Our Story
St Luke’s came to life early in 2011 when a small group of could be, should be, would be church planters put their hands up to have a go. The idea, way back then and still today, was to try and fuse together a number of ideas that are often set against each other rather than integrated in church life. We wondered what it would look like to bring together the charismatic and the contemplative, sharp minds and soft hearts, ancient traditions in a modern context, the liturgical calendar and contemporary life, the head, the hands, and the heart. It felt quite novel at the time, though it was never about novelty for novelty' sake, there was a deeper 'why' below the 'what.'
The 'why' beneath the surface of all we set out to do, and still do today, was the ongoing contextualisation of the good news of Jesus in a 21st century world. As St Luke's we wanted to organise ourselves as a church community that might serve as an oasis of living water in today's spiritual desert of secularism. Certainly the good news of the gospel is always better than you've just realised, and yet, in a postmodern world, translating this good news of Jesus in a manner that is engaging, provocative, life-giving, subversive and compelling isn't necessarily straight-forward. Jesus alone has the words that lead to true life and we wanted to bring alive the way, the truth and the life of Christ in a manner that would resonate in hearts and lives today. We felt that a fusion of the great traditions of the church with a careful attentiveness to contemporary culture had (and has) the potential to bring to life a vibrant Christian spirituality that is peaceful, intelligent, anchored, deep, mysterious, transformative, and most importantly of all, Christ-focused.
Guiding us in this journey we recognised five particular core-values that have shaped our life together as St Luke's; the Big Story of the Bible, gathering well, scattering well, vibrant spirituality and a commitment to keep things down-to-earth. You can read more about each of these values here. As well, we've articulated over the years different 'one-liners' that have captured concepts, values, theological ideas that are significant in our journey to be the church we feel God has called us to be. These include: less meetings and more BBQs; big questions rather than easy answers; simple church; slow-church; the church as a one-another community; stability in pilgrimage; holy, whole and wholesome people; and a few others. While as a church we have grown from a church planting group of eighteen to a community of more than three-hundred, we have managed to stay true to our core values and to the sense of God's leading that we felt God called us to pursue just over a decade ago and we're excited about continuing into the future in the same direction.
As it has always been, St Luke's is a church of everyday Kiwis who love life and are doing their best to live the way of Jesus in the 21st century. We don’t have to have it all together, we're not the perfect church, but we're committed to following Jesus wholeheartedly. We’re a church for the certain, the uncertain, the faith-filled, and the doubters. A church for those with all the answers and for those who only have questions. Day-dreamer, agnostic, Warriors fan, average Joe, young or old, saint or sinner; all are welcome. We look forward to gathering as the church on Sundays, as well as scattering to be the church Monday through Saturday in the nooks and crannies and highways and byways of everyday life. We want to shine boldly as a light, but also flavour subversively as salt the world around us. We are committed to being a faith community who live out of a different story than that of consumerism, materialism, individualism and all those other words so often used to so accurately describe our western post-Christian culture. We’re for championing a life lived in the light of the grand-narrative of God's ongoing work in history, the big story of Jesus found in the Bible, Genesis through Revelation. True living, life to the full, truth and hope, it’s all found in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
