I’m New
Whoever you are, you're welcome at St John's.
However you found us — welcome. There’s no need to dress up, know anyone, or know your way around. Come to the 10am service this Sunday; you’ll be met with a warm welcome, Godly Play for the children, and a cup of tea afterwards.
What to expect on a Sunday
Our worship follows the rhythm of the church calendar — Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and the long green stretch of Ordinary Time. The colours on the altar and the readings change with the seasons, telling the story of God-with-us across the year.
We pray from A New Zealand Prayer Book — He Karakia Mihinare, the prayer book of our church. It’s printed in front of you, and you don’t need to know any of it in advance. The service is led by a Liturgical Assistant and the Priest who is presiding; together they invite us into a pattern of call and response, where the words printed in bold are the ones we all say together. If you’d rather just listen and watch the first time, that’s completely fine too.
Most Sundays we use the service from page 404 of the Prayer Book — A Form for Ordering the Eucharist. It is the heart of our worship: we hear the Scriptures read, we listen to a short reflection, we pray for the world and for one another, and we share bread and wine at the Lord’s Table. All are welcome to come forward — to receive communion, or simply to receive a blessing. You do not need to be baptised, or a member here, to share at the Table.
Becoming part of the parish
You don’t need to “join” anything to be welcome at St John’s — turning up is enough. But many people, after a season of worshipping with us, decide to put their name down so they can share more fully in the life and decisions of the parish. There are two ways to do that.
The Pastoral Roll is how the office stays in touch with you — for the weekly pew sheet, the parish newsletter, pastoral visits and prayer in times of need. To go on the Pastoral Roll, email the office at office@stjohnstrentham.org.nz with your name and contact details. It is the easiest way to belong without commitment.
The Parish Electoral Roll is the formal register of bona fide members of the parish, set out in section 19 of the Diocese of Wellington’s canons. To go on the Electoral Roll you simply need to be baptised, have participated in the worship and life of the parish for at least four months in the last two years, and sign a one-line declaration that you wish to be enrolled — email the office at office@stjohnstrentham.org.nz and we will send you the form. Being on the Roll gives you the right to speak and vote at the annual general meeting, and to stand for office as People’s Warden, as a member of Vestry, or as a lay representative to the Diocesan Synod.
How the parish is led
St John’s is led by two Co-Vicars, supported by a small ordained and lay team, and governed by an elected body called Vestry. Vestry is made up of the Co-Vicars, the two Churchwardens, and between five and eleven lay members elected by the parish at the AGM every two years. Its primary calling under the Wellington canons is to be a community of disciples that promotes worship, provides for the ordering of services, discerns and lives out the mission of the parish, and looks after the financial administration and stewardship of parish property.
The Churchwardens are the principal lay leaders of the parish. There are two: the Vicar’s Warden, chosen by the Co-Vicars, and the People’s Warden, elected by the parish at the AGM. Together they are the spokespeople for Vestry to the parish and for the parish in most outside matters; they are signatories on parish contracts, responsible for ensuring Vestry’s decisions are carried out, and tasked with the wellbeing of the Co-Vicars and parish staff. If you have a question that doesn’t quite fit the Co-Vicars, the Wardens are the people to talk to.
St John’s in the wider Church
We are one parish in the Anglican Diocese of Wellington, which gathers around sixty parishes between Wellington and Mount Ruapehu under the oversight of the Bishop of Wellington. The Diocese meets in Diocesan Synod each year — a gathering of all licensed clergy and elected lay representatives from every parish — to set policy, hear reports, elect Diocesan Council, and steer the diocesan family.
The Diocese in turn is one part of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. Since the 1992 revision of the Constitution our Church has been organised as three tikanga — Tikanga Māori, Tikanga Pākehā and Tikanga Pasefika — each ordering its own affairs within its own cultural context, and gathering together every two years at General Synod / Te Hīnota Whānui to make decisions for the whole Church. Through that wider body, and historically through the See of Canterbury, we are part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Want to ask something first? Email the Co-Vicars at vicars@stjohnstrentham.org.nz or phone (04) 528 5588. To join the Pastoral Roll or Electoral Roll, email the office at office@stjohnstrentham.org.nz.