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Finding The Balance

The year was 2019 and it was our first Christmas in Aotearoa as a newly settled couple in this land of (dairy) milk and (Manuka) honey. Coming from a background steeped in Eastern work ethics and traditions, initially, it was a bit of a head-scratcher trying to wrap our minds around why a church might close its doors on Christmas day.But as I remembered how burnt-out and tired some of my friends in full-time ministry were back in Malaysia and Singapore during the holiday season, I began to appre...

The Good News of Jesus

before the dawn had even broken over the horizon, when if you had ears to hear it, a sound was echoing around the garden where Jesus had been laid to rest. It was the sound of the beginning of resurrection Sunday - a stone being rolled away from the tomb. It was the sound of freedom. It was the sound of prophetic promises spoken hundreds of years before being fulfilled. It was the sound of the Saviour of the world coming back to life. It was the sound of chains falling to the ground. It was the ...

Thankfulness

We have a family habit that we do our best to practice most evenings at the meal table. It is a habit of gratitude. No matter how hard the day that Amanda or I may have had, or how sorry the kids might feel for themselves that we have run out of mayonnaise (their favourite condiment for most of our meals), each one of us in turn always manages to find something to be thank-ful for. Sometimes our youngest Olive will giggle her way through the names of every one of our animals (we have about 13). ...

Consider The Buffalo

Buffalos are known for their unity of purpose, empathy and inclusion, living in large numbers to discourage predators, surrounding  and protecting weaker members of the group, and coming to the aid of ones who are caught alone and in distress.  Did you know that one noun for a group of buffalo is an “obstinacy”? They are by nature non discriminatory and inclusive of all those in their species. Much can be learned from this wild animal when we think about community!Buffalo...

Blessed Assurance

There have been times in my walk with Jesus when I’ve become ever so painfully aware of my inadequacies, of my ‘undeservedness’ of His love. And I wonder if many of us have felt the same. In a world where, by and large, we have to earn things, the idea that God’s love can be lavished upon us freely without us paying anything for it is sometimes, often times, difficult to wrap our heads and hearts around. In our world, we have to earn a living. We have to earn respect....

Sunday Lunch - Walking With Integrity

Hi Gateway family I hope you have all had a good start to the week. Yesterday I spent some time exploring what integrity really means for us, a people who have been called to live a life of Holiness – ‘Be Holy because I, the Lord your God am Holy’ – I reflected on the heart of God, one whose heart is complete and whole and importantly unsegmented. I am who I am. You know the world is, in many respects, set up to measure us. I think back to my commercial life where measurement was based o...

Walking with God Part 2

Thank you Stephen for the incredibly inspiring message you brought last Sunday of God’s Grace and Power at work in your own walk with God....

Walking with God

In Don’s recent message in our “Walking with God” series, Don talked about how Faith isn’t refusing to admit reality, it’s believing that God has the final say about that reality. He summed it up beautifully with this quote....

New Podcast - Sunday Lunch

We're excited to release Gateway's new podcast, Sunday Lunch. Each week, we sit down to debrief and unpack Sunday's message with the speaker to offer practical sermon application for your week!  We hope this will be a helpful resource for you, your whānau and friends as you seek to walk with God this week!The link for this is available on our homepage....

"Walking with God"

We began a new series on Sunday, “Walking with God”. As he kicked off this series, Don spoke to some of the keys needed to walk with God…Faith and Humility. We loved these two quotes Don referenced as he framed this daily pursuit. “The world tells us to seek success, power and money. God tells us to seek humility, service and love.” - Pope Francis “Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, it is thinking of ourselves less.”- Rick Warren Our prayer for this series is that w...

Nine Fifty News: July Edition

The Space Between… “…He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing space for my soul…”Psalm 62:5-6 (MSG) It is fire season and in our House, there are two types of people: those who like the fire to burn furiously to try and warm their home as quickly as possible, so they pile on the logs prematurely and often extinguish the fire. And then there is those who like to conserve the wood (knowing it needs to last the whole of winter and they�...

Brokenness is not a barrier to our worship

Megan brought us a powerful word yesterday on “The Price of Worship” as part of our “A People of Worship” series.A quote from Megan - “Yes, we are broken people living in a broken world, but we serve a whole God who delights in wrapping His whole self around us to bind our brokenness. Our brokenness is not a barrier to our worship.”...

Raise a Hallelujah!

