News

Future plans for Wellington and Staff Update
2022-11-11

Hi church!

The last month for Arise has been a time of deep encouragement and fresh life. We have experienced some very powerful and impacting times in the presence of God during services, we have seen new breakfast clubs launch in multiple locations, and we have heard powerful testimonies of life-change as people have found hope and purpose in Christ. God is so faithful! He continues to work in our lives and through this church.

Today we want to update you about an important decision we have made as a leadership and also about some staff movements in the coming weeks. Our focus in this season is to strengthen our foundations. We want to focus our energy, resources, finances and attention on the fundamentals of who we are to make sure we are strong and secure for the future.

Wellington Campus
As part of that, we have made the decision to bring the Wellington City and Hutt Valley campuses together and form one campus based at the Arise Centre indefinitely.

There are various reasons for this decision. Firstly, it is financially prudent as we will not need to hire a venue in the city of Wellington and also lose the associated costs with setting up that venue each week. Whilst we have a solid financial base of equity as a church, we do need to make wise and strategic decisions about our expenditure.

Secondly, as we continue to learn, change and grow as a church, we believe it is wise to lessen our activity in the immediate future and strengthen what we are doing. We want to be clear about who we are and what we are doing before we look to do more.

Thirdly, this is a pastoral decision. The people of both the City and Hutt campuses are absolutely incredible and we want to honour this community by strengthening the pastoral team for this location which happens as we come together. We have a wonderful church venue in the Arise Centre that is a great environment for services and for connection, this is an opportunity to utilise it even more. We have communicated this with the Wellington and Hutt campuses in Sunday services, but we want to share this news with all of Arise as we are one family across Aotearoa and this is an important decision for us all.

The outworking of this decision including the forming of new teams and staff roles is currently underway and we will update further as we can.

We still have a heart for the city of Wellington and for the wider region! It is a significant city, our nation’s capital, and it is where the journey of Arise began in 2002. It is where both of us came to this church and found hope and purpose in this community. We believe that God will continue to use Arise, along with the many great churches in the city, to transform Wellington for His kingdom, both in the immediate future and in the days and years ahead.

Staff Movements
We also want you to know that this is a season of change and transition; and for some staff, it has meant they are considering their future. We have encouraged all staff to seek God; prayerfully considering what He is asking of them in the days ahead. This has been an open and honest dialogue and we want the staff team to know they are loved and are trusted to follow what they believe God is saying to them. In light of that, some have made the decision to move on from their roles on staff and we are committed to blessing people as they step into their next season. We recognise this can be unsettling and if you have any questions we encourage you to reach out to your campus staff who would love to talk with you.

Church, we are so thankful for your continued prayers, encouragement and faith as we journey forward together. We have been so greatly inspired by the depth of love and faith in the heart of our church and the incredible calibre and character of the people of Arise. God really is faithful, we see Him moving in our midst and we are honoured to be part of this church whānau with you.

As we look to 2023 and beyond, we know that God is still building His church.

Love,

Ben & Amy Kendrew
Interim Senior Pastors, Arise Church