Motueka parish is three but one – we have churches in Motueka, Ngātīmoti and Riwaka, yet we are one parish together (biblical concept there). Distinct but together.
Yet not many know each other and have not hung out together regularly.
So Emily and I wondered: how do we get them to hang out together without organising a service? Because we were told those were not well attended in the past. We started brainstorming and had heard that the Motueka community had come together after the recent floods over a meal. So why don’t we do a meal together? Everyone likes to eat! Thus was born our Midwinter Christmas – some joy in the midst of winter.
Our original idea was to do a potluck where everyone just brings something and sits down together, really low-key. Pitching in together. I thought maybe 40-60 people may turn up out of our three spaces.
Then we added the question, “Why don’t you bring a friend? They could come and experience the joy as well.” I thought maybe some of the people would feel comfortable bringing one person. So it would increase our numbers a little bit.
We then asked for RSVPs and found out that 80 people were going to turn out. Our people’s warden was great. She rallied around and made sure everything was a little bit more organised than the casual potluck we had planned. 80 was still manageable.
We decorated our hall with all our Christmas trees, hung sheets of fabric up to make our big auditorium feel a little festive, put on some music and decorated our long tables (someone from our parish brought along all the table decorations from their garden). It was fun, and the place looked great.
We had planned three courses – soup, mains and desserts – and were going to do a quiz between soup and the mains, then carols between the mains and dessert. We also asked our parishioners to come in their Christmas sweaters.
On the day we also were prompted to set up a photobooth where people coming in could try on funny hats and glasses and have their photo taken.
We had to exercise our faith at that point, praying over the food, that there would be enough. Our kitchen crew were so busy and absolute legends throughout the whole process.
We had enough with some leftovers – seems biblical!
In the end it was a great night where people just felt a great sense of togetherness, aroha and hope. People have been chatting about it ever since.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
Motueka parish is three but one – we have churches in Motueka, Ngātīmoti and Riwaka, yet we are one parish together (biblical concept there). Distinct but together.
Yet not many know each other and have not hung out together regularly.
So Emily and I wondered: how do we get them to hang out together without organising a service? Because we were told those were not well attended in the past. We started brainstorming and had heard that the Motueka community had come together after the recent floods over a meal. So why don’t we do a meal together? Everyone likes to eat! Thus was born our Midwinter Christmas – some joy in the midst of winter.
Our original idea was to do a potluck where everyone just brings something and sits down together, really low-key. Pitching in together. I thought maybe 40-60 people may turn up out of our three spaces.
Then we added the question, “Why don’t you bring a friend? They could come and experience the joy as well.” I thought maybe some of the people would feel comfortable bringing one person. So it would increase our numbers a little bit.
We then asked for RSVPs and found out that 80 people were going to turn out. Our people’s warden was great. She rallied around and made sure everything was a little bit more organised than the casual potluck we had planned. 80 was still manageable.
We decorated our hall with all our Christmas trees, hung sheets of fabric up to make our big auditorium feel a little festive, put on some music and decorated our long tables (someone from our parish brought along all the table decorations from their garden). It was fun, and the place looked great.
We had planned three courses – soup, mains and desserts – and were going to do a quiz between soup and the mains, then carols between the mains and dessert. We also asked our parishioners to come in their Christmas sweaters.
On the day we also were prompted to set up a photobooth where people coming in could try on funny hats and glasses and have their photo taken.
We had to exercise our faith at that point, praying over the food, that there would be enough. Our kitchen crew were so busy and absolute legends throughout the whole process.
We had enough with some leftovers – seems biblical!
In the end it was a great night where people just felt a great sense of togetherness, aroha and hope. People have been chatting about it ever since.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
