Loving God. Loving community.
(at the entrance to the shopping centre)
Please join us for our Sunday Service: 9.30am at St Mary's
Our Sunday service is a combination of a friendly, informal welcome with a contemporary Anglican service. We enjoy each other's company, sing, share together, pray, listen to scripture, laugh and minister to one another, finishing with morning tea. An excellent programme for children is provided.
Our livestream for Sunday worship and Night Prayer can be found here.
Our statement: “Loving God. Loving community.”
We understand this statement in four ways:
- We have a loving God who reaches out to us.
- We respond by loving God in lives of worship.
- We grow in loving community with one another.
- We demonstrate God’s love in our community.
The mission of the Anglican church globally is described as “to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom; to teach, baptise and nurture new believers; to respond to human need by loving service; to seek to transform unjust structures of society; to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.”
In living out this mission we aim to be faithful, attentive, expectant, inclusive and generous.
Key Leadership
At Whitby Anglicans we are an "all hands to the deck" kind of family, so we are all ministers and we all take a lead along the way, but here are some of the key faces you might see around the place...
Vicar:
Rev Chris Darnell
04 234 7088
021 347 967
vicar@whitbyanglicans.com
People's Warden:
Audrey Moonlight
027 256 3031
audrey.moonlight@gmail.com
Vicar's Warden:
William Creighton
021 228 5801
babycry@xtra.co.nz
Our Vestry
William Creighton, Sandra Edridge, Ian Frater, Audrey Moonlight, Ken Moxon, and George Seconi“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.”
1 JOHN 4:7
What do we do?
In addition to our Sunday services there are a variety of regular events that are key to our life together:
Night Prayer
The goodnight prayer of the church, livestream weeknights at 9pm on Facebook and in-person every Thursday at St Mary's.
Cell and Discipleship Groups
Growing together in small groups is an important dynamic. Various groups meet during the week to share, study, pray and grow together.
Tuesday Morning Prayer
A group gathers in the church at 8.30am on Tuesday mornings to pray, followed by a coffee and chat.
Prayers and Squares
Thursdays 10-11.30am a group meets to make quilts, and tie threads into them. These quilts then go into the Sunday service where they are blessed and knots are tied into the quilt with prayers for the recipients. Anyone can request a quilt.
Thursday Night Dinner
Each week at 6.15pm on a Thursday night we gather to eat together in the church lounge. We take turns to cook, and there is always plenty, so feel free to turn up and enjoy the company.
Kindle Worship Nights
At 7.30pm on the second Thursday of each month we gather for an extended period of free sung worship. Feel free to bring any musical instruments and join in.
Community Garden
Growing together in community. The community garden team meet in the garden behind the church 10am - noon on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The pantry is a great place to find produce (or drop off produce from your own garden).
Mens' Breakfasts
8.30am on the first Saturday of the month the three churches of Whitby take turns hosting a bloke’s breakfast (all the good stuff) with a guest speaker.
Whitby Rest Home
Weekly services are held on Fridays at Whitby Rest Home at 11am, including hymns, Bible readings and communion.
Whitby Collegiate Chaplaincy
The parish provides school chaplaincy to Whitby Collegiate School, with chapel services, support for school events, and further encouragement of the unique Christian character of the school.
Plus of course...
Baptisms
Sometimes called christenings, baptisms are a chance to welcome people into the family of God. Baptisms take part during the Sunday service and are a sacred time of celebration.
Weddings
Marriage is a gift from God. It is our delight to celebrate weddings with you - you may use our contemporary church or a setting of your choosing. Please talk to our vicar Chris about how we can work together to prepare for your special day.
Funerals
We believe that a Christian funeral is a sacred moment to celebrate the life of those who have died, to grieve and farewell our loved ones, and to find strength in the hope of resurrection. We laugh together, we cry together, we journey together.
Getting connected to us
Click here for some ways to join us in this exciting mission
Join our email list
Our primary method of communicating details of news, events and things to know within the church community is through our weekly email newsletter. Sign up is easy here on our website. (While you’re at it, please follow us on Facebook too!)
Add your details to the parish roll
Joining the parish roll is easy - if you are a regular worshipper at St Mary’s (and not on the parish roll of another church) please give your details to the Vicar or one of the church leaders and we will make sure you are added.
Join a small group
While we love the dynamic of gathering together each Sunday morning, so much more connection and transformation can happen in a small group setting. There are a variety of different groups available - if you aren’t sure which is the right fit please ask us.
Getting involved
We’re an “everyone gets stuck in” kind of family and there are lots of ways to get involved – many tasks around the place are done on a “take your initiative” basis or you can join our Sunday morning roster.
Talk to us
If there are worries, questions, concerns or needs that you have, please do talk to us - we promise to not be scary. The church office is open most days, and contact details are at the bottom of this page.
Giving to us
Like all organisations we have numerous expenses. As well as building maintenance costs our income also needs to cover all our ministry costs including those involved in maintaining a full time priestly ministry. The majority of our income (around 80%) comes from the regular offerings of our members. The rest is made up of revenue from building hire, special donations and grants that we occasionally receive.
Many find the easiest way to support the church is through regular automatic payments. If you feel this may be right for you, the details are:
Account: ST MARY’S ANGLICAN CHURCH
Number: 01 0530 0292979 000
Bank: ANZ