About St James

St James Church

St James Church was established in 1953. We are Presbyterian in governance, evangelical in flavour, and contemporary in expression. This means that we:

• Are led by a group of elders approved by St James who are under the oversight of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
• Seek to bear faithful witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as this has been revealed to us in the Bible, and
• Try to live out our faith, worship, and service in ways that connect with contemporary New Zealand

We are a community of around 150 people who name St James “our church”. On a typical Sunday 90-100 of us gather together – children, families, singles, married, younger, and older. Our motto is – “Enjoying God, Speaking about Jesus, Living graciously”. We understand ourselves to be a community gathered around Jesus Christ and because of this we are empowered to participate in the worship of God and works of his kingdom.

We value our diversity and unpretentiousness – we are a mixture of different yet ordinary kiwis who are trying to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. We acknowledge the loving kindness of God, who accepts us in our brokenness, and celebrate the redeeming power of God who graciously works in and through our brokenness for our good and his glory.

On a typical Sunday, we gather for fellowship and worship. We sing our praises to God accompanied by a skilled contemporary music ensemble. We celebrate our community life together, pray together, read Holy Scripture together, listen attentively together to a message inspired by the Bible. And the first Sunday of every month we participate together around the Lord’s Table in Communion.

We seek to nurture one another in our faith journey and engage with our wider community in West New Plymouth through our: worship, meal fellowship, Bible engagement/prayer home groups, Connect and Connect Plus Sunday morning programmes for young people, pastoral care/hospital visit ministry, food bank ministry, Bargain Basement second-hand clothing outlet, and Impact youth group.

Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand

Here are some useful links to find out more about what it means to be Presbyterian:

• About the Presbyterian Church
  • Presbyterian Church Mission Statement
  • What is the Presbyterian church?
  • What is Presbyterianism?
• Statements of faith
• God, Jesus, the Bible, and the Church
• National Ministries
• Presbyterian Publications