When people talk about a church service, it usually refers to a religious sermon or ceremony but this week Whangarei's Christ Church is celebrating a different kind of service first offered there 20 years ago.
The Anglican Care Trust helps raise people's spirits but the "spiritual" Anglican connection is left in the realm of the church across the road from the trust's building on the corner of Deveron and Mill Rds.
However, the two halves of the church's pastoral care will come together at a Christ Church service starting at 10am on Sunday, followed by lunch at the church hall, to celebrate the milestone. Trust administrator, board secretary and management team member Shirley Mellsop said Christ Church's then Reverend Neil Fuge introduced the care trust idea after he saw similar schemes attached to churches.
"In spiritual and caring terms, he had a vision of what could happen in the sense of taking God's love into the marketplace," Ms Mellsop said. "From that, various things started and it just got bigger and bigger."
The trust is a separate entity to the church, although the church owns the land on which sits the modern building that in 2008 replaced the old white cottage that housed the trust.
Back in the day, it offered "prayer counselling" - support through group and individual prayer; and "Lovelink" - distributing food to people in need.
Twenty years later, it offers a wider range of services. The major ones are still budgeting and counselling, these days by qualified staff and volunteers and attracting contracts mainly from the Ministry of Social Development. The trust has a holistic approach to community care. Take its Healthy Living programmes which include courses on assertiveness, boundaries, self-awareness, nutrition, cooking, anxiety and grief. A community worker helps seniors remain in their own homes and networks among other agencies also supporting those people.
There is also a "grief group".
"I wouldn't be here today without that grief group but, really it is more for people further along the track a bit from immediate bereavement," the trust's budgeting services co-ordinator, Marion Moon, said.
Popular classes include Senior Chef, a fun eight-week cooking class where over-65s increase their food and nutrition skills suited for cooking for only one or two people.
The trust reaches out to other community centres, too - offering budgeting in Work and Income offices at Kamo, Waipu, Onerahi and at The Pulse, and counselling in Dargaville, Waipu and Ruakaka. About 100 people a week walk through the Whangarei centre's door where 25 trained staff and volunteers offer trust and care.