As you will be aware, in late November 2022 a team was called together to lead the search for our next Lead Pastor at cession|community.
That “Discernment Group” included cession|community partners Mike Turinsky and Vania Dunn (chairperson), our current servant leaders Greg Buckley, Melwyn Le Comte and Jacob Powell and Atu Lagi who represented the National Church.
We would like to thank our church community for both their patience and continued prayer through this process. We have listened to and discerned the needs of our community. We have spent much time in prayer and fasting. It has taken time, but for good reason as we desired to see the process completed with integrity and according to WMCANZ protocols.
We are absolutely thrilled to announce the Servant Leaders (minus Jacob Powell who recused himself) and the WMCANZ denominational leadership, have endorsed the recommendation of the Discernment Group to call Rev Melissa Powell to be our permanent Lead Pastor.
Melissa has done a beautiful job leading our community in the role of interim Lead Pastor since Rev Brett Jones departure in December 2022. We are excited that she has accepted this call to be our next Lead Pastor and officially stepped into the permanent role as of Thursday 23 March 2023.
We will be holding an induction service for Melissa on the second Sunday after Easter (23 April), where the denominational formalities will happen. We would encourage you to be with us in person on this evening as we celebrate this important milestone together.
We praise God for his continued faithfulness to us and for calling Melissa to lead cession|community into the future. We pray your blessing over her ministry with us.
Ngā mihi nā
cession|community Discernment Group