2011 Annual Report - St John's in the City

26
Whitecastle Home Group
2011 was the start of a new and wonderful adventure
- Whitecastle Home group. At the beginning of the
year Matt Potts and I envisaged a home group where
new people to St John’s could feel welcomed and
an environment where they could feel comfortable
to share their struggles and triumphs. This year we
have had about ten people come to our flat (The
Whitecastle) each week to engage in fellowship over
a cup of tea, or in Jack’s case, his dinner. We have
had plenty of good discussions covering topics such
as fair-trade and social justice and we are currently
making our way slowly through the book of Matthew.
Some awesome friendships have been formed and we
have become a tight knit group.
We think that we can speak for the whole group saying
that home group so far has been both challenging and
rejuvenating.
Petra Malcolm and Matt Potts
Karori Home Group
This homegroup has now been meeting since the
beginning of 2011. The group is reasonably small,
which has created a wonderful environment for the
members to get to know each other very well.
The group meets three Tuesdays out of every four
from 7:30 – 9:00pm. Presently we are going through
the book ‘What’s so amazing about grace’ by author
Philip Yancey. If you haven’t read this book then I
recommend it to you. One of my favourite quotes in
the book is ‘there is nothing we can do to make God
love us more. There is nothing we can do to make
God love us less’. To date we have looked at what
grace is and isn’t, grace in the bible, forgiveness: an
unnatural act, why it is important to forgive and the
issue of wanting to get even. The group has collectively
Monday Night House Group
The Monday night housegroup has met most weeks,
enjoying Chinese takeaways and discussions on
different aspects of our Christian life. This year we
covered a range of topics including justice, praise,
being a disciple (the study set for the General
Assembly) as well as ‘book’ studies from Matthew
and 1 John. As usual we also have a Christmas party
and beginning of year barbeque, as well as lots of
fun from week to week. It has been great to see new
housegroups starting up, just as we have enjoyed the
new perspectives brought by our new members over
the year, and we would encourage anyone interested
to come and try us or one of the other groups out.
Margaret Galt
decided to go to the ‘Jesus and Gospel’ lecture series
and therefore will continue to study WSAAG once
the lectures have finished.
If you are looking for a homegroup to belong to, then
St John’s has a number of wonderful groups, where
not only can you grow in faith but where you can build
some long lasting friendships. You are most welcome
to join us and if you would like more information
then don’t hesitate to contact Stuart Simpson on 476
0285.
Yours in Christ
Stuart Simpson