St Mary's, Whitby opened in 2001.

St Mary's Anglican Church

Whitby, Porirua City, NZ

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Ministries

There is no better way to grow into the Christian way than by doing ministry. By definition, an active Christian is a minister of Christ. The ordained Christian or the church staff worker has designated ministry responsibilities, including oversight of the ministries of the people of God. But all have responsibility to minister as they work out their faith in God.

At St Mary's, we firmly believe in and promote the ministries of the whole people of God. There is a place for you to minister in this church. We look forward to discovering where that place is for you.

Why do we assert this so strongly? There are various scriptures in the New Testament where Christians are challenged to be ministers, utilising the gifts of the holy Spirit they have been given.

St Mary's, as does the Wellington Anglican Diocese, takes seriously the challenge to equip church members by training them for ministry. A diocesan lay ministry brochure asks, and seeks to answer, key questions about how this might happen. For instance:

Opportunities to Minister

Our 9:30am services on Sundays invite us to adore our God. They are not performances, rather the offerings of the whole people of God. While St Mary's priest and pastor leads and co-ordinates these services, they give the congregation various opportunities to help present our worship to God.

Please talk with Paul Carey or Sandy if you would like to explore the opportunity to be on the presenting roster. It does not need to be onerous, you choose how often and which of the following presenting options you would like to be involved in:

music

- Sunday Services Presenting Roster Options

- Welcoming and Serving at the Door

- Audio - Visual (Data Projector, Sound, Video, DVD etc.)

- Music Ministry (Instrumental and Singing)

- Reading Scripture Publicly

- Offering Prayers (Intercessions)

- Liturgical Leader - Helping to Introduce the Service

- Prayer Ministry (Before and After the Service)

- Flower Provision and/or Arranging

- Crèche Supervision

- Break Out Leaders for under 5s (Leader/Helper)

- Break Out Leaders for Primary and Intermediate age groups (Leader/Helper)

- Morning Tea Provision and Serving


Many and various other opportunities to serve God in the other ministries of St Mary's are indicated below. The list is not exhaustive. You may feel called to offer a ministry that is not currently provided. Normally this would be run past the Wardens and/or the Pastor before you take it further.

As you will notice, the list is quite extensive. We are concerned to share the load around. Please be pro-active in offering to serve in one or more of these capacities. That way no one will be over-burdened. Training will be provided, as mentioned above.

Finally, newcomers are especially welcome (indeed encouraged) to join the Sunday service "presenting team" and/or the other ministries that flow out of St Mary's.

Would you like assistance to discern your ministry?

While we often have a good idea where our ministry gifts lie, there are some helpful ways of confirming these.

Please approach the St Mary's pastor if you would like to discuss your ministry gifts.

From time to time we run a Network Course which is an in-depth means of formally establishing ministry giftings.

There are other, less formal, inventories also available.

If your discernment is confirmed by the pastor and parishioners you may be referred to diocesan consultants for assessment for ordination as a deacon or priest.