As a result of a Regional Conference motion presented by The Reverend Jim Greenaway in 1999 Bishop George Connor called a meeting in the fast growing but somewhat isolated suburb of Papamoa East to discover what Anglican ministry could be provided there. He was advised by local Anglicans who attended the meeting he called at the local Sports Club not to start by establishing a church per se but to focus on the youth and elderly. In January 2000 Arthur and Adrienne Bruce were appointed as co vicars of the Mt Maunganui Parish and were given the brief to extend mission into Papamoa East.

The Bruce’s had come from Dannevirke where they had established a well respected social service agency, Dannevirke Family Services, and an obvious first step to them in fulfilling their brief in Papamoa seemed to point in the social services direction. They set about finding a suitable building to rent which turned out to be a shop and they were able to obtain it at a reasonable rent, and in the August of that year, with willing support from the Mount parishioners the Dovecote Drop-in Centre and Op Shop was opened.  By the next year the Bruce’s were exploring what the next move in this ministry could be, and in Adrienne’s words “we had a vision of a community development project, such as a Community House. We did our usual drive around the area looking for a suitable house to rent and discovered there was only one available at the very end of Papamoa Beach Road; ‘that must be the one we’re meant to have’ we thought.  The Mount Vestry supported the vision, but there was no money available for the rent. Then St Mary’s and St Mary’s Tahatai Early Childhood Centres decided they could pay the rent for the house. So August 2001 saw the Beachaven Community House established to respond to local needs. Initially this included a Seniors group, craft group, Pre-School Music group and playgroups for mothers isolated and with no transport. A seeding grant from the Social Services Trust Board helped this fledgling service. Jeanette Coughlan became the first manager for a couple of months then Dawn Wilson took on developing the House and its services over the next 4 years. Along with her team of mostly volunteers Dawn created a space where young mothers, new to the district could come to meet others and/or for counselling. We developed a Family Support programme which included helping people return to the work force.”

Adrienne describes Papamoa East as “something of a dormitory suburb”, where a regular bus service had only just begun, and where housing is in the $400,000 to $500,000 price range and young families are struggling to make ends meet, “usually two people in each family work so it’s quite an isolated place for anyone not working.”

In 2002 Trudy Ake (a Tauranga researcher contracted by WASSTB) presented  her research into the main needs of the Papamoa community. In the course of this project she had discovered the Papamoa Community Support Centre (a social service agency in Domain Road) had just closed its doors due to lack of funding. The Trust Board were asked to help and immediately put $10,000 into their youth programme, Arthur (on behalf of the WASSTB) went onto the small committee with the manager Trish Ives,  Peter Coughlan, and the other sole member of the previous organisation and together they worked on ridding the centre of its debts. Subsequently the WASSTB was asked to take on the ownership of the service in its entirety, and the provision of “bottom of the cliff services, a 50 + Group, programmes for youth and a Food Bank” were able to continue.

By 2004 the Bruce’s found themselves trying to manage a “very large parish, with two churches and a raft of social services”. The time had come to establish a worship presence in Papamoa and after a time of strategic planning with the parish the Bruce’s said they felt it was time someone lived in Papamoa to establish a worshipping congregation. Adrienne in the meantime had changed her position and was two-thirds time in the newly developed Regional Ministry Convenor’s position. She and Arthur agreed that the Mount Parish needed a new vicar. With Adrienne’s position becoming fulltime they offered to move to Papamoa and Arthur offered to undertake this work. A God-send to their dream for Papamoa came when an elderly parishioner at the Mount, caught the vision and donated a large sum of money to help its establishment, and has continued to make generous donations totalling over $150,000. The Mount Maunganui Vestry made the decision to sell the Victoria Road vicarage and buy a vicarage which was more central within the parish. In mid-2005 it was sold for $1.7 million and this enabled the purchased of a new vicarage for the Mount Maunganui vicar and the building of a clergy house in Papamoa for the Bruces. The Vestry also agreed to buy the section adjoining the rented Bree Court Mission House for parking “so as not to be a nuisance to the neighbours”.  In April 2005 Arthur became the Missioner initially on half a stipend and subsequently three quarter time and has a core of regular worshippers. He also holds monthly family services and contemplative services. Adrienne takes a Pre school music session every Tuesday morning and together they also offer special events from time to time and have established a meditative labyrinth in the back yard.

In early 2008 Mary Irving was ordained as a vocational deacon and supports the work of the Mission as a non-stipendiary minister.

In 2009 Sandra Johnston joined the team as a community priest.

A partnership has been established between the Waiapu Anglican Social Services Trust Board and the Mission with Arthur and Mary offering pastoral and spiritual support to the staff of the several Social Service agencies in Papamoa including the Papamoa Support Centre and Kauri Centre which are to be relocated in another unique partnership, this time with the Tauranga City Council, to Hartford Avenue. This exciting and long awaited move is due to take place in about March 2009.