To our church whānau,
In our last monthly update email we shared the news that Joel and Katie are stepping down as the Senior Pastors of Curate. We have been so grateful for all of the people still connecting and praying for them, for our staff and for the church at this time. The Board of Trustees and the Elders have been meeting weekly since this time and already we have seen God moving through answers to prayer. While transitions are a tricky time, it’s also an exciting time!
We want to share with you some key dates and details of how you can be involved in sending Joel and Katie out well, as well as keeping you up to date with other details during this transition time. Joel & Katie resigned on 23rd April 2024. Joel's notice period is three months and Katie's notice period is four weeks. The board extended this to six weeks to give Katie more time to hand over her roles. As a church we were only able to pay Joel & Katie their contractual notice periods as we are not in a financial position to do more than this during this season.
JOEL & KATIE'S FAREWELL
Sunday 23rd June
This is going to be an incredibly special time to honour the incredible work Joel & Katie have done at Curate Church over the past 18 years. To allow time for everything we have planned, we’re going to mix things up and have just one 10am Gathering on this day, followed by a potluck lunch afterwards (bring some food along to share). After this Sunday the Milgate family are going to take some time to go away on a break, visiting good friends in America and Mexico.
OTHER CHURCH UPDATES
We have been sharing every week in our gatherings and on the Curate App about where we are at in our transition journey. This has two aspects to it - the leadership / pastoring aspect (who is going to take Joel & Katies place now?) and the financial aspect.
FINANCES
We can let you know now that after a lot of hard work, including cutting spending where we are able to, leasing out buildings and moving mortgages onto interest only for a time, we have now reduced our monthly deficit by quite a substantial amount per month. Although we are yet to know exact numbers due to some things still being finalised, we can say that it is looking like our monthly deficit has reduced from $100,000 a month to roughly $35,000 a month. This is a huge improvement and will come into effect over the next couple of months! Obviously we still have a way to go to get back into a healthy financial situation, but it’s great to see God's favour in this, and the finances shifting in the right direction.
Keep an eye out on the app for more financial updates or contact us directly if you have any questions. We will keep you posted about our next upcoming financial meeting which will take place after an 11am gathering in the next month or two.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Two weeks ago we let you know that the church Eldership group was interviewing some potential Senior Pastors. We can’t say too much at this stage, (although we’re looking forward to when we can share more!) We can let you know that God is good, and the Elders are confident that God is bringing the right people along at the right time so we can continue to be a church walking into our ongoing story, pursuing Jesus and playing our part.
As we take the next couple of weeks to bless Joel and Katie through this offering, as we farewell them and as we welcome in what is to come for Curate Church, Ephesians 2:2-6 seem like good verses to remind ourselves of what our church community can be -
“Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.”
Have a very blessed week,
God bless, the Curate Staff & Board
UPDATE YOUR DETAILS
As always, we know that it is important to maintain an accurate database to better serve our valued church community. To ensure that we have the most up-to-date information about you, update your details here. Alternatively, if you have decided that Curate Church is not the church community you belong to, you can let us know that here too.
WATER BAPTISMS
Sunday 16th June
We believe that if you have decided to follow Jesus, you should be baptised in water. This is something that Jesus did, and is a public declaration of our faith in Him. If you want to know more you can find out more on the website, or connect with one of our pastors.
JOEL & KATIES FAREWELL GATHERING
10am, Sunday 23rd June
We're having just one gathering on this special day, followed by a potluck lunch afterwards (bring some food along to share).
MEN’S PRAYER MEETING
7 - 7.30am Every Wednesday
We’re meeting every Wednesday morning at the Curate Offices (42c Tawa Street, Mount Maunganui) from 7 - 7.30am to pray for our church. If you are able to make it, we’d love to see you there.
CLOTHES DONATIONS
FOR PAMPER DAY
Our next Pamper Day is coming up soon, where we will be loving on twelve lovely wāhine from Women’s Refuge. You can support this special event by donating high quality clothes for us to resell at Recycle Boutique to help cover costs of each woman’s morning tea, lunch, treats and pottery class.
Clothing items can be dropped directly to Recycle Boutique Bayfair & put onto the “Curate Church” account. Alternatively, donated items can be popped in a bag labelled “Pamper Day” & dropped at the Info Area on Sundays or Curate Office Mon-Thu.
ELDERLY MINISTRY
Would you like to help our precious elderly communities experience the love, companionship and hope of Jesus? Several times each month our friendly team hosts morning services at 3 rest homes around Tauranga, and we would love for more people to come and tautoko this ministry!You can help with: preaching short messages, leading waiata, playing piano/guitar, assisting with crafts, and chatting and praying with the residents. For more info email cares@curatechurch.com.
