Our Values & Beliefs
Our dream, our values, and what we believe as a parish.
Every parish has a character — a sense of who God is calling it to be. This is ours.
To be a praying, welcoming community in the heart of Trentham — worshipping God, growing together as disciples of every age, and serving Upper Hutt with love, in the name of Jesus.
Our Dream
We long to be a church overflowing with life, love and laughter — where prayer is the heartbeat, where children belong in the middle of things, and where the door is genuinely open to anyone who walks down Fergusson Drive. We are an ordinary parish trusting an extraordinary God, and we believe Trentham is worth our prayers and our love.
Our Values
1. A church that prays
Prayer comes first. We pray Morning Prayer every weekday, gather to pray after worship each Sunday, and learn to pray deeply through Lectio Divina and Gospel Contemplation. God knows we need it.
2. Shaped by Scripture and the Prayer Book
We are formed by God’s Word and by A New Zealand Prayer Book — He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa, holding together the riches of the Anglican tradition and the living voice of Scripture.
3. Always being made new
We put a high value on personal growth and the life of the Spirit, because following Jesus is meant to change us — slowly, really, all the way down. Scripture’s word for it is glory: we are “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18), grown up into the likeness of glorified humanity — what God always intended a person to be, seen perfectly in the risen Christ. We make room for that work through prayer, Scripture, the sacraments, honest friendship and a good deal of holy patience. Some days this is more obvious than others.
4. All ages, together
Our worship is genuinely inter-generational. Children are not sent away — through Godly Play they enter the story of God with wonder, and the whole family of the parish grows up together.
5. Generous hospitality
Whoever you are, whatever you bring, you are welcome here. We share food, friendship and life — around the Lord’s table and around our own.
6. Loving service to our community
Faith works through love. Guided by the Anglican Communion’s Five Marks of Mission, we serve Upper Hutt practically — food rescue, refugee support, housing, and care for creation.
What We Believe
With Christians across the world and through the ages, and in common with the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, we believe:
- in one God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — whose very nature is self-giving love;
- that the Holy Scriptures, inspired by the Holy Spirit, reveal God’s saving purpose and are the rule and standard of faith;
- that every person is made in the image of God and is of infinite worth;
- in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, in whom God reconciles the world — bringing forgiveness, freedom and new life;
- in the Church as the Body of Christ, gifted by the Spirit for worship, witness and service;
- in the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist as God’s gifts of grace;
- in the hope of God’s coming kingdom — and our calling to live it now.
We affirm the historic creeds of the Church — the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds — as faithful witnesses to this faith.
Want the fuller story of how this community came to be? Read Our Story.