Shore Vineyards (North City)
Welcome!
North City Vineyard is one of three congregations which make up Shore Vineyard Churches.
Our motto is “Loving God, Loving Others” – which we think pretty much sums up the Christian life – and we are committed to presenting Christ in a relevant, timeless way through our wide range of church services, smaller group meetings and youth and children’s activities.
North City meets at 10am on Sundays at Northcote College, while the other Shore Vineyards congregations are: Harbour, 5.05pm Sunday, Bayswater School; and Invasion for youth, 7.30pm Tuesday, 15 Chartwell Ave, Glenfield.
As we love God, love others, we specifically want to be churches that are:
Growing
- In relationship with God
- In effectiveness
- In size
Influential
- That our ministry and influence would touch twice as many people as are in church on a Sunday
- That we would be salt and light on the North Shore
- That we would be known, and known for what we believe
Revolutionary
- That the lost would be found
- That miracles would be commonplace in services and day-to-day lives
- That God would have a free hand
Our two Sunday congregations – North City and Harbour – both have full children’s and youth activities, and normally include worship, practical teaching and an opportunity to give and receive prayer and ministry.
2010 goals
This year, Shore Vineyards have two primary goals:
- To grow our churches by 20%.
- To find a permanent building.
We are excited about what God is doing in our churches and believe fulfilling these goals will help us in our overall mission of Loving God, Loving Others.
Shore Vineyards ministries include:
tribe – children’s ministry
tribe is our children’s church for primary schoolers, and runs during our Sunday church services. tribe is a safe place where kids can get to know each other – and God. It’s loads of fun, with games, activities and yummy food. We encourage the kids to grow in their spiritual journey in a fun environment, and support that learning and development at home too. Each term we focus on a theme and build on that week by week. We also have a special event most terms on a Friday or Saturday.
Youth
Shore Vineyards Youth consists of three departments which provide youth activities for intermediate schoolers through to high-schoolers, school leavers, university students and beyond. Our youth activities are overseen by youth directors Dan and Gab Sheed, and each of the three departments has a separate leader and leadership team.
These departments are:
Seek, led by Simone Aitchison, a Sundays programme at both our North City and Harbour congregations for intermediates and early high-schoolers, age range 11 to about 15, or until they want to stay in for the sermon.
Youth group, led by Jesse Peters, a fortnightly Friday night or Saturday “come and enjoy” mainly social group for ages 13 to 16.
Invasion, led by Calvin Culverwell, is our Tuesday night youth service aimed at ages 15 to 20.
Foodbank
Every week, Shore Vineyards distribute food to dozens of people in struggling families across the North Shore. It is humbling to see how much difference a simple box of food can make when people are in real need, and it is always a privilege to show the love of Christ to those who may have had no other contact with the church. This has allowed us to assist the needy in our community in other ways, including holding a mid-winter Christmas, assisting with a personal skills course for teen and pre-teen girls and providing subsidised Christmas hampers for more than 70 families.
Missions
Shore Vineyards assist organisations such as Autumn Rain International and the Troas Trust with their work in countries such as China, Vietnam, India and North Korea, as well other missions projects in Fiji and the Philippines. Prayer plays an important part in what we do, but we are also committed to regular short-term trips to assist in practical day-to-day work. Recent teams have travelled to China, Vietnam, India, Cuba and Fiji.
Spiritual direction
For centuries, the Christian Church has benefited from the work of those who are interested primarily in helping a person care for his or her soul. This work is known as “spiritual direction” and can be of great benefit – the focus of the time with a spiritual director is your current experience of God, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent. The conversation centres on your life and relationship with God. The director listens for the movements, invitations and themes of God’s activity, allowing space and time to discover the deeper movements of the Spirit in your life – like panning for gold. Shore Vineyards has its own spiritual director, Fran Francis. She also offers spiritual direction to people who are not part of Shore Vineyards or even in church at all.
Prima for women
Weekdays, evenings and weekends, women will find something to bless, nourish and grow good things in our Prima Creative, Relate, Taste and Soul events.
Ironmen
Our men’s ministry’s aims to foster genuine friendship and ministry among the men of our churches, while looking outward for opportunities to serve and bless both the church and the community at large. Ironmen revolves around monthly men’s events, usually on a Friday night or Saturday. We try and achieve a balance of social activity, spiritual ministry and outreach in our programme – focusing on men being men!
mainly music
mainly music, for families with pre-school children, is held each Friday in term time at the church premises at 15 Chartwell Ave, Glenfield. These usually consist of half an hour of singing, music and movement followed by morning tea and play for children, and a cuppa, home-baked goodies and a time to chat for adults. Sessions usually relate to a theme which is developed over a few weeks, giving children and adults the chance to become familiar with the songs and activities and to extend their own group of favourites.
Contact us
For more information on North City Vineyard or any of the Shore Vineyard Churches, you can phone us on (09) 441-3596, or check out our website, www.shorevineyards.org.nz
