Tapanui New Life Church was birthed during the 1970’s Charismatic Renewal. Led by Pastors John & Marion Sheed, it was then called Agape Fellowship. In 1984 it became part of the New Life Churches of NZ and was renamed as Tapanui New Life with Clive & Joy Lietze inducted as Pastors. In 2002, Pastor Pete & Beryll Geerlings took over the Leadership for a few years as Clive & Joy became involved in Short Term Missionary work in Europe. Following this period, Clive & Joy Lietze again Pastored the Church until December 2011 when Edward & Janet Hutchison were inducted as Pastors. Pastors Edward & Janet Hutchison passed on the Ministry to Rocco & Adri Beneke in February 2023.
MEET THE TEAM
Pastor Rocco Beneke
Introduction coming soon
Pastor Edward Hutchison
Pastor Edward has been the Pastor of New Life Church since December 2011 and is adored in the community as a gifted teacher of the Word. He was a teacher at Blue Mountain College prior to being pastor. Husband of Janet, they are a wonderful team that are involved in numerous community projects and support where needed in the Otago region.
Pastor Clive Lietze
With Joy, Clive is involved in reaching out to people in India with the love of Christ. He has a passion to help people, young & old, to be all God has made them to be.
Joy Lietze
Clive’s wife, Mother of 4, and Grandmother of 15. Joy & Clive have been active members of TNL for 40 years. Joy is an intercessor with a heart for the poor and is also involved in mission trips to India since 2012.
Janet Hutchison
Janet has a heart for the community and runs the Combined Churches Food Bank. She is also involved with the Mainly Music Group and has served as Pastor at New Life with her husband, Edward, for over 10 years.
Judith Devereux
Judith is the brain of our body at New Life Church and runs our finance department and Board of Trustees. She is a natural evangelist and helps newcomers transition into our New Life Family and she is also part of our worship team.
Adri Beneke
Sunday School Teacher and wife of Pastor Rocco, Adri has a passion to see kids mature into well-rounded individuals that loves God and understand that He has an amazing plan and purpose for their lives. She works behind the scenes at New Life Tapanui to promote the ministry’s marketing of events and with any graphic design work they need.