Speaker: Monique Woolerton, Young Adults & 6pm Gathering Leader, Activate Church Hamilton
Where do you fit in the Activate whaanau?
Monique Woolerton: Hi. My name is Monique Woolerton. I work for Activate Church Hamilton and I am the 6pm Gatherings Leader for our Ruakura location as well as running our Young Adults ministry.
How does Activate Church show love to others?
Monique Woolerton: One of the ways that we show love at our gatherings is actually by facilitating community and connection through our Activate Groups. I think it's one of the most beautiful, precious things to have as a body of believers is not only to encounter the presence of God on a Sunday, but to walk alongside each other in more smaller, intimate groups of friends and families is to, challenge one another along that journey and grow and disciple one another. I think there's, it's such a beautiful way of showing love is through belonging, through community, through the chance to experience life and faith together.
How do you personally show love to others in your role?
Monique Woolerton: For me showing love, looks a lot like making the time and effort to get to know people. I think a lot of people struggle to feel loved when they don't feel seen. And I know that I've found that in my own personal experiences and so I I try and make the effort and I'm not perfect. But I try and make the effort to get to know people and to be present with people whenever I'm around them. I find that often opens the door for incredible connections and relationships and friendships. and I think at the very core of, our desire, as human beings, is to feel known and then through feeling known to feel loved. So that's one of my big, ways that I do this
Where have you seen transformation taking place?
Monique Woolerton: An exciting story is about all of our Young Adults. We had one of our guys from Activate was at uni, and had formed a friendship with this young man had started talking to him about God and sharing the gospel and showing him passages from the Bible. And so this young man was very interested He hadn't grown up from a Christian home or anything like that. But one of our guys from church invited him along to an Activate Group. One of our Young Adult Activate Groups. So this young man comes along, is so blown away by the love of God and encounters this, the incredible love of Jesus. And he gives his life to Jesus. He comes along to church, gives his life to Jesus, radically changes his life, who he is, his, his very way of living out his life. And now this young man who experienced this radical encounter with Jesus. He is serving on our host team. He's part of our Student Outreach Ministry. In fact, just at the start of the year, he went and, shared the gospel with someone else on the street while we were doing this Student Outreach Ministry in the middle of town. And so it's incredible to see how God has taken someone's life and just flipped at 180 for good, for beauty, for purpose. I think it's a really encouraging story.
When have you smiled, knowing God is at work?
Monique Woolerton: A few months ago, we had quite a big night for baptism. So we had five people getting baptised after the 6pm gathering. And it was so incredible to watch these five people get up, share about why they are taking this next step of faith, how God has so radically impacted their lives and then taking that next step of public declaration of their faith. And having this whole community, we had the whole church gathering around them, cheering them on. It was so beautiful.
What motivates you to love others?
Monique Woolerton: All right, this is gonna sound super cliche, but, what motivates me to love others is the love that Jesus had for me first. People can be wonderful and frustrating and, encouraging and beautiful and... difficult. And so I think, the only thing that keeps me consistently loving people and and being consistent when I don't feel like loving people well, is knowing that God loves me first. And I'm doing this not for others, but for Him.
