In 2017 two churches became one called St MJ’s (St Martin St James) Spreydon - Riccarton. On February 2011 after the Christchurch Earthquake St James Church in Riccarton became unsafe and no longer usable. Christchurch spent the next few years in a time of grief and recovery. In 2015 two neighbouring churches felt led by Holy Spirit to join as one parish/one campus. We have spent time dreaming, visioning, imagining, listening to the Holy Spirit and the needs of our communities. We heard God’s call to mission and ministry in the Riccarton area with our newly planted ‘Good Dirt Missional Community’ while our main centre is in Spreydon.

We want to bring people together to build a community where all can flourish, giving the best of our time, energy, and creativity to see God transforming the spiritual, social, and physical
landscape of our community and our city.

Over time, things have gradually grown: kids’ and young people ministry has developed, we’ve seen new university students arriving in Christchurch, we’ve been joined by people who had given up on God and church but have since rediscovered faith and community, and we’ve welcomed people who have no faith in Jesus, but just enjoy coming along.
Alongside this, all sorts of new ministries have been birthed out of the heart of the church
family. The journey so far has been a huge amount of fun and we’ve been through lots of
changes and challenges since we began. In many ways, the St MJ’s adventure has been a story of God building his church, as he promised, and being incredibly faithful as we’ve sought to listen and keep in step with him. And we believe that the best is yet to come

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We are a church community that wants to give its all to God, each other and the people of
Riccarton Spreydon and our city, cultivating a culture of discipleship (apprenticing), mission
(serving) and regeneration (all ages). As a hub of creativity, courage and compassion, we want to bring people together to build a community where all can flourish, giving the best of our time, energy, and creativity to see God transforming the spiritual, social, and physical landscape of our community and our city Ōtautahi Christchurch.

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At St MJ’s we believe vision and values go hand-in-hand. Vision determines the direction and
destination of the church, and the values determine the culture. We want to be a community that is shaped by the story of scripture, practising the way of Jesus, led by the power of the Holy Spirit, and extending the Kingdom of God through the church.

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