Our Mission
It is our prayer that God would see the people of
Auckland, New Zealand and the World
Captivated by Christ,
Grounded in the Gospel,
Growing in Maturity and Number.
From our very beginning we have said that we wanted to be a church that under God, is passionately and prayerfully committed to:
- Magnifying the glory of God, seen most clearly in His Son;
- Connecting authentically and uncompromisingly with the world and the church;
- Sharing the good news of Jesus with the lost;
- Maturing every person in their love and knowledge of God;
- Equipping the next generation of Gospel workers;
- Planting a network of grounded and growing churches throughout Auckland and New Zealand.
Our VISION
To see 120,000 more Aucklanders trusting in Jesus.
In 2012 it was estimated that around 2-3% of people in Auckland trusted in Jesus. That’s 30,000 people. It is our prayer that God would increase that number to 150,000 people and 10% of Auckland in bible believing, missional churches. That means asking God to bring 120,000 more people to a saving knowledge of Jesus.
Will you join us in that prayer?
HOW?
“… we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:23-24
Over 2500 years ago, God sent a man named Jonah to speak His word to Nineveh, a city that had lost its way. Despite Jonah’s reluctance and attempts to escape the mission God had planned for him, Jonah spoke. The content of his message was just five words, but through those five words, God caused the whole city to turn back to Him. The whole city, 120,000 people, believed God.
Since we started as a church, we have been asking God to move 10% of Auckland from darkness into His marvellous light. Why 10%? Because 10% is a good start. When a minority group becomes 10% of the population, the way that group is viewed within society changes. But also because God has done it before! Through history’s most reluctant prophet, God chose to save 120,000 people!
The story of Jonah has provided great encouragement to us as a church. It’s a story of God’s incredible power despite great human weakness. In Matthew 12 Jesus explained to His disciples that one “greater than Jonah” was among them (Matthew 12:41). The life and mission of Jesus Christ proclaims a gospel of greater salvation, and greater hope than Nineveh ever knew, and yet they turned to God in just one day.
Centrality of the Gospel
The gospel is His power for salvation to everyone who believes
Romans 1:16
And so it is through this gospel power that we ask God to work in and through us, to see many many more people trust in Jesus across this great land and beyond.
At Auckland Ev we are very aware of the fact that we are weak. At the same time, we are extraordinarily confident because of God’s strength. The news of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension, though appearing foolish to the world around us, is God’s power for salvation!
It’s this gospel message, this news of Jesus Christ the Lord, that defines who we are and fuels everything that we do! We are unequivocally committed to the fact that God works, by His Spirit, through this living and active Word.
Paul says that all over the world, “the Gospel has been bearing fruit and growing, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace” (Col 1:6). Understanding the news of who Jesus is and what He has done brings life, moving people out of the darkness and into the light of Life. Paul says, “Just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, so continue in Him” (Col 2:5-6). This gospel message is not just the beginning of the Christian life, but the way in which God keeps and grows us in the Christian life.
THE STORY SO FAR
Auckland Ev started in January 2012 as a group of 8 people, gathered in a loungeroom in central Auckland. It was our prayer, that we would be people captivated, grounded and growing in Jesus.
God slowly grew that little group of people to publicly launch our first service in the Movie Cinemas at St Lukes Mall, February 2013. People put their trust in Jesus, and were captured by a vision of seeing more and more people move from darkness into Jesus’ light. In March 2014 we planted Unichurch Ev, an evening congregation of Auckland Ev on the University of Auckland campus.
Over the next few years God grew our staff team, and raised up apprentices as workers for the harvest field across New Zealand and the world.
As we launch our 2030 vision in February 2019, God has made us a church of over 300 people from across the city of Auckland, prayerfully depending on Him to grow His kingdom for His glory! Join with us in praising God for His kindness, goodness and growth.
THE CERTAINTY OF OUR FUTURE
“God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in His presence. It is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:28-31
As we look to the future we look with great hope. Not because of anything to do with us but because of the strength and power of our God who promises to work through us.
God’s power is His gospel, the news of Jesus’ life death resurrection and ascension. The way in which God has chosen to work that power is through the local church. Jesus said to Peter that the gates of hell will not prevail against God’s church. The final picture God paints of the kingdom of God in the book of Revelation is an expansive Kingdom. A Kingdom with people from every tribe and language and people and nation
2030 VISION
And so . . . given the resources God has given us, the immensity of the need, the urgency of the opportunity and the glory of God, we are prayerfully asking God to do Four Big Things amongst us and through us before the year 2030. They are big things, but they are great things.
We know that while man plans his course, The LORD determines his steps (Proverbs 16:9).
