Whitianga Baptist Church

Whitianga Baptist Church You are warmly invited to join us for Sunday services at 10am. The building may not always have someone there... but you can contact us 24/7.

We'll try to reply within 24 hours As God's people we want to grow in our love for God and others in the Spirit of unity, and to partner with God in His work in Whitianga & the world.

A warm invitation to any who would like to celebrate Lynne's life.Following our morning 10am service. Starting 11.30am, ...
28/05/2026

A warm invitation to any who would like to celebrate Lynne's life.
Following our morning 10am service.
Starting 11.30am, followed by a light lunch

An important notice...Owing to the Civil Defence Emergency and extreme weather beginning to arrive, we have decided to c...
11/04/2026

An important notice...
Owing to the Civil Defence Emergency and extreme weather beginning to arrive, we have decided to cancel tomorrow's service.
It's more than likely with the heavy rain that the church property will be flooded, (though I had thought it would make baptism in the back yard easy). The buildings have never been flooded though.
Also Cook Drive normally floods as well.
So, in addition to the stay in place and avoid travel notice, it seems wiser to celebrate at home. See ya all next Sunday or before.
Stay safe, dry and well.
Blessings

Mike

25/12/2025

Merry Christmas to everyone.
Was great having you with us this morning.

20/10/2025

Shalom.
That is an interesting word and this week I’ve been revisiting it and thought I’d share some reflections with you from articles I’ve read...
Lesslie Newbigin once observed that the church has two main functions: First, it is to proclaim the whole counsel of God each week, which means weekly worship, discipleship, community building, and forming a healthy institution. But second, down in the proverbial church basement, we are to be training secret agents of the kingdom to be shalom-makers in every area of life. Like Daniel and his three friends, our people should be able to think and act Christianly in their vocations, but also taught to strive for excellence in those professions.
When taken together they will be, in the words of James Hunter, a "faithful presence" wherever they are. In this way, we equip our people to seek the shalom of the city right where God has placed them—in their neighborhoods, jobs, and civic institutions. http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/communitylife/evangelism/faithfulpresence.html?start=2

Paul hinted at it in Romans 12...
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
When everything we do is aimed at Jesus, when He is our focus, then what we do may not change; be it a nurse, doctor, lawyer, businessperson, teacher, student, hospitality worker, chef, policeman or whatever. It’s the why and who we do it for that changes. We might still work for an employer or ourselves, but we answer to God.
When this becomes a deeper reality, justice will be done more and more.
May you enjoy your pursuit of life for an audience of one.

Nga mihi

Mike

29/05/2025

Shalom. Let God know what He already knows; by telling Him, and sharing your heartfelt desires; you’ll feel better for it.

To grow in our maturity with God and as people, we must participate in community. Humans were never created to live in isolation. We were created for community. Our community needs to be outward in its focus and drawing people into it, ever changing and growing, based in relationship with Jesus.
Matt 28: 18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

There’s some points here worth mentioning.
1. We don’t need to wonder if we should do mission. We’ve been authorised by the one with all authority.
Therefore go...
2. We don’t exclude anyone. Everyone deserves to know about this. When it talks about nations, it’s referring to ethnos, or people groups. Often the easiest and hardest group is our own people. That’s generally where we start, but not where we stop...make disciples of all the nations
Acts 1: 8 ...And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
3. Jesus invites us to be immersed in the community of the Trinity and to engage others in this as well...baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
4. We’re to role model, encourage, demonstrate and instruct them in the ways of Jesus. To teach isn’t to force. If we expect others to, we need to do it ourselves... Teach these new disciples
5. We don’t make it up as we go. It’s about staying true to the message Jesus gave us...to obey all the commands I have given you
6. Remember that we don’t go alone, nor are we expected to do it on our own... I am with you always,
Acts 1: 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Not you might, or probably... we will. Why?
So we may be his witnesses

I hope you have an awesome week engaging in the community and mission God has for you.

