The Voice Ministries Church’s latest initiative, church to community (CTC) is taking to the streets of Auckland to spread their message.
Driven by the desire to reach the disconnected, CTC is helping rebuild relationships between the community and Christ through a different lens.
“Some of our Pacific people have been hurt from church, this is why they don’t attend,” says senior pastor, Reverend Glen Wayne Anaua.
“Either they’re hurt from church, they’ve been judged in church, or they just feel they don’t have enough money to give to church.
“And so, they stop going to church and those are the Pacific people that we want to reach, and we want to capture them again with the love of Christ.”
Reverend Glen and his “moving ministry” set out every last Sunday of each month to either Otara Town Centre, Mangere Town Centre or other surrounding areas to provide a free praise and worship service, with music and dance entertainment.
As well as that, they provide free food and various items for the public.
“It’s all free to our community and this has been given out of the hearts and the love of the people in this church that want to show God in a whole different perspective,” Reverend Glen says.
He describes this perspective as a “Jesus culture perspective,” where the emphasis is on building a relationship with Christ rather than simply following a religion.
“We’re not bound by laws [of religion] … laws are not totally abandoned but they’re there to lead you, to guide you, but it doesn’t save you,” he says.
“We’re not preaching a church; we’re preaching Jesus Christ. We’re not showing a church, we’re showing Jesus Christ.”
What separates CTC from other outreach programmes is the involvement of the whole Voice Ministries Church.
According to Rev Glen, a lot of programmes occur during the week rather than on a Sunday, and if it is on a Sunday, it’s only a certain group from a church and not the full church.
“There are always evangelism teams that’s in groups that the church has said ‘that’s your calling, you go evangelise’, [but for us], it’s coming together as the body – women’s fellowship, men’s fellowship, youth, and even the children ministry – we decided you know what, the whole church’s responsibility is to evangelise,” he says.
As the CTC initiative continues to extend their support, it is helping to restore a sense of belonging and healing within the community, as well as building strong connections among its members.
For Reverend. Glen, the core message for the community is to live out faith through action.
“We want to challenge people that, it’s not only giving to the church, but it’s in our actions of giving to the community. Blessed are those who give, than those who receive.”
