When asked what his role is Nicholas likes to call himself a “community troublemaker.” It is a title that fits him aptly as he steps into many roles that others in the church avoid, as where he challenges others to follow in mission. He has spent over a decade working for a trade union and has served two terms as an elected member of the Upper Harbour Local Board of Auckland Council. He founded the Upper Waitematā Ecology Network, runs an ecological restoration project in Unsworth Reserve for the Auckland local group of A Rocha Aotearoa, and grows a couple thousand native seedlings in his backyard.