So we continue to prayerfully ask God to give us wisdom for our steps, trusting that He will grow His kingdom. As we do that we have committed to pray for these four big things, asking God to do what we humanly consider the most strategic steps to see more and more people trust in Jesus across this great land.
We are asking God to do the following things
in and through us by the year 2030
GROW
Grow Auckland Ev to 2030 people across 6 Auckland Campuses
PLANT
Plant 4 more local campuses in Auckland and plant 4 regional churches in NZ
TRAIN
Train and send 30 people into theological training for full-time gospel ministry
BUILD
Build a gospel training hub in Auckland Central for the spread of the Gospel in NZ
Grow
John recounts the vision God gave to him of the future of the universe:
“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
Revelation 7:9-10
God’s picture of the future is a vast picture. A picture of a great multitude that no one could count. Too often we limit our prayers of what God can do, by what we have experienced, however we forget who we are praying to, and the future He has revealed to us. While He doesn’t promise the vast multitude will be from Auckland, we ought to repent of any small thinking we have slipped into, and keep fixing our eyes on God’s picture of the future, not ours.
So while we are asking God to see 120,000 people committed to bible believing, missional churches across this city, we thought it only appropriate to ask Him to grow ours, significantly, for His glory and the good of the city, to 2030 people across 6 campuses by the year 2030. It’s easy to get caught up on the impersonal nature of numbers. But every one of those numbers, is a person who was created by God and for God.
We care so very deeply for the lost, we’re asking God to use us to see more people in him. In a sense, that number is too small. But 2030 is a starting point. Our work in this city isn’t done until every single person trusts Jesus! So join with us as we ask God to grow His kingdom for His glory.
PLANT
We are asking God to establish four more local campuses of Auckland Ev across Auckland. We already have campuses at Edendale School in Sandringham and Unichurch Ev at Auckland University. What we are asking God to establish, is another four of these locations across Auckland. Our current model is to grow each congregation to 300 people then send out 80 people to plant a new congregation in a new location across the city. These church plants will grow Auckland Ev to
be a linked network of campuses that share the same ministry DNA and teaching focus, benefit from the administrative economies of scale but have their own local leadership, their own local preaching, and their own local feel. We will always have live preachers in each location – not video feeds – as we are committed to the principle that preaching is a two way thing where the preacher and the hearer interact. The preacher and the hearer both sit under the word together and should be accessible for questions, for sharing life, and to walk alongside one another as we are made more like Jesus.
As God grows our current congregations towards 300 people we will evaluate where the best location to plant will be. Our current location has 1.2 million people within 20 minute in drive on a Sunday. Social research tells us that we don’t like travelling much further than 15 to 20 minutes from home. That figure will help us as we prayerfully decide where to plant our next campuses, around the edges of the 20 minute zone shown on the right.
We are also committing to asking God to plant 4 regional church plants across New Zealand. In partnership with other like-minded churches we are committed to planting churches in Dunedin, Hamilton, Tauranga and Palmerston North. This means a clarity and focus of raising church planters, core teams and the finances to support them as they plant churches across this great country.
We would love you to join with us in asking God to plant more viable and healthy churches across this city and the country as a whole, so that more might know the love of our great God shown to us in Jesus. Planting churches comes with big sacrifices in relationship, in needs to serve and in our resources. But not planting churches comes with a sacrifice we are not willing to make: the sacrifice of Jesus’ glory and the lives of those who never got a chance to hear the news of Jesus and join a local church.
TRAIN
Jesus tells us that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Matthew 9:37). While we often feel like the soil of gospel ministry is hard, Jesus tells us that the problem is not with the harvest, but a lack of gospel workers. One of the greatest needs and core functions of the local church is to be equipping the saints for works of service. We are asking God to work through us to raise up 30 workers for the harvest of word-soaked gospel ministry by the year 2030. This will mean a continued focus on training apprentices, investing in deep theological education, running block courses to grow the general knowledge and ministry skills of every Christian whilst we prayerfully ask God to raise up more pastors, planters and gospel workers to lead us through the next 50, 100, 200 years and beyond. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news (Romans 10:15). We want to be a church of beautiful feet and therefore see it as one of our primary goals to identify, equip, and unleash people to use their skills, gifts, and abilities for the spread of the gospel.
How, then, can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. (Romans 10:14-15) Join with us in asking God to raise up from amongst us 30 people by the year 2030 to be set apart for gospel ministry to lead churches and ministries and missions across this country and the world.
