Weekly Notices - 5th October 2025
Our Speaker this week is very familiar to most of you. Mrs. Anne Ogilvie is our parish Peoples’ Warden who in her spare time (LOL), wears her nursing hat at Cashmere High School where she ministers to almost 2500 students from our local community and from a very large international student base from further abroad.
Anne is well liked here at St Aug’s, especially within the 9.30am congregation where she has taken the initiative in the past, to help create social spaces where the elderly can come together for fellowship. She is also known to have been the first ‘on deck’ when fragile parishioners have fallen or taken ill during services.
This week, we will hear Anne’s personal account of the life of her Great Aunt, Frances Ogilvie, and her work in what was known as the Presbyterian Mission fields in Canton (now called Guangzhou) in China.
'Aunt Fran' departed for China in 1920 at the age of 24. After two years of intense language study in Canton to master the language, she became a school Principal and village evangelist, encountering widespread poverty and disease. Frances worked in China for 40 years, facing uncertainty, adventure and danger, enduring civil war, bandits and invasion by the Japanese.
Anne hopes to give us all a little something of what her aunt’s influence was on herself, and how this was an huge movement globally at the time of mission evangelism.
We are grateful for the outreach of individuals like Fran Ogilivie who forged for us, a way of looking beyond our borders and seeing the suffering of people outside our ‘normal.’
May God always bless St Aug’s
~Your Friend and Vicar, Kofe.
Vicar Kofe
This Sunday’s Service (5th October)
Theme: God's Mission in our Hearts. Faith, Service and doing God’s Will
Sentence: ‘Who is the greater: the one at the table or the one who serves? But I am among you as one who serves’. Luke 22: 27
Collect:
Holy God,
holy and strong, holy and immortal,
keep us under the protection of your good providence,
and help us continually
to revere and love your holy name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Readings: 2 Timothy 1: 1—14 & Luke 17: 5—10
This week we continue our St Aug's Mission Month, and we have invited different speakers to address our Combined 10am Services.
The speakers will take the place of our sermons each Sunday, so come and be with us as we support the personal and corporate stories of individuals serving our Lord.
Date Speaker
October 5th Annie Ogilvie
Our Diocesan 5 Marks of Mission, adopted to guide us as a church walking into the future:
· To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
· To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
· To respond to human need by loving service
· To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation
· To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth
These priorities need not just be corporate or international ideologies; they can be worked into our individual lives as we strive to grow God’s Kingdom here on earth.
Our 11am Contemporary Service Leaders Team is excited to be launching our new look
“Lay-Led Service.”
This is in response to 11am parishioners deep interest in seeing this particular service being led by our lay people, and especially with a time after the sermon for live feedback/questions/sharing personal testimonies.
The Leaders Team have put in many hours of listing and tweaking to make this service a more people-friendly space, and we are excited to bring this to the parish on a trial basis for the next couple of months.
While our ‘Russell & the Band’ Sunday services will remain the same – a beautiful worship event of Psalms, Songs and other Scriptural Readings led by Russell Stedman, other Sundays will also walk into services led by other lay members. The Eucharist will continue to be celebrated on the 2nd & 4th Sunday of each month as well.
You are all invited to join us when we launch this new service:
11am, Sunday 12th October 2025.
Leader: Dr David Gibbs
Advance Notice: Our next 24-Hour Prayer Weekend is set for: Friday 7 November 5pm - Saturday 8 November 5pm.
Watch this space from the first Sunday in October for details!
Our last Organ Recital with Jeremy Woodside is THIS MONDAY (October 6th). Don’t Miss out!
The first two concerts (Sea-am Thompson & Martin Setchell) were very popular, get in quick for the last one!
Vestry has agreed to the recommendations from our Mission Motivators (Lerks & Joan) to support NZCMS Māori evangelists with our missions giving.
Joan & Lerks have heard Keri-Anne preach and she had shown Lerks around South Auckland, describing her work there.
We think that Māori evangelists will not only bring the gospel to Māori, but could also re-awaken Christian spirituality with everyone that they encounter.
We see this in our younger generation who want to partner with Māori in their future together.
Please click here for more information about Māori Evangelists.
Messy Church at St Augs!
On Saturday 28th June, we held a very successful ‘Messy Church’ activity day for Pre-School & Primary aged children in the Hall.
Many grateful thanks from Rowena, Thelma and the team to all those that contributed to the success of this day. We hope to hold another session before the end of the year!
What is ‘Messy Church’? Messy Church is a church for everyone who may not feel comfortable attending a ‘normal’ church service and who don’t yet belong to a church. It typically includes a meal, hands-on activities such as arts, crafts, meeting God in the outdoors, science activities and more, which are suitable for all ages.
Check out the NZ ‘Messy Church’ website! www.messychurch.nz
Please be warned that with the commencement of our roof repairs we have LOTS of scaffolding around the place to be aware of. In particular this affects parking near the Hannan Centre ramp.
Be careful out there!
(And here are a couple of shots of the team in the skyline recently.)
Please remember to use our Diocesan Prayer for Regeneration: As the kotuku gently rests upon the tree, come and rest upon us Holy Spirit as we pray for the regeneration of our Diocese… Ever living God, through your Spirit you constantly renew the whole creation; bring regeneration to your Diocese of Christchurch, grant us courage to grow disciples of Jesus, give us vision to reach young people and their families, and strengthen us to create vibrant communities of faith. All this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Helpful info
Giving
Groups
It’s easy to connect and get involved with some great social and faith-focused groups that meet regularly across the parish. You can find out about all our regular groups on our Groups page. If you have any questions, just click the contact button to connect with the group’s organiser.
Need prayer?
We’d love to pray for you. See the ‘Prayer Support’ section on the Help & Support page for more information on how we can help with your prayer needs. There are confidential and anonymous options available.