Commissioning our Newest Mission Partners

On Sunday, 12 Feb­ru­ary, a crowd gathered at the Church of the Holy Sep­ulchre in Grafton, Auck­land, for an ordin­a­tion service and to com­mis­sion J&Z, NZCMS’ newest Mission Part­ners. J&Z’s home church, St James Anglican Church in Māngere Bridge, is part of Te Pīho­patanga o te Tai Tokerau, and they also belong to the mis­sional order of Urban Vision.

They were jointly sent out by NZCMS, Urban Vision and the Right Rev Kitohi Pikaahu. In the Com­mis­sion­ing, they answered yes to the fol­low­ing calling:

Will you go, not to be served, but to serve;
will you allow the word to be made flesh in your lives;
will you live simply, setting aside your right to affluence;
will you cherish com­munity with your team and your neighbours;
and will you bear witness to the Gospel, in all its dimensions?
Also, will you be gra­cious with yourselves and with others;
will you cel­eb­rate with generosity;
will you honour God’s hand of beauty within and around you;
will you encour­age cre­ativ­ity and imagination;
and at the end of the day, will you enjoy the Creator’s gift of rest?

Along with those gathered at the com­mis­sion­ing service, we pray for J&Z.

We pray as you enter this new stage in your journey of life and dis­ciple­ship, may God go with you. May He honour the time you have spent here, that it may carry on bearing fruit in the months and years ahead, and may the way you have helped to shape the journey and path of others be a source of inspir­a­tion both to them and you, in the times to come. In the name of Jesus Christ who has called you in the fel­low­ship of the Church Mis­sion­ary Society, and knowing that the love and pray­er­ful support of this con­greg­a­tion sur­round you, we send you out. Go in peace, for our God goes with you.

We cannot name J & Z or show their faces online for secur­ity reasons. If you would like to get regular updates and prayer requests for them, sign up for our bi-monthly prayer pub­lic­a­tion, Prayer Fuel.