Beloved Street Ministry
MATTHEW
25:40
“The King will reply, ‘truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
While our Beloved Street Ministry is no longer active, we’ve chosen to keep this part of our story here - because the impact was real, and we’re proud of the aroha sown over the years.
From 2020 to 2024, Beloved was a deeply relational ministry, grounded in humility, compassion, and connection. Our team served those experiencing homelessness across Tāmaki Makaurau, recognising that we all walk through seasons of hardship - and none of us stand above another.
With respect for the spaces we entered and the lives we encountered, Beloved offered more than a meal or a blanket. It offered dignity, conversation, and moments of shared humanity in the heart of the city. Though the programme has now come to a close, the legacy of Beloved continues to shape the way we serve today.
BELOVED (2020-2024)
What started during the Covid Pandemic came a call to support the needs of the homeless communities. Seed 2 Harvest responded, by coordinating meal and seed parcel distributions.
This collaborative approach saw PIC Newton, Youth with a Mission-Te Ao Marama, Vineyard City Church and members of the community step in and pull resourcing to meet the gapping needs. In four years, we learned that the church has a role to play in the community, by working together without limitations is how we can collectively meet the physical needs of our community. We learned and quickly adopted new language and terminologies, for example “homeless”, this term often associated with a hierarchy approach was never used. Instead, we adopted the term, “Beloved”.
We wanted to set an atmosphere that was encouraging, full of hope, life and vision for all. We learned that such ministries is a catalyst for supporting good examples of engagement for ministry groups, knowing how to engage, safety, prayer, simple things like the importance of listening when someone is sharing their stories. We delivered training as an organisation to anyone interested in joining this coordinated collaboration, this was to meet the needs of health and safety, training and preparing the team for the streets.
S2H is putting some action to our Faith and engaging with our street whanau. Our Beloved Ministry was made up of the following key elements:
1 Hot Pot
- this is a pot of hot and nutritious food, normally the goal is three pots as this allows the team to deliver approximately 200 + meals.
2 Homemade Baking
- this is only made possible with the support of our friends and family members who are a combination of S2H members and part of the wider community. Nothing beats a homemade cookie!
3 Juice, Coffee, Milo, Tea
- may seem insignificant however our drink station is often the busiest.
4 Fruit
- It is important that we S2H can meet at least the nutritious needs of the Beloved.
5 Delivery Team
- a team will prepare the meal in small eco friendly packs and from the back of the Civic Centre we serve over 200 meals, a walking team is dispatched down Queen Street to seek out whanau along that stretch and area. To finish the evening, a location known as “the palace” is the final destination before heading back to HQ for a team debrief and pack down.
6 Volunteers
- Beloved Ministry is a reflection of Collaboration. S2H host this ministry where each member is taken through a street ministry training session, this prepares the individual for what they may see or experience and how to prepare themselves beforehand. Members/Teams of Beloved Street Ministry come from S2H Church, other Charitable and Church Groups. Beloved Ministry stands on the shoulders of our volunteers, who fill such roles as, security, cooks, bakers, food delivery, hot drink servers, facilitators, leaders, managers, coordinators and so forth.