Church has anniversary for major milestone

Destiny Church Rotorua as it was 25 years ago, then known as Lake City Church. Photo / Supplied

Destiny Church Rotorua celebrates a quarter century in the community this week.

Sunday marks the 25th anniversary since the church, then known as Lake City Church, opened its doors. To celebrate the church will be holding a special service.

Destiny Church founders Bishop Brian Tamaki and his wife Pastor Hannah Tamaki will be guest speakers at the service, with other long-standing church members from around the country.

In last Sunday's sermon, Destiny Rotorua Pastor Rewi Hare said the church had made a large impact on the community and the country in the past 25 years, and encouraged church members to look to the next 25 years.

"It's only heating up ... your greatest achievements aren't in your past, God's greatest feats aren't in your yesterday. God's greatest feats are still on their way, Rotorua's greatest church hasn't been seen yet," he said.

Mr Hare's wife and co-pastor Davina Hare said they would be putting up pictures showing the history of the church and the building as part of the lead-up to the celebration.

"It's about our history, telling the story of us here in Rotorua. There's been thousands of people coming and going from our church over the years, everybody in Rotorua has had a brush with Destiny," she said.

Mrs Hare said the Rotorua church had been a hub of Christianity over the years with many members going on to help "birth" churches around the country.

Brian and Hannah Tamaki ministered at the church before moving to Auckland where they founded Destiny Church in 1998 with 20 members, many of them following the Tamakis from Lake City Church, which was renamed Destiny Rotorua in 2001.

Mrs Hare said they were all excited to have the Tamakis here for the celebration.

"They're the pioneers of the movement, and we're building on the work they've done. We're blessed to have many long-standing members with three or four generations active in the church. Bishop and Pastor Tamaki have five generations in the church and they set up an ethos of cross-generational support and participation.

"It's important for us to think of the next generation, and everything we do is based on that."

Mrs Hare said community was important to the church and it ran a number of programmes to help out those in need.