In the community, for the community

Church on Vogel in Palmerston North celebrated 10 years of the HND Community Trust on Sunday. The trust is known as ‘The House Next Door’, named for the physical location of a community hub directly attached to the church building.

It was set up by a group of people from Church on Vogel, including former Pastor Andrew Mitchell and his wife Sonja, who had a vision to build a community centre and begin connecting with their surrounding community of Roslyn in intentional and meaningful ways.

Roslyn is a high deprivation area and supports a diverse community with a range of needs.

HND Manager Leigh Chard says that 10 years ago the outreach started by a motivation flowing from Matthew 28 and Jesus’ Great Commission. Church on Vogel acted on a desire to be like a ‘city on a hill’ and shining the light of Christ to their community, and so HND began:

“Over ten years we’ve started from scratch, and now connect with up to 500 people from the community every week in a variety of ways including afterschool programmes, holiday programmes, exercise classes, youth groups (intermediate and high school), craft group, mentoring (both informal and formal), educational support—as well as through associated programmes like playgroup, tumble tots, and Rally.”

But it’s not about just running programmes, says Leigh, it’s about connecting with people where they’re at and offering wrap around care: “Each person that walks through the doors is an opportunity for us to outwork the gospel in word and deed. We help meet practical needs in a variety of ways, including mentoring, activities, classes or advocacy, and we also have opportunities to run courses like Youth Alpha, and Search For Life. Our mission statement is ‘in the community—for the community’ and that’s what we’re about.”

The ministry has grown from operating entirely voluntarily, to employing six staff and coordinating efforts of more than 100 volunteers from the Church on Vogel whānau. “It goes both ways,” says Leigh. “Our church family engage intentionally and that looks different depending on the need for example we have church members helping out with programmes, mentoring people, providing meals and supporting us with fundraising. 

It's a ministry they hope will continue to grow over the next ten years as they see where God leads them, says Church on Vogel Elder and HND Trustee JC Marais, “we hope to see our church continue to grow in their love and connection to the community of Roslyn, as they engage with people through the House Next Door. As a church our shared mission is to know Christ and make him known.” And Church on Vogel has a vision to see that continue through loving involvement in the lives of people.

At Sunday’s event the whole church was able to celebrate the last 10 years of the trust. The first trustees, Andrew Mitchell, Richard Print, and Brian Ross-Murphy were present. Along with current staff and trustees, including Nathan Chard, who is the longest serving employee (after starting as an intern). Leigh says it was a great opportunity for the whole church to hear the story afresh, and to respond to the call to be ‘in the community, for the community’ as they shine the light of Jesus, the Light of the World together.