoral care needs, or email prayer@svc.org.nz for access to a group of faithful intercessors. 
With the celebration of Pentecost this week, please join in me in praying "Come Holy Spirit", the simple prayer out of which our Vineyard Movement was birthed (see below).  
Ngā Mihi, 

Paulina

Come Holy Spirit: The Story Behind The Prayer ⎮ Origins of our Vineyard movement (adapted from https://vineyardusa.org)
Sometimes, the simplest prayers are the best prayers. One prayer that has been prayed by the church in many forms over the past 2000 years has become very important to us in the Vineyard family of churches.
It is the prayer “Come, Holy Spirit.”
On Mother’s Day, 1980, John Wimber had a unique experience at the church he pastored in Yorba Linda, California. John was from a Quaker tradition, and was a respected voice teaching leaders about Church growth through evangelism.
John had invited a guest speaker named Lonnie Frisbee to teach at their evening service. Lonnie was a hippie who was a part of what became known as the Jesus People Movement in the late 1960s in Southern California. John’s church was filled with young people, and they gathered to worship as usual that night. Lonnie got up to speak, and at the conclusion of his message he prayed a prayer that has been prayed by many throughout church history.
It was a simple prayer, one that has become one of the most important prayers we pray across the Vineyard family of churches. The prayer was simply:
“Come, Holy Spirit.”
It is a prayer the church of Jesus Christ has been praying in many forms over many centuries. That night, when that three-word prayer was prayed, all heaven broke loose in John Wimber’s community. An entire movement of churches has, in many ways, grown around that prayer. After that gathering, deeply encountered by the Holy Spirit, young people poured into the streets, leading hundreds, then thousands, to faith in Jesus Christ. Miracles followed their simple prayers, such as healings of bodies and minds, as well as deliverances from addictions.
Since that time, tens of thousands have come to faith in Jesus through the work of the Vineyard. Our belief in [..] reaching people by participating with God in the miraculous – centers us on the Holy Spirit’s work in drawing the heart to God.
Today, you will hear this simple prayer, in some form, being prayed in virtually every Vineyard church around the world. It is because we are learning in the Vineyard what the Body of Christ has had to learn again and again throughout history – that with the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us, we can do the works of Jesus. We can join him in the advancing of the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth.
We are a people of the presence of God. So we pray “Come, Holy Spirit.”