Browns Bay Presbyterian Church

Click on me Christmas At BBP Click on me

**Combined Services Information** Please click here
25th December 2022 Wednesday @ 9:30am Christmas Day Family Service	29 December 2024 (Sunday) @ 10:00am Combined service at Glenfield Comunity Church	05 December 2024 (Sunday) @ 10:00am Combined New Year Service @ BBP Browns Bay Presbyterian
12 January @ 10:00am Combined Mairangi Bay Presbyterian	19 January @ 10:00am Combined Forrest Hill Presbyterian

Welcome to Browns Bay Presbyterian

Sunday Mornings
YouTube & @BBP

Services are held here at Anzac Rd & are streamed live to YouTube.

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PASTORAL SUPPORT

For counselling and support or other church enquiries contact Robin Palmer.

Prayer requests can be sent to office for the church prayer groups to pray for you.

We will continue to pray that all in our community will cope with this new way of life, and be able to find new ways of being a faith community. We can do this!

Every blessing,

Robin
(Pastor)

We're glad you're here! We hope you will find all you need to know about Browns Bay Presbyterian.
With Gods help we can get through this.

We are a community church comprised of people of all ages and various cultures. Our desire is to help people find and follow Jesus. This means we are discovering what it means to love God, love one another and love the community around about us.

You'll find more information about us from the links on the menu on the left.

From the Pastor’s pen:

Welcome to BBP Family Church’s weekly newsletter.
Prayer is available daily through the prayer chain and email list.

If you click on Readings and Vids for each week’s readings are in English or Korean/English parallel when you click on the Reference, Footnotes link.

BBP CHURCH EMAIL LIST - JOIN IF YOU HAVE NOT YET DONE SO
Newsletters are sent out by email. To get these and other news you can send your email address to: estellejseaman@gmail.com. We’d love you to stay connected.

05 January 2025

LIKE THE EARLY CHURCH - WE CAN MEET IN HOMES
I encourage you to join one. Speak to Dave, Val or Rob.

Welcome to BBP Family Church and our weekly newsletter. I hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas celebration, and wish you a Happy New Year too!

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS - THAT LONG CAROL
There are all kinds of theories about these twelve days. It all depends on when you start counting, and which tradition you follow. Here’s a really useful explanation:
https://youtu.be/S7A75XtNg7s?si=D4xw0HEZnmt6kZW6
Watch this and enjoy!

Okay that’s the fun version. The carol is also a good teaching tool. Here we go: The Twelve Days of Christmas:

True Love’s gift - Jesus (for the bird image - read Luke 13:34);
Turtle Doves - Old and New Testaments;
French Hens - Faith, Hope and Love;
Calling Birds - Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists;
Golden Rings - the first five books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", the story of God's plan to make his peo- ple a holy nation and a light and blessing to the world;
Geese A-laying - the six days of creation;
Swans A-swimming - the seven Messianic gifts of the Holy Spirit prophesied in Isaiah 11:1-3;
Maids A-milking - the eight beatitudes;
Ladies Dancing - the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit;
Lords A-leaping - ten commandments;
Pipers Piping - the eleven faithful apostles;
Drummers Drumming - the points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed.

We won’t be singing the carol this week, but is a good memorization challenge for 2025! At Advent we looked at waiting. At Christmas we celebrate receiving - for us the gift of Jesus to the world and in our lives. We don’t have to limit the celebration to twelve days of course. Jesus is Emmanuel - God with us - every day. Every blessing for the days of 2025 waiting for us.

In Him and in His love always,

Robin

Moderator pastorial Letter

18 December 2024

Tena koutou katoa

By now most of you will have seen and heard the devastating news of the magnitude 7.3 earthquake that hit Vanuatu on Tuesday 17 December. The images are confronting. Our prayers go out to the people of Vanuatu and our partner church, Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu (PCV).

As I write, hundreds are reported injured and 14 dead, with the death toll predicted to rise as the rescue effort continues. This was a deadly earthquake and there will be many heartbreaking stories behind the growing statistics.

It is concerning to think of the limited capacity Vanuatu has to respond to an earthquake of this magnitude; the Vanuatu Government has declared a seven-day state of emergency and requested international support.

We can feel thankful that our government’s response is that of a good neighbour, it has swiftly put plans in place to assess immediate needs with a view to supporting relief efforts.

The Church shares a close partnership with the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu (PCV) and this makes us particularly concerned for the welfare of all those who have been impacted, injured, for those living in uncertainty as they wait to hear from family and friends, and for all the members of the PCV.

Our Church’s Global Mission Director Rev Phil King has reached out to PCV leaders but at this stage no information has been received as communications are down. We will update you on any injury to PCV members and their families, and any damage sustained to the PCV Assembly Office and its church buildings in Port Vila, when we have news.

I know that many of us have a deep affection for the people of Vanuatu, and a strong commitment to our partnership with the PCV, and will want to reach out and help. When the PCV is able to communicate to us what help and support is required, we will share this with you.

At this time, I ask you to give thought to the Vanuatu Recognised Seasonal Employment (RSE) workers in New Zealand who will have serious concerns for their families and friends back home. Some of our churches have good relationships with the RSE workers in their communities. Let us pray for them - the RSE workers and our congregations offering pastoral support at such a stressful time.

I understand that so close to Christmas and after a difficult year some of us will be feeling financial strain. However, I also know there will be some among us who will want to make a donation towards relief efforts. At this stage, in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, specific details of relief and recovery needs are not available; when we know how you can assist, we will share these details.

For now, please uphold the nation of Vanuatu and the PCV in prayer, along with prayer for all those bereaved, injured and suffering, and all those involved in immediate relief efforts. For them it will be a very challenging Christmas.

Gracious God, at this time we recall the words Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 'If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it...' As part of the Body of Christ we pray for the people of Vanuatu at this challenging and frightening time. We pray that they will know the support of their friends around the world, that the bereaved will find comfort and strength and that the injured will receive medical help and care. Draw close to them all we pray O God, sustain them in their time of distress and grief and show us how we may help. We pray in the name of Jesus - the one who brings hope to our troubled world. Amen

In Christ
Rose

Right Rev Rose Luxford
Moderator Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand

Recorded Services and Resources are here on our website.

On the menu on the left side of the screen you can click on
Readings & Vids to find each week's readings in English or Korean/English parallel. Previous services and readings are also found there. There are pages with each week’s newsletter, rosters and various other resources On the Browns Bay Presbyterian website. See https://bbpsermons.wordpress.com/ for written sermon texts.

‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth’ (1:14)