Wakatipu Community Presbyterian Church St John’s Arrowtown, St Andrew’s Queenstown, St Margaret’s Frankton Manna Café, Wakatipu Global Community Ministry Opportunity and Parish Profile Our Mission: To live in Christ, and to grow as a Community of Faith, Hope, Love and Joy. Our Vision: Growing God’s kingdom one life at a time. Our Current Parish Goals: To develop new opportunities for people to know Christ and to worship. To invite people of all ages to faith. To strengthen the existing congregations that they may grow and offer space/protection to the newly formed groups till they are established and strong, and they in turn can nourish and encourage the older congregations. To ensure that discipleship becomes a way of life (for all members) and not simply a programme. To ensure the church is involved in the community, where we are actively seeking ways to be a blessing to all peoples. To strengthen and broaden our leadership to better reach our diverse and growing community. To be a church of positive influence in the community for this and coming generations. We are: Three church centres; three distinct communities, various congregations, One Church. We are seeking: A Minister of Word and Sacrament to join us in growing God’s Kingdom. INDEX PAGE Vision, background and the Minister we seek 2 The Wakatipu Basin and Community 3 Our Church Centres 7 St Andrew’s - Queenstown 7 St John’s - Arrowtown 10 St Margaret’s - Frankton 14 Parish Overview 16 Governance 19 Membership Graphs 20 Financial Graphs 21 Wakatipu Church Groups 22 Ministry Team, Staff and support people 23 1 Vision, Background, and the Minister we seek Many years ago a friend of the church, now deceased, planted the seed of an idea to re-establish residential ministry in Arrowtown. The thinking then, and now, was that the community was in need of locally based ministry and was now of a size to support it. At the time the church was not ready and the opportunity was lost but not forgotten. After the St John’s plant was redeveloped and considerably improved the plan was to increase investment in ministry; however building projects have a way of draining energy and the congregation also found themselves without a Minister to lead them, and the dream receded. At the beginning of 2012 the conversation was reignited and after a series of explorations: first with the St John’s eldership, then congregation and finally with the Parish Council and combined congregations the challenge has been taken up to rebuild our Arrowtown ministry and to plant a new congregation from the currently non-churched. The Queenstown Lakes District's ranking as the second-fastest-growing district in New Zealand (30% 2001 – 2006; 22.9% since the 2006 census) and in particular the growth of Arrowtown itself is the other aspect that makes this the right time to invest in this ministry. Indeed if we fail to act now the Church will simply be left behind and relegated to an historic curiosity. There was a time when population growth was primarily down to retirees moving to the district however those times have gone with increasing numbers of families settling here for work and lifestyle opportunities: hence the recently announced $2.5 million investment in Arrowtown Primary; extra classrooms at Remarkables School and a new primary school opened at the start of 2015 at Lower Shotover. Our desire is to add a suitably qualified and gifted Minister of Word and Sacrament to the Wakatipu pastoral team whose primary focus would be the growth of the worshipping community in Arrowtown. That’s it in a nutshell – exactly what this will look like is an open question; we recognise that the final shape of the ministry, and specific goals will grow and change as the future minister called will shape the project to more precisely fit their skills, experience, and gifts and developing community connections. With funding support from the Synod of Otago and Southland we are now ready to make a start; to seek the person God is preparing; and then together to get stuck in and, with God’s grace, build God’s Church in this place. So who do we seek? We seek a Minister who will take the time to know and understand the Arrowtown community; someone who will be able to discern what God is doing in our midst, help us see it, and help us connect with it. We seek a person who has a heart for God and love of people; someone who seeks to introduce others to Jesus and is experienced in helping people know God and grow in faith, someone who has energy and passion to reach a community that is largely oblivious to God. We seek a Minister who enjoys working with a team; who understands Presbyterian ways; who is able to commit themselves to serving in an exciting yet uncertain environment. If this is possibly you, read on, pray, consult, and contact Andrew Harrex, our Settlement Board Convener. We would love to discern with you if God is calling us to minister together. 2 THE WAKATIPU BASIN AND COMMUNITY THE WAKATIPU BASIN: The Wakatipu Basin is a plain surrounded by the mountains in Central Otago in the Southern South Island of New Zealand, and has some of New Zealand's most spectacular scenery. At the south west corner is found the Queenstown suburb of Frankton and Queenstown Airport. This is where the basin abuts the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakatipu. At the north east corner of the basin is Arrowtown and at the northwest corner is Arthur's Point. At the south is found the Remarkables mountain range; to the north is Coronet Peak. The Crown Range forms the eastern boundary of the basin. Located centrally in the basin is Lake Hayes. Much of the basin is drained by the Kawarau River. The economy of the basin and surrounding area is largely supported by tourism, though the importance of the vineyards of the Central Otago wine region has increased since the 1990's. Natural History: Natural and induced fires in pre-European times and later burn-offs by run-holders had, by the turn of the last century, reduced a once extensive beech and broad-leaf forest to a few remnants in damp gullies. After fire, bracken is the usual pioneer species, followed by manuka and, if burning isn't repeated, this becomes an excellent nursery for the native trees and shrubs. The vegetation on the Seven Mile Point track is a good example of this natural succession. Lake Wakatipu is unique in New Zealand lakes as its level rises and falls throughout the day. This fluctuation of about 20cm in Queenstown Bay is called a seiche. It's thought to be caused by variations in temperature and atmospheric pressure, and is very noticeable at Bob's Cove. Southern Maori describe this as the heartbeat of the giant, whose body forms the lake-bed – his head at Glenorchy, knees at Queenstown and feet at Kingston. The lake is basically an ice-scoured trough with an average depth of 360 metres. Above this the glaciers once rose as much as 1,000 metres above the lake's present level. The glacier retreated at the end of the last ice age and the streams formed since then have deposited a lot of gravel along the lake's shores. The alluvial material in Five, Seven and Twelve Mile Creeks has been worked for alluvial gold. 3 Population: Wakatipu basin; Arrowtown, Kelvin Heights, Frankton, Queenstown and Closeburn, has seen the population rapidly expanding with retirees and young working families seeking the good life for themselves and their children, including some ex-pat and itinerant Kiwis and immigrant workers. According to the 2013 census 28,224 people usually live in Queenstown-Lakes District; approximately 19500 of these in the Wakatipu. This is an increase of more than 5200 people since the 2006 Census. Add to this our visitors; at the height of the summer and winter visitors can outnumber locals by as many as 3 to 1. Queenstown Lakes District - Growth projections Residents: The percentages of houses/apartments occupied by local residents compared to non-local owners has not been measured as it varies from area to area but a general understanding is one third of the houses are owned by non- residents, although quite a percentage of these are rented out. Total dwellings in the Queenstown-Lakes District have increased to 16,215 in 2013, an increase of 20.4% since 2006. Recession had slowed the increase but new residential areas in Arrowtown and Lake Hayes Estate indicate a growing number of people and families who think of the Wakatipu as ‘home’. Wealth: Wealth distribution varies enormously. Some multi - million dollar properties are owned by wealthy people from overseas and Kiwis who may or may not live here permanently. At the other end of the scale wage earners pay high rents or extremely high mortgages and are stretched financially to live here. 4 While the Basin is a tourist resort a growing percentage of people choose to be here and see Queenstown as ‘home’. They work servicing at seven day tourism or work a normal five day work week in professional or service occupations. Tourism: Tourism, (with an emphasis on adventure tourism), drives the district and necessarily influences people’s outlook, work demands, community involvement and their participation or non-participation in social, sport, church and community organisations. The party/booze/drug culture is sadly a way of life for some, resulting often in much damage to people and/or property after midnight.