March 2012: TBCC is currently reviewing the website and its content. There will be limited information available until after the review.
History
Titahi Bay Community Church (formerly Titahi Bay Gospel Chapel), is an independent, evangelical church in Porirua, north of Wellington New Zealand. It celebrated its Jubilee in 2011, 50 years of meeting together as a group of believers who stand together to say that “Jesus Christ Is Lord”. Our building has grown, people have come and gone, but those words are still firmly attached to the church wall – and also to the hearts of those who meet here.
Services
Our main corporate service for the week is each Sunday morning at 10am. It runs until about 11:30 with morning tea served afterwards, and the occasional shared lunch. Services are meant to be family friendly and relaxed. There are creche facilities for 0-2 year olds and classes during the morning for children. We currently enjoy a reasonably large group of children up to about 12 years old.
2012 has seen the introduction of a monthly evening service. This is a more relaxed service format for families and often incorporates a shared dinner. Music is more kid-friendly and the service attempts to help introduce the theme the children will be covering for the coming month during their classes. Details of these services are made known during the Sunday morning services.
Communion
Communion is typically shared together on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. This normally occurs once Children have left for their Sunday School classes. On the 1st Sunday there is a greater emphasis on Communion and as such we do not normally have an allocated separate teaching slot. The 3rd Sunday sees communion as one part of the whole service.
Leadership
TBCC has its roots in the Brethren movement, as such it has a flat leadership structure. Elders are appointed through consultation with the congregation, this is open to both men and women. The elders keep an overview of the church matters, direction and spiritual growth. The last 20 or so years has seen the employment of church workers to help achieve the goals the church has set.
In 2011 the title of deacon was retired in response to acknowledging that a wider leadership structure was in place. This takes the form of IMPACTS groups – smaller groups that take responsibility for various aspects of church life. Specifically these are:
- Inner Life - focuses on spiritual growth, including other spiritual disciplines, Bible-reading and other reading, and promotes all aspects of prayer within the church;
- Mission (overseas) - focuses on support, communication and forging links with our overseas missions and missionaries;
- Mission (local) - co-ordinates, reviews, promotes local mission initiatives;
- Pastoral – everything to do with taking care of and encouraging the people who associate themselves with TBCC;
- Alleluia (teaching) – plans the appropriate teaching;
- Alleluia (worship) - currently focused on bringing together everything for the Sunday morning services
- Children, Families and Youth - all Children’s affairs with a developing focus on families and youth
- Technology & Property - all technical and property care, maintenance and development
- Strategy - reponsible for forward thinking and planning future developments