The New Hope Fellowship Christian Church in Onehunga has welcomed an Indian pastor to show him around New Zealand churches and activities conducted by the church for the community.
Pastor Polisetti Karunakar Moses came to Auckland on Friday, March 9 for a two-week trip around the country. The Onehunga Fellowship Church and Bethel Evangelical Church in Hyderabad have shared a relationship of more than 14 years where the Onehunga Church has sent its members to India on missions to learn more about the Indian churches experience the Indian life and serve the community there.
The visit was Pastor Moses’ first trip to New Zealand that he took to observe the Kiwi way of doing things, and getting to know firsthand how involved are the Kiwi community with the church activities.
Pastor Moses visited the Telugu Church in Mt Eden and delivered a sermon, met church leaders and also took a trip to several other churches in different parts of the North Island such as Rotorua, Taupo, Hamilton and Weymouth.
“I got the opportunity to deliver speeches at different churches, connected with the local communities in the churches across the North Island and shared some messages of the Bible with the youth of the communities,” Pastor Moses told The Indian Weekender.
Pastor Moses with Pastor Charlie Forrest at New Hope Fellowship Church in Onehunga
Pastor Moses is a qualified engineer and left his work to become a pastor and serve the community. On asked about his motivation to serve people Pastor Moses pointed out his passion for giving back to the community. He provided free tuitions for the poor people at the orphanage, helped widows, and impoverished people back in India.
The key to these trips to India and New Zealand is to serve the local communities and observe the life they both share in their own spaces.
“We have issues on both sides of the world, be it poverty, drug addiction, domestic violence, or the stress of life. Such visits aim to give the visitors a new perspective on life, see the humble life one lives there and appreciate the gifts they have been bestowed by God,” Pastor Charlie Forrest told The Indian Weekender.
“When our community members visit India, they learn new things with the local people, share their food, engage with the community and serve the impoverished,” he added.
Pastor Moses had invited the churches across North Island to visit India and experience the Indian culture and serve the community there before leaving the country on Monday, March 26.