Commissioning our Newest Mission Partners

Feb 27, 2023 | News

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.

9 Comments

  1. Liz Hay

    Thank you, Tessa. I remem­ber Ray (and Jean) very warmly from our time at St Tim’s before we left for St John’s College at the begin­ning of 1987, and was excited many years later to learn of their visit to the Elli­otts in Uganda. (We visited them in 1997 on study leave.) That visit, and a later one, showed their quiet growth in faith and mission during the years. I praise God for Ray’s life and service, and pray for the Com­fort­er’s pres­ence to be so close to Jean.

    Reply
  2. Caleb Croker

    Hey there,

    A friend of mine told me about you guys and I’d love to come along on Monday!

    Cheers,
    Caleb Croker

    Reply
    • Rosie

      Hi Caleb, I’ve just seen your message. I apo­lo­gise that this was missed. I assume you’re talking about the Ser­i­ously Inter­ested in Mission group? The next one is August 11 and we’d love you to join. Can you email us at office@​nzcms.​org.​nz (Rosie writing here)

      Reply
  3. Pamelq

    Thank you Tessa

    Reply
  4. Katherine

    Thank you Arch­deacon Fran. Mothers Union appre­ci­ated your input when we visited the Far North recently. Your wisdom and wise counsel made it a mem­or­able weekend. God bless you in your new role.

    Reply
  5. Rosie Fyfe

    Rev Fran, you and Rapiata are a gift to the Church. May the Lord bless you as you serve in this next season

    Reply
  6. Pauline Elliott

    With ref­er­ence to the article ‘By invit­a­tion not inva­sion’. My husband and I were involved with CMS from the 1960s onward and this was always the atti­tude of CMS lead­er­ship. They deferred to the church lead­er­ship opin­ions whenever pos­sible, wherever there was a local church. I’m not aware if this has change. It isn’t some­thing new.

    Reply
    • Rosie Fyfe

      Hi Pauline,
      I agree with you!! I don’t think this has changed, just good to re-iterate why and we send mission part­ners. This is Rosie writing — hope you’re doing well!

      Reply
  7. Pamela McKenzie

    Yes Pauline it was the same for Alan and me. When we went to Singa­pore 1966–69 it was in response to a request from the Bishop oof Singa­pore and Malaya.

    Reply

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