Festival 2016

28 SEPTEMBER -

2 OCTOBER 2016

Being Christ in Community

This year for our Festival we will return to the Willowhaven Holiday Park in Ngongotaha from Wednesday, 28 September to Sunday, 2 October. This site was chosen over Waikanae because of the significant cost saving for both the church and most attendees. The timing was selected over the central weekend of school holidays to enable the greatest number possible to attend. Rotorua also offers greater flexibility and opportunity for accommodation, eating out, activities, etc.

Each year the days we spend together at the festival provide not only the blessing of a wonderful time away from the challenges and hardships of our world, but the opportunity to strengthen and deepen the connections we have between each other and between congregations. It is a season to look forward to with great anticipation for it is an opportunity, God-given and God-supported, to be grasped firmly and used wisely. It is that time we set our hearts upon God and his will, and gather to be joined in fellowship and brotherly love. Enjoyable as the teaching and activities may be, it is the aroma of our connections that lingers longest, and is to be most treasured.

The festival will begin again with a morning praise service in which we share communion, and in the afternoon a full worship service. For those arriving in Rotorua the day before, there will be social gathering and supper in the hall in the evening.

A copy of the Festival letter from Dennis Richards is available here as a pdf download.

Registrations closed on 12 September, but if you still would like to attend, we would be happy to have you! Just let us know by contacting us at info@gci.org.nz. Some events have a charge to cover costs, but the Festival Fund is a voluntary donation.

This year we have invited a special guest speaker from GCI Philippines, Dr Rey Taniajura, who with his wife June plans to spend the whole period with us and share their passion for God’s work and experiences working in the Philippines and across Asia. Dr Taniajura is a long-time regional pastor in the Philippines, focused his Doctor of Ministries studies on Pastoral Ministry, and was for some time the local director of the Philippines Missions Association. He has had a long association with Prison Fellowship’s work across eastern Asia and serves on their Philippine board, and currently also is the Philippine coordinator of Odyssey in Christ Ministry, facilitating spiritual renewal in the wider church. Dr Taniajura brings a wealth of understanding and experience. You can read more about Dr Taniajura here.

Festival Letter 2016 from Festival Co-ordinator Dennis Richards

Photos - We would love to see your event photos - you can share these with us on our Facebook event page

The indicative programme for the Festival is below, and a pdf copy can be downloaded by clicking on the image. Living and sharing the Gospel is the great objective our lives and ministry are focused on, and our time together in Ngongotaha will be shaped toward that. Our theme for this year is "Being Christ in Community." Our hope is that something of the immediacy and intimacy of our daily walk in and with Christ, despite its seeming ordinariness, will settle into our hearts and stir them to fervency and thence intentional action.

Our venue for meetings is at Willowhaven Holiday Park, where we enjoyed the Festival last year, on the western shores of Lake Rotorua. 6 kilometres from Rotorua, it's a short walk to the Ngongotaha Shopping Centre and close to Rotorua's tourist attractions.

GCI - AUCKLAND