In my personal devotions I have recently come across a few verses that stressed that humans may make plans, but often things turn out quite differently. They also suggest that God’s hand is somehow part of this different course of events.

I was thinking that this also held for church affairs. In the office here I found a brief document from 2013 that outlined plans for Anglican parish mergers in northern Christchurch. Eleven parishes were to be merged into five.

St Paul’s in Papanui and St Matthew’s in St Alban’s were to continue as standalone parishes, though possible mergers were also possible for those two parishes. Three larger parishes would be formed through mergers:

Fendalton: as the hub of a parish formed by St Mary’s Merivale and St James Riccarton, with the site in Riccarton sold.

Burnside-Bryndwr Parish: This would be formed by merging the parishes of St Aidan’s Bryndwr and St John’s Bishopdale with the Burnside-Harewood Parish, with locations in Bryndwr and Burnside retained. The site in Bishopdale would be sold, though it wasn’t clear what would happen with Harewood.

Burwood Parish: St Silas Redwood, St David’s Belfast, Shirley, and North New Brighton were to merge with the Burwood – Marshlands Parish, with the new centre at Burwood and possibly a new church built on the site of the Marshland’s Church when Belfast and Redwood sites were sold.

Well, it did not come to that. The mergers did not go to plan. Whether that was of God or the obstinacy of people I don’t know. Two of the parishes mentioned in the proposals merged with others outside the area. The Riccarton parish merged with St Martin’s in Spreydon; the North New Brighton church with the other two New Brighton churches. St Matthew’s and St Mary’s formed the All Souls Church in Merivale; St John’s Bishopdale merged with the Redwood – Belfast Parish. All the other parishes remained as they were. Things can turn out very different from the plans.