Due to the restrictions that are in place to combat Covid-19 all our services and programmes are on hold until we get the 'all clear' and life returns to normal again. So, let's all follow the guidelines, care for others and come through this difficult time together.
Stay safe and God bless you.
Welcome and thank you for visiting Emmett Street Community Church. We trust that this website will prove to be helpful to you and be able to answer any questions you may have about ESCC. Please feel free to read more about our church on this site or to pay us a visit one Sunday. You will be most welcome.
Role of the Church
A Very Brief History
We see the role of the Church as being the means by which God communicates His love to the world that He created. Jesus said, ‘For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.’ (John 3.17). We see God as being concerned about every person regardless of their background and as a Church we seek to represent His priorities and purposes in this world.
ESCC's roots are based in the Methodist Church of New Zealand. In early 1999 the Church was established as Parklands Christian Centre on the site where Parklands Library is now situated. However, in 2001 the Church relocated to 106 Emmett Street in Shirley as ESCC and met there up until 2011 when the February earthquake struck. In July 2015 ESCC returned to Emmett Street.
LONG STORY SHORT
Runs from Sunday 23 February to 3 May 2020
'Long Story Short' is a great Kiwi based video series that explores the story of the Bible and seeks to address some of the major questions that naturally arise about Christianity - Who is God? Who am I? What's gone wrong with the world? Why are there so many different religions? Who is Jesus and why is He important?
There is no charge to attend and no pressure on anyone. You can come along to see if you think the series would be of interest to you with no obligation whatsoever. You will not be expected to read anything aloud or join in any discussion unless you want to. Just come along to watch and listen.
For more details contact the church office at / 386 3143
Sunday Services...
15 MARCH
10.00 am - 'LIVING FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS'
1 Peter 2.24
Speaker: Steve Leppard
5.00 pm - LONG STORY SHORT
'WHO AM I?'
Module 4
22 MARCH
10.00 am - 'LIKE SHEEP'
1 Peter 2.25
Speaker: Andy Bell
5.00 pm - LONG STORY SHORT
'SOMETHING'S WRONG'
Module 5
(For directions to ESCC click below)
A few thoughts...
HAPPY or JOYFUL?
The autobiography of CS Lewis is a book entitled 'Surprised by Joy'. As a title it has at least one double meaning to it. The main one would probably be the surprise of CS Lewis at the God given joy that followed his conversion to Christianity. He always referred to himself as having been a reluctant convert. But the title is also a possible reflection on the fact that he had been a confirmed bachelor until, late in life, he met, fell in love with and married a lady named Joy Davidman. Their relationship was the source of great joy in his life.
Rich Wagner in his book 'The Myth of Happiness' compares happiness with joy showing them to be two distinctly different things. He writes...
'Happiness is all about the here and now. Biblical joy is rooted in eternity.
Happiness is like a single chord that does not last, while joy is like a pleasing chorus that cannot be stopped.
Time is the archenemy of happiness, but it is joy’s best friend.
By its nature, happiness is impatient. Joy, on the other hand, can afford to wait. It knows it has eternity to enjoy.
Happiness depends on circumstances, but joy is independent of anything that happens to me.
Happiness draws me inward to my own personal fulfilment and fills me with more of myself. Conversely, filling me with more of Christ, joy turns me outward to God and the world around me.
Happiness seeks temporary peace with myself, but joy embraces lasting peace with Jesus Christ'
C. S. Lewis himself wrote, ‘Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is. That’s why, in pursuing happiness, I easily get defensive and bent on protecting the things in my life that make me happy. If Christ leads me away from this end, then I can instinctively become close-minded to His plans. Biblical joy, by contrast, is open to God’s will, even when that call takes me down unhappy roads and gloomy alleyways’
May we all have a year filled with purpose, inspiration, joy and an increasingly greater appreciation of God and the amazing life that God gives to us in Christ.