Nga mihi

Mike

20/12/2024

We will be having a service on Christmas morning at 10am

25/11/2024

Shalom. Let the grace that come from God flow through you to allow others the grace to br around you.
Grace is a character of God and a fruit of his spirit. It’s something that can make life bearable when it feels terrible. Grace is something that needs to be embodied, fleshed out and given substance. It allows you the space to make mistakes and learn from them. This doesn’t mean we have carte blanche to actually make mistakes intentionally, but when they happen, it helps with the implications and consequences.
The ultimate embodiment of grace is revealed through Jesus and his death on the cross. His grace covers all our mistakes, our sin and selfishness, our brokenness and our issues. It doesn’t get rid of them, but it helps us deal better to, and with them. It is my experience that our broken world keeps snagging us with its edges and damaging us with its corners and catching us with its bumps. The grace embodied in Christ is a salve that we must regularly use to help us heal from the constant tussle with the forces at work in and around us.
It’s good we find ourselves facing Christmas every year, because if nothing else, we need reminding who it was about at least every year, if not every week.
Remember… John wrote in his gospel (chapter 3) that eternal life is available to all
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
Another way of interpreting eternal is abundant, and either way this invitation isn’t something that we just look forward to at a future time and place – though that is true – this life can begin now. Grace helps this to become reality, grace embodied in our daily life, not to simply make it easy, and everything rosy and fine. But to bear truth out, that all things work for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Sometimes, to be honest, how that happens seems a mystery, but through, with, and in grace, I believe it to be true.

I hope you have a fantastic week ahead and that God reveals his grace and love for you more each day

Nga mihi

Mike

08/10/2024

Shalom. Let the love of the Father, the fellowship of the Son and the guidance of the Spirit embrace you.

The joy of the Lord is my strength is a reference in Nehemiah, but also a thematic spread through Scripture. Paul refers to joy and in the letter to the Philippians he writes... Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!...
Really, always! Even when there’s nothing to be joyful about, or at least that might be how it seems. Well, if you drill down through the words Paul uses, they mean exactly what they say – always rejoice.
Chrysostom says that this is even in the midst of suffering we can rejoice and that it is here we truly find our strength. Really?
2 Cor 6: 4 - 10 encourages us...
4 In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. 5 We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. 6 We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. 7 We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defence. 8 We serve God whether people honour us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. 9 We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. 10 Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.

I get that verse 10... Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. That speaks to the tension of living with the dichotomy of always being full of joy, but enduring pain and suffering. I suppose it speaks to which one will you choose to focus on, which one will you look to for the future hope that lives within us, but also being honest about the realities we face now.
It also points us to the deeper hope we can look forward to in Christ. It allows us to acknowledge the suffering, to give voice to the pain, to recognize the hardship, to voice the affliction, to name the illness and to remember the promise. It doesn’t explain the promise, it doesn’t belittle the moment, it points us to the mystery that the joy of the Lord is my strength.
Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. Begs the question then... what is joy?
Rick Warren offers this...
Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.
You’ll find nothing in that definition about happy feelings, because, as we all know, happiness is fleeting and temporary.
We tend to think that life comes in hills and valleys. In reality, it’s much more like train tracks. Every day of your life, wonderful, good things happen that bring pleasure and contentment and beauty to you. At the exact same time, painful things happen to you or those you love that disappoint you, hurt you, and fill you with sorrow. These two tracks — both joy and sorrow — run parallel to each other every single moment of your life.
That’s why, when you’re in the midst of an amazing experience, you have a nagging realization that it’s not perfect. And while you’re experiencing something painful, there’s the glorious realization that there is still beauty and loveliness to be found. They’re inseparable.
Joy is also referred to as a fruit of the Spirit, and is a good indicator of how close we pursue Gods presence in our life.
I trust that you discover in truer and deeper ways this week that the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Nga mihi

Mike

Address

112 Cook Drive
Whitianga
3510

Telephone

+6473930000

Website

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