Our primary focus in this is our ministry apprenticeship program. Ministry apprenticeships aim to help people work out if full-time paid Christian ministry is for them. They equip the apprentices with skills to be able to handle God’s Word, to understand why we do what we do, and to grow in godliness, conviction and character. Find out more about our ministry apprenticeships online at https://aucklandev.co.nz/ministry-apprenticeship/
BUILD
Imagine a place where our local community could gather to hear the word of God and from where they radiate out across Auckland and New Zealand to see more and more people captivated, grounded and growing in Christ. Imagine a centre that equipped people to serve their king through conferences, theological training, evenings of prayer and praise. Imagine a space that people from our local community could gather to learn English as a second language through the bible, where the children of our community could meet their maker at Holiday Kids clubs and introduce their friends to the King of Kings. Imagine a venue that adults and youth from across this city could gather and feel at ease, because their eyes are now fixed on their heavenly home. What you are imagining is what we call a gospel training hub.
Why build a gospel training hub? In one sense, a building is no more than a rain shelter. However if used with a kingdom vision, it can be an incredibly strategic tool for the spread of the gospel across the city of Auckland and New Zealand as a whole. We are not simply aiming to build Ev a home, but asking God to create a platform for gospel-centred, evangelistically-minded, training-focused kingdom work for the next 200 years and beyond. It’s about investing in a tool from which to proclaim the gospel across this city.
Where? Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand. One out of every three New Zealanders live in this city, and over 51% of the country live within 200km. There are over 60,000 university students, and Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world. Culture flows from cities and so we are keen to build a gospel training hub somewhere between the edge of Auckland’s urban fringe and suburban sprawl, not too far from the main university centres. Our current target area has 1.2 million people within a 20 min drive on a Sunday. Accessibility via car and public transport is key to our location decision, as is proximity to our current location as a church.
Why now? Over the years we have invested heavily in staff to teach the bible and grow teams to love more people. That has allowed us to grow to over 400 people who visit Ev at least once a month, and see between 40-50 people give their lives to Jesus in the last 3 years. We have seen great growth, but at our current rate we will max out our morning church building by 2020. Given that there are over 1.5 million lost souls in the city of Auckland we believe that investing in a well-designed gospel training hub will have us take the gospel to more people. As we seek to plant more churches across this city, there simply aren’t enough buildings to use. At one level, we are not excited about a building at all. But on another level, we are really excited about what God might do through one.
How much? There is no hiding the fact that the gospel training hub will cost a lot of money. We are envisaging the project will probably cost around $6 million. On one hand that sounds like a lot of money, and it is. But on the other hand, when you consider that the average Auckland house is over $1 million and only houses one family, you begin to see its value.
A gospel training hub should seat 400-600 people, run multiple services and ministries throughout the week, and serve tens of thousands of people over the next 50 to 100 years, or until we need a bigger one. Can we afford it? Only with God’s help. Can we afford not to try? Absolutely not! Preaching the gospel to the lost, and training workers for the harvest is too important. We would love for you to pray and partner with us in investing in a gospel training hub for the city of Auckland and the glory of God.
HOW TO PARTNER
There are 3 ways we would love you to partner with us toward this 2030 Vision.
PRAY FOR IT
Pray that God would do these four big things in and through us by the year 2030. We make our plans, but God determines our steps. He is in control and He calls us to depend on Him in prayer. Let’s make that our commitment: to be prayerfully dependent on Him for these things.
STAY FOR IT
Decide that as far as humanly possible you will stay for this gospel vision. The spread of the gospel happens through relationships and relationships take time. Commit to staying with this vision until the year 2030 (and beyond). That may mean joining a core team, moving to a new area, or turning down a promotion for the sake of the gospel.
PAY FOR IT
Everything we have is given to us by God, and is ultimately for His glory. This 2030 vision calls us all to be bold. To prayerfully and wisely invest in the spread of the Kingdom of God. The wisest investment anyone can make, the most secure investment, the investment that will produce the most return, is an investment in the kingdom of God.
Jesus says:
“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21
While there are many different ways we can invest in the spread of the Kingdom, it’s our prayer that you consider significantly investing in this vision for the glory of God and the good of Auckland. We can’t promise God will work through us in this way, but we can promise that we will continually ask Him to glorify His name in and through us, striving with all His energy which so powerfully works within us. What a joy it will be to be able to say on that final day that we did all we could with the opportunities God gave us.
It is for God’s glory and His glory alone that we invite you to join with us in this 2030 vision. Jesus deserves to be praised in this city, country and across the globe. God’s chosen tool for this task is broken sinners like us who prayerfully depend on Him for the boldness to proclaim the truth of His gospel, so that many might be saved. Join us in praying for beautiful feet.
Your Brother In Christ,
Rowan Hilsden
Senior Pastor
On behalf of the Pastors, Ministry Leaders and Executive Committee
Opportunities
We have a number of positions, both paid and unpaid, that we believe are vital next steps for our 2030 vision to come to fruition.
Take a look and prayerfully consider if God has gifted you to to serve him in any of these ways.