Our History

In 2000 a small group of Christians felt called by God to plant a church in Parakai, a small village with no church presence at all.

 

On 21 January 2001 fifteen people met in the Parakai School Resourse room. 

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From the beginning we had speakers of a very high calibre; young and old, experienced and inexperienced, men and women, all wonderful people of God sharing His Word with us.

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From the early days the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle were very supportive of us and we asked them if we could formalise the arrangement and become their daughter church.They supported us through some difficult times giving advice when needed.  

 

When 1 Fordyce Road came on the market  a couple of years after we started, some of us started salivating.  What a perfect property for a church.  But we weren’t ready and with regret we watched it sell. So we continued to meet at Parakai School in the school hall, apart from a brief session at the local pub while the school hall was built.

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Our first ministry was a Sunday School, which at times consisted of only one child.

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This was quickly followed by the the ministry to the people in the aged care facility. 

 

Meeting in the school had its drawbacks so when the 'Kemp property' at the Helensville / Parakai / State Highway 16 junction came on the market we all got excited again, and in October 2004 we became the proud owners of what we thought was a strategic piece of land. However, it wasn’t long before we hit a few problems. It was reported that a road was going to be built through the property.  Council had rules galore about how big a sign we could put out the front and how many words it could have. Then there was the issue of having a drive way off a round-about on a state highway.

 

So in 2006 when 1 Fordyce Road came back on the market we were challenged!!! What to do? God provided in a wonderful way and we were able to purchase the property on 25 February 2007 with interest free bridging finance.  It took a little while to sell the Kemp property, but God was at work again, and with the rent received  taken into account, we came out about even.

 

It was exciting to start meeting in our own building.  We managed to use the lounge and kitchen areas but we soon out grew the area not once, but several times. Increases and alterations  have been made several times.

 

November 2007 marked a significant change in the church.  We became a fully fledged adult church. The leadership structure changed to elders and deacons and we adopted a constitution. We had a wonderful service of celebration with 22 people signing the membership book. 

 

But it has not all been about buildings and properties.

• We have had a couple of camps.

• We have distributed the Jesus videos throughout Parakai.

• One summer an enthusiastic group ran ‘The Pirates of Parakai’, an outreach for children that was loads of fun. 

• We have given away free coffee and muffins at Christmas in the Ville. 

• Both Journeys and Life stories has been offered for people to watch and talk over.

• For the last few years we have run Light Parties and a gala.

 

Several ministries have started over the past few years.  

 

Mainly music was started several years ago and strong relationships have been built with the mothers.

 

This church has a passion for children and several people are involved in Christian Education in Schools. 

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A young adult group has been formed and, not to be outdone a morning adult Bible Study group has started meeting, mostly meeting the needs of the retired people.  There is also a home group for the not so old meeting in the evenings.

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A toy library was started in 2019 which serves families in both Parakai and Helensville. It is held on a Tuesday morning which enables the mums from mainly music to pop in to exchange their toys before going home

 

At the beginning of 2011 year we celebrated our 10th anniversary. We partied big, having a service of thanksgiving and a cake to celebrate.

 

In 2012 Barry Pearman accepted the call to pastor the church part time. His two years as pastor were years of consolidation and spiritual growth. 

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In 2016 Kenny and Sarah Wright have joined the fellowship as our pastors. They are a young, enthusiastic couple and it will be exciting to see what God will do through His people in Parakai.

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The building project first mooted in 2013 came to fruition in 2017 with the grand opening of our new auditorium, two ministry rooms, creche, office and toilets.  These facilities make things much easier and with the office being used by the pastors give a much greater presence in the community.