Thanks Chris for a great word on “The Power of Worship” on Sunday. Chris began his message reading Psalm 149 and emphasised how the psalm begins and ends with a command to Praise the Lord. To raise a hallelujah - choosing to worship in the face of difficulties when you don’t feel like it is an act of spiritual warfare. Giants are slain, obstacles are removed and freedom is released in both our lives and the lives of others. Being a people of worship is for all circumstances....

"Spirit to Spirit" Worship Night

As part of our ‘A People of Worship’ series, this coming Thursday 17 June at 7pm, we have a Worship Night!The theme of the evening is “Spirit to Spirit” and our prayer is that as a people of worship, we would come with open hearts as we intentionally make time to worship spirit to spirit and seek His face.We would love to see you there!...

Encounter Night

Our 2nd Encounter Night is this coming Monday 14 June at 7pm at Gateway. This night will consist of worship, prayer and ministry.You may have felt you didn’t receive the breakthrough you were hoping for on Pentecost Sunday or you just simply weren’t able to make it. Monday night is an opportunity for us to continue seeking the Holy Spirit. If this is you, we would love to see you there. #instep...

He Waits to be Wanted.

On Sunday we continued our ‘A People of Worship’ series. Stephen brought us an inspiring message around what it means to worship in ‘Spirit and Truth’.“Complacency is a deadly foe to all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted.” — A.W. Tozer...

NINE FIFTY NEWS: June Issue

For many years, one of my ‘go-to’ Scriptures in prayer has been from the book of Habakkuk:  “GOD, I’ve heard what our ancestors say about you, and I’m stopped in my tracks, down on my knees. Do among us what you did among them. Work among us as you worked among them.” Habbakkuk 3:2 (MSG) We are thrilled to be in a season where God seems to be answering our prayers and visiting many in a fresh new way. In such a season it isn’t time to slacken off and coast, but ...

Songs for Prayer

This is the spotify link to the instrumental song list we used during our Call to Prayer week and are using at Wednesday morning prayer. We hope you find it a helpful accompaniment as you spend time in the Lord’s presence and in prayer.https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4NPUCz3uojr6YigCi5dmTh......

Such a tremendous start to our “A People of Worship” series last Sunday!

In speaking about David the enthusiastic, extravagant and expressive worshipper, Don shared this thought from Mike Bickle, “God designed the human soul to be passionate, abandoned and committed. This is the way the soul functions best. It sinks into restlessness, boredom, passivity and frustration if it has nothing worthy of giving itself to or sacrificing itself for. In other words, if we have nothing to die for, then we really have nothing to live for. God intended our souls to be captured, ...

New Series this Sunday

On the heels of an incredible Pentecost Sunday, we're beginning a series on the importance and practice of worship both corporately and in our daily lives. Join us this Sunday at both gatherings for the first installment of "A People of Worship"....

Introducing Megan Macdonald

We are excited to announce that Megan Macdonald has been appointed as our new Connections Lead, overseeing our Connect Groups, Points of Connection and volunteers. We are thrilled to have Megan onboard and look forward to all God is going to do in this next season....

Continue To Pray

What an incredible evening together on Sunday! We are in awe and so grateful for how the Holy Spirit moved in our midst. Thank you for bringing your faith and expectancy as we leant in together. Our “Call to Prayer” week was so impacting last week and we see prayer as being an integral part of what God is doing. We’re continuing to meet on Wednesday’s from 6.45am - 7.30am in the auditorium. There will be tea & toast to follow for those who can stay. Hope to see you there!...

Encounter Night

This Sunday night 23rd is our “Encounter Night”. Doors will be open at 6pm, please come and be ready and seated. We will be starting promptly at 6.30pm with doors closed for our “In Step” Documentary to commence. The documentary is the telling of some of our people’s life changing experiences with the Holy Spirit. Following the documentary there will be a time of worship and opportunity to receive the baptism and reawakening of the Holy Spirit. We are believing for a great outpouring o...

Songs of Revival

As part of our lead up to Pentecost Sunday we've created a "Songs of Revival" playlist on Spotify. Let's be cultivating a heart and expectancy for revival as we head to Sunday and onwards.https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3SvFIH7hrGzwTyREMqo3aR......

Call To Prayer

We have begun our “Call to prayer” week as we intentionally seek the Holy Spirit’s work and enabling in our midst. See below for this week’s schedule. The carpark entrance doors open 6.30am. Prayer starts at 6.45-7.30am. PLEASE NOTE: Times for Sunday 23rd prayer have changed slightly - our “Call to Prayer” will be from 9.30-10am.More information of Sunday’s gatherings to follow....