On 31st May, several local church fellowships shut their own church doors and met together in the Rosehill College Hall to celebrate Pentecost.  There were approximately 350 people present which made for a wonderful crowd.  The main aim of having this service together was to build relationships across church fellowships and to share a vision of us being the church into Papakura.

The group, Papakura Alive and Transformed (PAAT), made up of several local Ministers and Pastors had organised the gathering to encourage local fellowships to experience the fact that they are actually all a part of one large Church in Papakura. PAAT’s vision is to see Papakura come alive and be transformed so that it is a place that is safe for its citizens and is particularly, a place where God is praised.  In over 800 communities around the world this very thing is already happening; some experiencing fantastic results.  From a practical point of view, what has been found in such places is that as God is honoured in their communities, not only does the crime rate fall (often radically) but at the same time, the economic situation improves amazingly.  You can check some of this out on www.sentinelgroup.org.

The Pentecost service was a wonderful time of celebration.  There was great music and fellowship as Christians, who up to that time were pretty much unknown to each other, got to spend time together.  There was such enthusiasm and genuine excitement after the service that a great number of people were asking when the next one was to happen!